Jimmy

An old, gray, but fixed up 1949 chevy truck speeds down a two lane highway. The sunset beyond the trees is striking in comparison to the town that lies ahead. A guy and a girl sit side by side in the cab of the truck, he has one hand on the wheel and the other on her thigh, she rests her head on his shoulder as they cruise down the road listening to Andy Williams. She yawns and he glances at her lovingly.

“You’re not going to want to switch, are you?” he says.

She laughs once and says “I’m sorry, but I’m beat tonight. Can we find a motel and get an early start in the morning?”

“I’m tired too.” he says while giving her thigh a gentle squeeze.

Thirty minutes pass and they come across a crusty looking motel, or rather an “OTEL” because the florescent pink “M” is burnt out on the sign. She sighs and contemplates if maybe she can down some coffee and try driving for a few more hours. Her heavy eyes disagree.

He pulls into the lot and shuts the engine. Without saying a word to each other they simultaneously climb out of the cab and grab their bags from the bed of the truck. They walk through the door marked “office,” he follows closely behind her and glances around at their surroundings before fully entering.

The motel clerk has a bottle of half empty Jack Daniels sitting on the desk next to the check in book and he’s watching an old episode of The Lone Ranger on a tv that looks to be about 70 years old…like him.

“Evening folks, what can I do you for?” The clerk slurs.

“Hey sir, can we book a room for the night? We’ll be out of here by dawn.” He replies.

“Sure thing, that’ll be $25.” The clerk states.

“Can I give you cash or do you need my card?” He asks.

“Cash is preferred son. Room 4.” The clerk says as he tosses him the key.

They head out the office door and walk about fifty steps to the left and they’ve reached their room.

“Before you do anything, I’m checking for bed bugs and any other creatures that could be residing in these rooms.” She exclaims, suddenly feeling awake.

“Do what you gotta do babe.” He chuckles, slightly rolling his eyes but appreciative of her thoroughness.

She takes out her phone and turns on the flashlight, knowing that you can only check for creepy crawly critters in the dark. Surprisingly, the bed and floors are fairly clean. It obviously old and outdated but she feels better about crawling into the bug free sheets.

He finally flicks the lights on, they set their bags down and prepare for bed; showering and brushing their teeth. She crawls into bed next to him and lays her head on his chest, utterly exhausted. His kisses the top of her head. She looks up and he kisses her softly on the lips. She kisses him back but a little deeper.

They pull apart and he says, “thank you for coming with me, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

She stretches her neck up to kiss him again in response. They kiss deeper and deeper until he rolls on top of her and starts kissing her neck, her head falling back in pleasure.

Asleep with their limbs tangled together, the clock reads 2:53am. The phone rings, LOUD. She jolts up in bed freaked out. She looks at her boyfriend to see him sleeping peacefully. The phone rings again, she reaches over and answers it. At first it’s just static on the other end.

“Hello?” She asks.

More static and then, “check..” The voice on the other end whispers.

“What? Check? Check what?” She asks frantically.

“Who was it?” Her boyfriend asks sleepily.

“I don’t know, I couldn’t really hear them through all the static but I think they said ‘check,’ I’m kinda freaked.” She replies.

“It was probably the wrong number love, this place is deserted.” He mumbles.

He gets out of bed, walks over to the curtains and peeks out.

“See, told you. There’s no one here but us.” He says as he climbs back into bed.

She lays back down next to him and presses her body against his as tight as she can, still feeling uneasy. She lies awake, trying to listen and decipher the sounds outside. As she starts to drift she thinks she hears a car door slam but decides to blame it on her exhaustion which eventually takes over and within minutes she’s back asleep.

The clock next to the bed now reads 4:12am.

RING!

She wakes up even more panicked than before. She grabs the phone before it can ring for a second time.

“Hello!? What do you want?” She shouts into the phone.

This wakes her boyfriend up and he sits up next to her in a confused panic.

More static and ineligible talking comes from the other end of the phone.

“What? I can’t understand you?” She says frustrated.

“Check your door and make sure it’s locked. NOW!” The voice on the other end yells.

She drops the phone and looks at their motel door. In the same moment she sees the handle start to jimmy. She has a flash of remembrance that in their state of exhaustion they never locked the door behind them when they entered their room. She hurdles out of bed and throws her body against the door just as it started to crack open. Her boyfriend catching on quickly to the state of emergency, follows her action and throws his body against the door too.

He was a moment too late because someone on the other side stuck a crowbar through the gap to prevent the door from shutting. He can feel there’s more man power coming from outside of the door and they might lose this fight and he had to think fast. He grabs the crowbar and thrusts it back toward the intruders. He hears a slur of obscenities and the pressure off the door eases up. The hook of the crow bar stayed on their side of the door, so he pulls it through, slamming, locking the door and saving it as a weapon. She looks through the peephole and watches the two figures that just attacked them. One half limping towards a black van, the other running to the driver’s side door. They hop in and speed off down the highway. She watches as the taillights completely disappear.

“What the in the hell? How did…? Are you okay?” He asks rapidly.

“Yeah I’m fine. The phone call, it said to check the door.” She says in almost a whisper.

He grabs her and pulls her in tightly for a hug. He checks her to make sure she’s okay. They sit on the edge of the bed in silence trying to make sense of what just happened.

“Well, I’m not going to be able to sleep again. It’s almost 5am anyway and the sun will be up soon. I think we should get on the road.” She suggests.

“I think you’re right. Let’s get dressed and go talk to the clerk, maybe we can file a police report too.” He mentions.

“I’d rather just get out of this town.” She replies.

They approach the front desk once again with the same clerk behind it, only this time the Jack Daniel’s bottle is empty and he’s face down on the reservation book. She hits the bell next to his head and he wakes up from his smelly and drunken slumber.

“Outta here already folks? Have a nice stay?” He hiccups.

“Are you kidding me? You called to warn us! Didn’t they try to break in here too?” She yells.

The clerk looks at her in a dazed state and says “Ma’am, I ain’t gotta clue what you’re yellin about, but the phones haven’t worked in the rooms since 2003 and my head hurts too bad and it’s too god damn early to be nagged at.”

Her boyfriend slams the key down on the counter angrily.

“Don’t speak to her like that, or you’ll wish your head hurt from just a hangover.” He spits.

She grabs her boyfriend by the arm and starts to drag him from the office.

“He’s not going to be of any help, he’s probably still drunk.” She mutters as she drags her outraged boyfriend toward the truck.

They load their bags and drive away.

They’re back on the freeway, driving in silence. She stares out of her window replaying the nights events over and over. She also replays what the clerk said over and over. How could the phones not work? She spoke to someone and that ring was so loud it woke her from a dead sleep, twice!

“What are you thinking about?” He asks her gently.

She jumps at the sound of his voice, bringing her back to reality. She slides over to him and says “It just doesn’t make sense why he would say the phones haven’t worked since 2003. I spoke to someone and that ring is ear piercing.”

He remains silent and won’t look at her.

“What?” She asks nervously.

He drives silently still not wanting to look her in the face.

“That phone woke you up too, didn’t it?” She pleads.

He stares straight ahead and says “I never heard that phone ring last night.”

• *This is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to a real person or persons is entirely coincidental.*