Buckley Highway on Halloween

There had been a perfect storm of circumstances which had led to the vampire, the gangster, and the witch to find themselves of lost on this unlit wooded road, swallowed by grey fog. First of all, Halloween had been kind enough to fall on a Friday this year. The second happened three weeks prior when Josh, the vampire, had received his seventeenth birthday present: a brand new Ford Explorer. And finally it was the scantily clad witch, Katie who had invited Josh—and because he was also in the room at the time, Connor—to her cousin's party forty minutes away in Wardale. It was far, but the trip was almost a straight shot through the woods on Buckley Highway, with a free cup promised to anyone in a costume. What high school Junior could say no? Google maps made it look easy, and Connor ran home to throw together a costume.

The costume was arguable: sweatpants, black Raiders jersey, and a bandana tied around his head. Then again, you couldn't expect a kid who was on the ten cent lunch plan at school and whose house perpetually smelt like piss, mold and smoke, to go downtown and get overcharged at one of those seasonal Halloween emporiums. He had already prepared himself for the endless what are you supposed to be? inquiries that would bombard him when they reached the party. Although at the moment, the more appropriate wording would be if they reached the party.

When they turned onto the snake shaped Buckley Highway the Explorer was swallowed into the mouth of a vast fog that Google Maps had neglected to mention. Connor looked out his window at the swirling grey river, briefly imagining the truck was a spaceship speeding through the belly of a vast wormhole. He thought the whole scene was cool: the dark road with no sign of hous...

... middle of paper ...

...ed the rearview mirror: two insane eyes divided by a crooked, pulsating streak of blue. "Come and drive and tell me how much fucking fun you're having right now."

"Dude, I don't even have my li—"

"Then shut the fuck up! Maybe you should start thinking about the future instead of now so you don't end up piss poor like your fucking alcoholic, turkey neck, pushover, piece of shit, pill popping Dad!"

Josh's cold eyes held their homicidal gaze in the rear view, daring a retort. Connor kept his eyes out the window, thankful that the dark would hide whatever tears began to swell up. Just before the Explorer resumed its crawl through the dark, Josh added, "And you're lucky I don't kick you out right here and make you walk, you smell like dog shit."

That was when the backdoor opened and Connor muttered something. When it slammed shut a second later, Connor was gone.