The Terror #wattys2017 #TNTHorrorContest

Payphone

There was a phone booth right next to the liquor store, so I dropped a dime to call Danny and tell him what had happened. I couldn't think of anyone else I could tell that wouldn't think I was loony tunes. I really wanted to talk to Jimmy but he made it pretty clear when I could and could not get a hold of him. I already got Michelle in trouble at work for calling her there so, that was out. I Stood in the booth listening to the fucking phone ring like fifteen times before I gave up and hung the receiver back on the hook.

I was dizzy with data with no one to receive it, what the hell should I do? Call the Mounties, run home to my mommy, tell her all about this mad world I've been inhabiting since (when? I had to think a minute.) the God damned accident?  She'd have me sent to the nut house quicker than white on rice. Again I felt like a dumb kid, I wasn't prepared to handle this crap, it's was just too too much! 

I just started walking, walking down Foothill to go see my girl. I never felt like I needed anyone the way I needed her at that moment. How did all this fall on to me, why was I the one who felt all responsible for everybody else's shit? I leaned against a pole at Commerce Ave and started thumbing. Fuck, what time was it, those visitations had a way of making time go whacky, oh Michelle, I'm coming baby, I'm coming as fast as I can.

A couple of hippy chicks pulled over in a VW bus with peace signs, mag wheels and four on the floor and pointed to the back door. I climbed in and it was The Who, on the eight track, "Tommy can you hear me, can you feel me near you." 

"Where you headed Dude?" The cute blond in the passenger seat asked.

"I'm trying to get to the In and Out in Van Nuys on Roscoe, my girl works there." The smell of good Michoacan Herb perfumed the air. The slightly older driver chick reached back with a smoking purple feather dangling from her fingertips. They were both in Bikini tops, deeply tanned with colorful Madres as skirts around their waists.

"You wanna paaaarrrrrtty?" Driver chick said like she really wanted to party.

I was both afraid to get high and afraid not too, I didn't want to seem lame so I took the joint and pretended to hit it a lot harder than I actually did, I made proper choking noises and passed it to passenger chick, she was deadly cute with her big eyelashes and pale blue lipstick.

"Wish I could ladies but I really need to get down to my girlfriend, she's expecting me. You guys would like her, she has a VW too."

Driver chic reached over and turned up the tape deck,

"He seems to be completely unreceptive, the tests I gave him make no sense at all. His eyes react to light the dials detect it, he hears but cannot answer to your call."

"What's your name?!" The passenger yelled above the music.

"Merrill, Merrill Graves."

 I leaned forward so she could hear me. I clung to the back of her seat with my right arm as the bus hit the pothole right there at Fenwick St. My other hand grasped her left knee to keep me from falling backward and she just turned and kissed me, and I mean KISSED me! Her hand was behind my head and she was probing the deepest most reaches of my tonsils, it was awkward but very pleasant, without a thought given to all the other strange occurrences in my life I closed my eyes and returned the favor. She tasted of weed, peppermint, and root beer, I think it was the most spontaneous thing that ever happened to me. Then everything went dark for a second as if I were falling into a black hole and then I shook awake, like in a dream when you wake up before you hit the ground. "Man, that was weird!" I thought, "That was one hell of a kiss I guess." 

The bus came to a stop and driver chick, who was a lot older than I first thought, old enough to be the passenger's mother say's, "This is where we turn off, sorry we can't take you all the way to the Valley this time sweety, maybe next time."

"Oh...Alrighty then, thanks for the ride and the buzz."

Just like that, I was standing at the new 7-11, across from Jack in the Box and they were driving away. "I never even asked what her name was," I said aloud, watching the bus's tail lights fade, there was a big pink peace sign on the back and flower stickers all over the back window. That was another story waiting to happen, I thought. 

I was only half a block from Al's now, so it was only natural that I should stop in and see if somebody could give me a ride. Another dark cloud passed over, causing my already altered reality to shift slightly, that was some kick-ass weed I guess...