The sun was hiding behind the clouds. The clouds were dark grey and were on the verge of tears. All of the animals took cover, and only a small amount of people were awake. Altogether everything was calm. That is, until a black cube started to scream.
“Ring! Ring! Ring!” the digital alarm clock screamed at the sleeping figure next to it. The annoying clangor made the humanoid jump at the noise and shut off the alarm. It stared in awe at the bright red digital numbers, which seemed to be a joke sent by the devil himself.
“7:30 already?!” the figure exclaimed.
This was a day in the life of Patrick Stone. Patrick was an intern at a big software company. He had never been the best with getting to places on time. He had recently graduated college and went straight into the work field. That is in question though, since he technically never had a job yet, just an internship. No job, no money, this meant that Patrick had no way of living on his own. Well, his parents did give him a monthly allowance, but he usually spent it all on gas money and videogames. So, instead of getting a job to provide for himself he lived with his grandmother.
Patrick’s grandmother lived in a rural area far from the city where the software firm was held. To Patrick’s misfortune, this meant that he had to wake up earlier just to be on time. The drive from his grandmother’s house to the city was about 30 minutes. Add in traffic and the time it takes to find parking and get inside the building would total to be about an hour, maybe 55 minutes on a good day.
There was a single road in the whole area where the two lived. That road forked into two. One way was to the long road that led to a bridge to the highway that eventually led to the city. The other was a tunnel that led to the bridge but was never used. Passer goers generally follow the flow of traffic so they ignore the tunnel. The denizens of the area say that the tunnel was haunted.
His granny’s knitting friend told him that there was once a newlywed couple that moved to the rural area, ready to settle down. A man and a woman, the woman was the ideal wife; she cooked, was smart, and was easy on the eyes. The man was still trying to find himself in the world, or so he would always tell his wife. They both worked in the city but, the wife had a day shift at a hospital and the husband had a night shift at a bar. The only time they had to spend with each other was their days off. One day the husband met a girl at the bar. It started out with flirting, then smiling. Eventually, she gave him her phone number. The texts were at first innocent just getting to know each other better, and then things got raunchy. Before he knew it, the husband was in a full out affair. One day when the husband was out to work he forgot his phone at home. The wife was home and the phone was constantly ringing. When the wife finally picked up the phone she was shocked to see what was on it. She grew crazed from jealousy and one day, driving home from work, saw the husband and the mystery girl in the car together driving to the city. The wife pulled over and walked in front of her husband’s car. Before the husband could do anything she shot him the heart, so he could know how she felt. After realizing what she had just done, she put her hand on her stomach and whispered something inaudible then, placed the barrel of the gun into her mouth and pulled the trigger. Nobody really knows what she said, there are rumors though. Some say that it was a prayer to go to hell; others say that it was a curse to the girl in the passenger seat. Eventually, word about the deaths got out and people that once took the tunnel stopped, saying that they were disturbed by what happened and were scared that they would be haunted. Patrick was not a big fan of ghosts so he only took the long road to the highway.
Patrick left his upstairs room and made his way down the wooden stairs. In five minutes he managed to brush his teeth, comb his hair, and put on a majority of his dress clothes. In high school he went through a scene kid phase, tall, skinny, and awkward. He dyed his brown hair black, had a fringe that covered half of his face, and even wore eyeliner. He grew out of that phase when he hit college though, people made fun of him. Now he had his natural brunette hair with a quiff. He was still tall, skinny, and awkward, but that was just how he was naturally. When he reached the end of the stairs and finished tying his tie he practically ran to the kitchen.
“Granny, why didn’t you wake me earlier?” exclaimed Patrick when he saw his grandmother sitting at the kitchen table, sipping on some tea.
“Ah, Patrick you’re finally awake. You looked so peaceful I didn’t want to disturb you” said his grandmother calmly.
“But Granny, you knew that I would have to wake up early or I would be late for my internship” Patrick said sulkily.
“You’re not going to get there any earlier complaining to me” was his grandmother’s snarky reply.
“Sassy as always” thought Patrick to himself, “but she’s right, I have no excuse for sleeping in”
Patrick left the house with a final goodbye to his grandmother and briskly walked to his car. Since his parents gave him a car for his graduation present. It was probably to make up for kicking him out of the house. Patrick was always a lazy person, so they wanted to push him to go further in life and make a name for himself. His car was his most prized possession. The lustrous white exterior and the leather trim seats gave him a false belief of being the apex predator on the road.
As Patrick started his car the time read 7:41. He backed out of the drive way from the two story house and began his trek on the long road to the city. All of a sudden a loud crack of thunder clapped, it was loud enough to make Patrick jump. Then once again, another clap of thunder, but was simultaneously heard with a strike of lightning, and then rain started to pour. It looked as if the gods used a whip to lash at the clouds and the clouds began to cry.
The rain got harder as Patrick drove on, the thunder and lightning ceasing to stop. The lightning was so bright and so constant that it lit up the sky, like an artificial sun, Patrick did not even bother turning on his head lights. It made Patrick worry that the rain would dent his car. As if to verify his concern, hail started to fall. From a far distance he could make out the bridge and the clear sky over it. This stressed Patrick out, he was so far from the bridge, but he needed to reach it as quickly as possible. He could not dare have his prized possession dented. He was unsure if he had enough money to pay for the body work.
He was closing to the fork in the road and he had an idea. He would take the tunnel to reach the bridge quickly. It would protect from the hail and immediately bring him to the bridge. It was a win-win situation, especially since he was running late to the corporation anyways. Too bad there was a flaw in his plan. He downright forgot that the tunnel was supposedly haunted. So he took the turn to the dim lit tunnel and drove on.
The tunnel seemed nothing out of the ordinary to Patrick. Then suddenly the lights turned off. Patrick grew weary and turned on his head lights. About halfway through the tunnel his car turned off and slowed to a halt. Before Patrick could comprehend anything there was banging on his car. He froze and started to freak out. Suddenly, the car turned back on and he stepped on the gas.
Patrick finally reached the firm and found parking. For some reason he could not shake off an eerie aura. When he got out of the car he inspected it. There were handprints all over the back and sides of his car. The prints looked as if someone placed their hands all over his car and left behind an oily residue. So Patrick came up with the conclusion that the little event was not paranormal, just some delinquents pulling a prank on him. He would just clean it after he got off.

So, Patrick ended up being late and got in trouble, yet again. It was finally time to leave. Patrick stopped by a car wash to take care of his precious gem. He parked his car and waited inside the vehicle as he watched the people swarm around him, like little ants, go to work and launder his car. After about ten or so minutes, one of the workers came up to the car and knocked onto the window. Patrick expected the employee to tell him that they were done and ask for a payment. Instead the worker had news to tell Patrick.

“Hello sir, we managed to wash most of the handprints off of your car” the man began to say “It appears that two of the handprints are inside of your car”

This shocked Patrick, in a slapdash manner; he went to the back of his car and saw two handprints one skinny with slender fingers and the other small and pudgy, no bigger than his palm.