I was rushing, I had to be there at 2:00 today, and although it was only 1:00 now and a twelve minute drive I was still rushing. Running late to be early. After being out of work for six months now, I wanted to be sure I would make a good impression so I could keep this job. I really needed this job, ever since the accident, I had been broken-spirited. I jumped into the borrowed car from my Cousin and started the engine. It sputtered and was reluctant but finally it turned over. The weak groan of the barely-running four cylinder engine filled the inside of the car. With a sign, I dropped the car into drive and pulled out of the driveway. On this day six months ago I was in a car accident. It wasn’t my fault but in accidents like these it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. It really just matters that we are all just lucky to have survived.

It was a rainy day and the roads were slick. I was coming back to work from a dinner break when I had to slow down for a car accident coming up on my right. Traffic was being funneled into one lane but there was no organization behind it. Everyone was just forcing their way into the left lane. No police or any emergency teams had arrived yet so it must have been a newly formed accident.
I came to a stop on that cold day to do my part and let a couple cars come over to avoid the wreck. About four minutes later I heard the chilling screech of tires until I felt the broken glass cutting through the back of my neck, some stabbing into me, others sliding around it. My head flew forward and I saw the white car scraping against the side of mine. I could feel the vibration of his car grinding against mine. He turned his wheel and twisted his car and lost control. The other driver swerved into oncoming traffic. Another car avoided him with an abrupt maneuver and went around him, luckily avoiding a head on accident with him. The third car couldn’t get control back in time and slammed into the front of mine. My head flew back now and the windshield shattered. I threw my hands up to protect my face and a piece of glass cut deeply through my hand. My head was bleeding from hitting the steering wheel and my back was drenched in a scarlet river. I felt myself having trouble to stay conscious and I went to open the driver door of my car. The other drivers were getting out now, stumbling and shaking themselves off. The one that hit me the second time was bleeding from the forehead as well the first one that hit me, wasn’t hurt. Lucky him. I pushed hard on the door but it was jammed. The uni-body frame of my car must have bent pretty badly from getting hit in the rear. I shook my head and leaned back. I sat my elbow down in a sea of glass and it cut through my arm as I leaned back and kicked the door open with everything I had left. My whole body was writhing in pain and I thought that this was going to be it. I rolled from the car onto the glass and gasoline covered ground. The smell of burned rubber filled my nostrils and made them sting. Gasoline soaked into my cuts and hurt badly but I had no strength to move or to wipe my arms or neck off. I felt myself slipping out of consciousness and couldn’t fight any longer. The last sound I heard was sirens in the distance, my last thought;

I’m not going to make it.

I pulled out into the parking lot of the gas station. My interviewer was standing outside, smoking a cigarette. I took in a deep breath and got out. He caught my eye and stuck his cigarette in the ash tray. I saw him grab some nicotine gum from his pocket and put a piece in his mouth. He waved me over. I straightened my back and walked over with the best posture I could manage and a smile.
His name was Billy Rivers. His shirt was poorly tucked into his stained khaki pants. He was blading and overweight. His teeth were yellow from smoking and he smacked his gums obnoxiously with every chew of the nicotine gum. Spit flew from his mouth as he spoke,
“You Joseph Bright?” he asked in a very strong southern accent.
“Yes sir” I responded as articulate as possible. I stuck out my hand for a hand shake and Billy reached for it and shook it quickly. His skin was rough and cracked. A very visible scar stretched from his wrist to his elbow. I did my best not to look at it.
“Come on inside, let me talk to ya about some of how things work ‘round here.” Billy said to me, again in a strong southern accent. I nodded to him and followed him inside the gas station. It wasn’t too bustling and busy like those gas stations back in Seattle. But there were still a good amount of people. Probably most of this small town came in at around the same time. The registers were dinging and chiming and greetings and farewells were being passed between customers and employees. Plastic bags were crunched and shaken open and drinks were taken from the coolers. A large clock hang from the ceiling and in digital blue letters showed 1:32pm. I followed Billy through the mess of people and into a small back office. Billy took a seat and spit out his nicotine gum. He grabbed another piece from his pocket and stuck it in his mouth. He shuffled through some papers and grabbed a single one.
“Here at Gas N’ Go we put customer satisfaction first and foremost. We’re only busy ‘round this time. Not many folk travel this way anymore, nothing back here but deserts and sand.” Billy laughed and spit a little. He leaned back in his chair, “think you got what it takes to handle third shift?”
“Yes sir, of course” I responded quickly.
“I sure hope so son. We’ve lost quite a few on third. Just stopped showin up. Didn’t even stay through the whole night.” He laughed again “like they was scared of the dark.”
I forced a laugh to be polite. It sounded fake in my own throat but Billy didn’t take notice.
“Well son, the job is yours. Let me show you how them registers work.” He stood and we walked over behind the counter. The crowd was dwindling down now and about an hour after training it was empty. I left then, tonight was my first night.

