This was originally published in the Corner Bar in December, 2023. This was my first literary magazine publication.
While I had entered this as fiction, it actually happened to a friend in college back in the 80s. The only thing I changed was the details of the weigh station.
It was late, after 2 in the morning, before Lynn could get on the road.
I-10 between New Orleans and Baton Rouge at that hour would be a quiet, fast drive. She was tired from the concert and was ready to go home and get some proper sleep. Lynn had thought about crashing at a friend’s house but decided her own bed would be better.
Parts of the interstate was over swamp and open water. There were a couple of stretches, maybe five miles each, where there were no entrance or exit ramps. With no traffic, she thought it would take her a little under an hour to drive home.
Lynn reached the last stretch of the interstate before New Orleans with no on or off ramps. She noticed headlights in her rear-view mirror and kept glancing back as the car approached hers. It didn’t pass, but it got too close for Lynn’s comfort. She pressed down on the pedal to speed up a little. A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed the car sped up as well. It was almost tailgating her.
Lynn tried slowing down and when she did, the car slowed down. She sped up again. The other car sped up. She tried switching to the passing lane and noticed the car did as well. Everything she tried; she couldn’t shake this car. There were no other cars on the interstate going eastbound.
She was getting nervous and scared. Great, there’s always talk of females getting stalked and here I am getting stalked by a car.
Lynn took her eyes off her review mirror for just a second and when she looked back, the car was gone.
Ok, THAT was too weird.
She got back into the passenger lane and stared straight ahead, trying to concentrate, and trying to remember where the next exit ramp was. She figured it was still a few miles away. She felt more than saw that there was a car keeping up with her in the passing lane. She was getting nervous and was too scared to look. It’s that car. I know it is. It’s following me.
Lynn tried again, speeding up and slowing down. Every time, the car kept up the pace with her. She was too scared to look at the driver. She just wanted to get home. She didn’t want to end up as a statistic in the morning papers.
Lynn built up the nerve to look over to see who was driving.
The car was a generic beige four-door sedan, mid-80s. The driver was a two dimensional black and white cartoon like female. She looked to be around 50, but as a cartoon figure, at night, it was hard to tell. Her hair was all black, hanging about her face. She had bug popping out sort of eyes. She looked at Lynn with the most evil, maniacal look, and gave her a wide, toothy smile, tossed her head back and laughed.
Lynn screamed and sped off as fast as she could. Looking back in the rear-view mirror, she noticed the car was gone. She had not passed the exit ramp; the car had just disappeared.
WAIT. WAIT. No. No. NO. NOOOO.
When she saw the exit ramp for the weigh station, she sped down the ramp faster than she should have, pulled into the parking lot, and ran inside. She was nearly hysterical.
The weigh station at that hour was empty, except for one or two other truck drivers. They looked up as Lynn entered. “Where’s the person on duty?” she asked. Someone pointed to the counter along the back wall. The weigh station was a convenience store, gas station, truck stop, and diner all rolled into one. At that hour, there was only one person on duty (Ken, by the name tag) who was doing a little of everything. He was an older, gruff looking man, but had a kind face. Ken calmed her down, got her a coffee and something to eat, and asked what happened. Lynn told him her story.
Ken was quiet for a bit. He already knew, by her frantic demeanor, what she was going to tell him. His reply sent a chill down her spine.
“Lady, you’re not the first person to come in here with that story.”
Creepy!