dark clouds

by nick nelson

heavy dark clouds filled the night sky. the truck stopped at the crossroads. all right, young man, here you go. what? this is millersville. you said you wanted to go to millersville. um - can you take me a little further? a little further? you said you wanted to go to millersville. i changed my mind. i want to go a little further. in which direction? i am going north. all right, i want to go north too. but when i get where i am going, i will turn around and come back down south. that is all right. just take me as far north as you are going. whatever. the truck started up again, heading north. maybe you are wondering why i changed my mind. you don’t have to tell me. it is because they are after me. the driver made no reply. i saw something i wasn’t supposed to see. i am the unluckiest guy who ever lived. i was walking down the street minding my own business when i just happened to look in this window. you wouldn’t believe what i saw. some of the richest people and most powerful people in the world, that you see on tv all the time. you wouldn’t believe what they were doing. now they will do anything to shut me up. they will hunt me to the ends of the earth. you don’t believe me, do you? no, the driver said, i believe you. you do? yes, because i know what it is like not to be believed. oh. you see, i was born in a cult. they worshipped a god so evil even his own followers did not dare speak his name. and you wouldn’t believe the rituals they did, things so unspeakable there is no name for them. and they made these movies, and they sold them for millions of dollars. probably to the same people you saw and are after you. they were grooming me for one of these movies. they kept me in a cage. but i escaped… as the driver was speaking, a few peals of thunder and flashes of lightning had accompanied his account. now the overhead clouds burst open, and in a few seconds the truck was moving through an onrushing wall of driving rain. damn! the driver stopped his tale and concentrated on his driving. i can’t see anything. we are going to have to pull over. but i don’t want to get stuck in some ditch. look! the hitchhiker cried. there is a light over there! where? see it! over there. oh yeah. it must be a house. is there a path to it? i think i see one… right there! all right then. the driver got on to the path. there was some shelter from the rain under some heavy trees. at the end of the path was a huge old rundown house. there was one light on, in a downstairs window. the driver and the hitchhiker ran out of the truck and up on to the sagging porch. there was no bell, and the driver pounded on the door. after a minute, the door was opened by a woman in a black dress. larry, she said, i thought you would never get here.