The sun was setting over the highway leaving an ocean of orange and pink washing over the horizon. I pulled up behind the gas station and parked the car by the dumpster. I turned the car off and watched as the sun settled below the horizon, and all was dark except for the station now.

I walked inside and over to the office and sat down in front of the computer. I clocked myself in as my co-worker Dana counted out her drawer. She was much older than me with dark hair and few visible teeth. She spoke with a strong southern accent but all around was a kind person. I heard her drawer shut and I stood up. Walking out of the office I saw Dana grabbing her jacket,

“I’m glad yer workin’ third, I cain’t hardly stand being alone in the dark.” She laughed and being courteous I smiled back.
“Ain’t no one gonna bother you ‘round here though, it’s just the idear of the thing.” She smiled and waved as she walked out of the door. I nodded a goodbye and watched as the door shut behind her. It was just me now. I opened my cash register and counted the money inside. I took a seat behind the counter. Ten hours to go.

This was a small town gas station and Dana was right, no one would bother me because in the town of Orangesky Arizona, everyone knew everybody and nobody really bothered anyone. Most people still didn’t know me since I had only just moved here six weeks ago (right after the car accident). I had to get away from everyone back in Seattle. After the accident I found myself needing to get away from my normal routine to something a little less, city-like. I moved here to stay with my cousin Ted but recently, Ted had gone out into the desert one night and no one has seen him since. It’s been three weeks since that night and the man hunt for him ended three days after I reported him missing. It’s a commonly known fact, you cannot survive more than three days I the desert.

Ted and I weren’t very close but we were family. His disappearance was unexpected and different to me, although, according to the other town members, people in Orangesky seem to disappear quite often. They’re all a bunch of superstitious fools I used to think. The longer I stayed, the more of this towns weirdness and superficial nuances came to my eyes and now, I believe it as well. Orangesky Arizona is haunted.

An hour had past, yet time was still dragging on. Nine hours to go. I tried to pass the time a little quicker by turning on the radio. It buzzed and crackled as I searched through the stations for one that was broadcasting clearly. The voice of the radio host sounded out through the station,

“Now for some weather forecasts for all you night-owls out there. Looks like we got beautiful and clear skies tonight and the stars are shining bright. Tomorrow morning the sun rises at 6:17am and it’s going to be a bright and sunny day. Now, time for some music. This tune is a favorite of mine, hope you enjoy it.”

As the country song began to play I turned the radio down a little and looked outside. I stared for a moment and blinked. I walked over to the front door and leaned outside. The sky was completely swallowed in a black and cloudy blanket. Not a star could be seen. I blinked again and leaned back inside. I looked up at the clock hanging from the ceiling. It had gone out and no time was showing. I thought to myself that it probably turns off at night to conserve energy. I walked back over behind the counter. I surveyed the station; it was empty of course and sat still in an ominous way. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I felt a chill rush through my spine. My arm got goose bumps and I shivered. It felt like a cold wind blew in but only against my back. I rubbed the back of my neck and walked over to the back door. I looked outside over the barren desert. It was dark except for the single street light behind the station. About a minute later, the light flickered out. I put my hand on my neck again to stop the already in motion hairs from standing up. I heard the sound of a breath and felt it on my neck and hand, I froze. The goose bumps came back and ate up both my arms. In the reflection I saw a ghostly form with a white and empty face. It was still but impossible to focus in on behind me. It raised a long and skinny hand with abnormal fingers. It started to place its freakish hand on my shoulder, my heart stopped as I felt the touch.

