Buried Alive

Here’s my latest post for The Red Dress Club. Prompt: your character takes a detour. Hope you like it!

Click… Click… Click… Click…

Blink… Blink… I stare at the arrow on the dashboard. On. Off. On. Off. The sound and light pierce the darkness of the cab. Raggedy Ann flashes through my mind as my head lolls to the side. The muted glow of the arrows is enough for me to view the rest of the cab. I try to move my feet so I can turn to the back seat. The clanking of Tequila bottles reverberated against my skull. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the seat. The nasally whistle from the back seat was like razors on my eardrums. I turned.

Sarah…

“Sarah… Sarah, wake up. Where are we?”

Her finger twitches at the sound of her name, but she continued with that annoying whistle. I quickly give up and turn to open the door. Stuck. I grab the handle and shove all my weight against the door. Nothing. I look to the window and see nothing but blackness. I peer closer and realize the blackness is actually gravel. Panic floods prickles my skin, tensing each muscle as it spreads like wildfire to each limb.

Bang… Bang… Bang… Bang…

“Ally… what the hell, man? I’m trying to sleep here.”

I don’t hear her. I scramble to the passenger seat. The grey stones pressing against the window taunt me. I grab the handle and push. Still nothing. My feet find the dash as I push with all my might. The door doesn’t budge.

“Ally, what’s going on?”

Open the window…

I press the button… rocks and dust flood into the passenger seat. I close it back as quickly as I can, but the path is blocked. The avalanche slowed but did not stop. The dust coats my throat and nose. I begin hacking and coughing.

Calm down…

I turn to Sarah. Her face is blanched and her eyes saucers. Her hands are shaking so violently that the seats were creaking.

“Sarah, honey, calm down. It’ll be ok. We’re ok. We just need to stay calm and think things through, ok?”

Where are we?…

“Sarah, do you remember what happened? Where we are?”

She was drunk and passed out in the back seat. How could she remember?

“No… last thing I remember was leaving Terry Bradshaw’s party…”

The detour…

“I95 was closed. We had to take the old back road to get around. Did we make a wrong turn or something?”

Sarah stared at me blankly. Her eyes were still a little glassy from the tequila.

Sarah’s phone…

“Where’s your phone?”

We both began scrambling, searching the cracks in the seats. I slipped my hand as far as I could under the passenger seat. Got it! I pressed the power key. The phone played the startup jingle as it came to life. Sarah and I grinned at each other. We were going home.

Beep. Low Battery.

Shit. How the hell were we going to get out now? We don’t even know where we are. I quickly shut the phone down.

“What the fuck, Ally? Call the police… call anybody! I want to go home!”

Sarah started shaking again. How were we going to get home? Here we are stuck in a car with nothing to eat or drink and one cell phone with a dying battery.

Buried alive…