Morning all. Hope you had a fabulous week. Let’s round it out with the final prompt of the week. So timers set for fifteen minutes and off we go.
Things have been leaning a bit dark this week and I suspect this story is about to take a dark turn as well. Not entirely sure where, but this kind of feels like it wants to lean into horror.
Friday, May 2nd: The choice was simple.
The choice was simple. The road split into two parts. He could go left or he could go right.
“We are supposed to follow 246,” Stepen called. Dan looked at the roadside. There were no signs.
“Does the map have us going right or left,” he said. Their choice was coming up soon. They were the only car on the road so he slowed down. He knew he could stop if he wanted to and no one would even notice. He doubted many cars came this way so he could probably stop for a good hour and no one would notice, but he grew up using much more highly trafficked roads so the thought made him twitchy.
“How would I know,” Stephen said. “It just says follow 246.”
Dan took a deep breath. He pulled the car over to the side of the road and stopped. He shifted into park.
“Why’d we stop?” Stephen asked.
“Because I need to look at the map.”
“Just look at the signs,” Stephen said. “We need to follow 246.”
“Why don’t you look for the sign for 246 while I look at the map,” Dan said dryly.
Stephen huffed and tossed the paper at Dan. He stared out of the window. “Where are the signs,” he asked, peering through the glass. Dan decided not to answer. Instead he looked at the paper Stephen handed him. The directions were typed out but there was a small map on the bottom corner. It was like a grainy after thought. Dan looked to the map, following the roads. 246 veered to the right.
He nodded and read the last of the directions fairly certain they would be more help than Stephen. He looked between the written directions and the map and was reasonably certain he could find where they were going.
He handed the map back to Stephen and Looked down the road as he shifted the car out of park. The road was still empty. Unable to stop himself, Dan put on his blinker and got back on the road. He turned the blinker off as they continued on.
“Where are all the road signs?” Stephen asked. His voice sounded accusatory as though Dan stole them when he wasn’t looking.
“Were they here last time?” Dan asked. After all Stephen had been here before whereas Dan hadn’t.
Stephen shrugged. “I wasn’t driving,” Stephen told him.
Dan nodded knowing that meant Stephen hadn’t been paying any attention. Dan looked into the rear view mirror. The road behind them was still empty. It was starting to bother him.
“I thought there were a lot of people going?” he said.
“We’ll we are running a little late,” Stephen said. This time there was no mistaking the accusation in his voice. Dan hadn’t wanted to come in the first place. He knew it wasn’t a time he could take off work and tried to tell them he wouldn’t be able to leave until late even if he did show up. Stephen said that was perfect as he had things to do. What those things were, Dan didn’t know. He was pretty sure that Stephen simply hadn’t been able to bum a ride with anyone else.
With Stephen counting on his for a ride, Dan felt obligated. ‘It’ll be fun,’ he tried telling himself. They took the fork in the road to the right and continued on. There wasn’t that much of a drive left and Dan was relieved when they pulled up and saw other cars already parked, people moving in groups throughout the space. He frowned as he parked, something about the crowd striking him as odd.
Ten til Midnight 