The Midnight Family

Chapter 1

February 18th 1974

"You were with out with another man, weren't you, you little whore!? I work my ass off for you and this is how you repay me? By sneaking off with some man who probably doesn't give two shits about you!" Screamed my mother as she tossed my belongings out of the 2nd story window of our house, if you could even call it that. I had just showed up at home after a day of my part time job at a diner to find my mom in a drunken rage over God knows what. This time it was apparently about me leaving the house instead of spending all of my time cleaning it. 

"Mom, I told you I had work today." I said, trying to calm her down. She shoved a bag full of clothes and , along with everything else, it flew straight out of the window. The enraged woman made her way up to me and placed her face close to mine. 

"You never told me that!"  My cheek had started stinging shortly afterward. I glanced at the hand that made contact with my face and sighed. I thought she was done. "I want you out of this house. Now!" I'm surprised she didn't toss me out the window like everything else she wanted out of the house. Though, I don't think I would have minded.

I didn't hesitate to barrel out of the front door, not bothering to pick up the shit that was lying haphazardly over the grass. I would regret that later however since my work uniform was the only sort of clothing I had. It consisted of a mid-calf length pleated, white keds, dark blue skirt with a plain white short sleeve shirt along with a lighter blue, lightweight cardigan. Not the best clothing choice for mid January weather in Montana. I started the walk to a nearest gas station. I stuck my hand into my pocket and looked at the money that I had collected from tips, $4.53 That should be enough for maybe two days. maybe more depending of how well I can save.

The streets were quiet since no one really comes here in the middle of the night. This town is rather small, everyone knows everyone and their secrets. Rumors spread like a wildfire around here and it's hard to keep anything to yourself. Almost impossible. The only reason to ever come here is if you ever want to get away from big cities, but even then there are better choices. Maybe if you like the smell of farms and animal shit then this place would be perfect. 

Once the lights of the gas station came into my vision I picked up my pace. There was only one car in the lot and it seemed to belong to an old truck driver who must have been passing towns. I gave a small smile, trying to be polite as my mom taught me when she wasn't busy throwing a fit. He looked tired. I pulled open the glass door and it made a small chime sound and as I made my way to the back I heard a small "welcome" come from the lone worker in the building. I grabbed some food items and some water and stepped over to the check out counter and leaned against it. 

"Cheyenne? What are you doing here this late?" Jason asked. Jason was a 30 maybe 40 something year old who was the manager of the place. I normally came here for my mom when she needed anything. Beer, cigarettes, food, the normal things.

"You know, the usual." I said nonchalantly. " Finally decided to get out of town." He shook his head as he ran up the items. I could tell he saw this coming for awhile. He'd known my mom for so long he knew about her antics with drinking. Most, if not all, of the people in this town did. 

"And what about your mom?" I shrugged. 

"She'll have to buy her own things. Hell maybe it'll be good for her to not have to use me to bring in the money." Jason gave s short sigh and started to count up the items that I placed in front of him. 

"Where you headed then?" I gave another shrug. 

"Anywhere but here."

The chimes sounded again as another man walked through the door. He had brown hair and seemed to be in his 40's. His glasses were falling from his nose and he had to push them back up while trying to grab a few waters from where I had been previously. Jason picked up the pace of scanning the items. "It would probably be a good idea to find out where you're headed before just wandering around in the dark trying to figure it out as you go." He placed the foods into a bag and handed it to me. "That'll be $2.34." I grabbed the money out of my pocket and handed him three dollars. 

As he was grabbing change I noticed the stranger had found what he'd been looking for and was now standing next to me, he was more dressed for the weather than I was. A brown collared shirt with a black checked jacket and some business causal pants. He glanced over at me and I turned my head quickly. 

"I'll probably just go to a rest stop and stay there all night and look at a map, try to figure out where to go. As long as it's out of this town I'll be happy." I said, looking at the wall clock, 12:48 AM. I moved out of the way to let the man buy his things. 

"Don't you think you're mom'll miss you?" The man asked, stepping into the conversation. 

"Nah, if I'm lucky she'll be too drunk to remember she even had a daughter.  She probably thought I was the maid or something." I replied with a smile. "Anyway, it was nice knowing you Jason. I guess I should head out and actually make it to the rest stop before I get attacked by an ax murderer or something worse." I said and walked outside, leaving Jason and the stranger alone in the gas station.

I got a few yards down the road before a car started slowing down next to me. "Excuse me, would you like a ride?" I looked over into the window and saw it was the man from the gas station.

 "I'm not so sure I should get into cars with someone I don't know. Ya know, stranger danger and all." I said. It was a nice gesture, especially for someone I said one sentence to. 

 "What if I promise I'm not an ax murderer?" He replied giving a slight chuckle. 

"Well I guess if you promise." I joked, seriously what do I have to lose? Either I die or I make it to somewhere I can sleep for the night. Win win either way. "Where are you headed exactly?" I asked as the man started driving again. 

"Santa Carla." I remember vaguely hearing about that place on the radio at the diner. Apparently its a rad place for tourists. 

 "And you don't mind me riding with you?" He shook his head.

"It'll be nice to have some company. What's for your name?"

 "Cheyenne." He smiled. 

"Well it's nice to meet you, Cheyenne. I'm Max."