My face was pale and I was cold. Frozen where I stood by the touch of whatever was behind me. I turned and faced it. Its face was papery white with stretched skin over its skull like, gaunt face. It had no eyes; just black holes were they should be. There was only half a nose, but not blood dripped. The mouth was just a mass of dead skin stretched across its face, unable to open. It raised its other hand and reached slowly towards me. I screamed and threw my hands in front of my face. My eyes closed and I stepped back.

The cold, hard concrete hit my head and I felt like it was going to split open. I opened my eyes, the figure was gone. I had fallen outside of the back door and was on the ground. I sat up and shook my head. Taking in a deep breath I tried to settle myself, doing my best to convince myself that it was just a hallucination of the new sleeping schedule. I stood up and walked back inside, I was shaking; cold sweat ran down my back. I still had goose bumps. I sat down behind the counter again and looked up. I knew then, I needed more than sleep.

The large clock in the center of the station was now blinking a blood red digital 8:30:23 and it was counting down. But even stranger and harder to believe was not the random numbers on the clock in an odd color I had never seen but was the fact that the clock was dripping a dark red liquid. The clock was dripping blood. From the bottom, those blood like numbers were dripping to the floor yet, the numbers on the clock never wavered or got thinner. Like an endless supply, they dripped, a faucet of blood just slightly left on. I had to leave because something was going on and I didn’t want to stay to find out. This couldn’t be happening, I must be dreaming, but I couldn’t be, I felt the pain of falling earlier. I grabbed the phone from under the counter and dialed 9-1-1. I should’ve expected how cliché this would be when there was no dial tone.

I set the phone back under the counter. Although I needed this job, I didn’t know what was going on, I had to get out. I walked towards the back door and outside. The sky was a display of black clouds, no star shined through, no light was visible anywhere. The moon too, was buried behind this wall of darkness. I stumbled my way to where I left the car. My hands were shaking uncontrollably now and it took me a minute to fumble the keys out of my pocket. I settled my hands, unlocked the door and got in the car. Immediately I locked the driver’s side door and took in a deep breath. The station was still bright, the only lit thing for miles. Not even the street light above me was illuminated and there were no others lit either. I started the engine, praying that it would be reliable now and to my surprise, I felt the engine turn over after the first try.

I started my retreat from the station. Within a second I found the highway and aimed for home. The road was dark and the weak headlights of the car didn’t do much to brighten it before me. The farther away I got from the station, the darker the world around me grew. I felt like I had been driving for hours when I should have been home already. Like I was driving the same road over and over again like a giant circle. Finally I came to a bridge I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t anywhere near my way home as far as I could tell. But around me outside was dark, like I was swallowed in a swirling fog of darkness. Like there was a strong wind blowing all around, but with no effect. I drove towards the bridge; stopping to turn around just didn’t feel like a good idea. The clouds around me lowered and the road grew darker as it seemed the black fog focused mainly on the bridge. As I approached the bridge more and more my headlights went dimmer and dimmer and finally cut out and the car shut off as I pulled onto the beginning of the bridge. Around my car came a swirling black cloud again. I couldn’t see anything, not even the hood of the car. Suddenly I felt the car rocking and I shifted forward, hard. I could feel the car sliding forward; I pressed hard on the brakes and pulled the handbrake. But nothing slowed the car for sliding forward. The dark cloud cleared suddenly and I was facing the ground below, at least 300 feet down. The bridge had snapped and broken in half and I was falling to the ground. I covered my eyes and screamed, waiting for the eminent crash and the screeching sound of shattering glass and metal, a sound that was all too familiar in my head still. I felt the car sliding the last inches forward and finally I felt the back tires fall from the bridge. I clenched my teeth and waited for the end.

I jerked up from the chair; my head was sweating and my hurt badly. I felt like I had been in another wreck, then I remembered, falling off the bridge. What happened? How did I get back here? Did I just dream everything? I wiped my head, a sharp pain shot through my hand. The scar from the accident back in Seattle had reopened into a gash and was bleeding slightly. I wiped it on my shirt and walked back into the center of the station. Again, it was empty. Maybe I did just dream everything. I mean it all looks the same. I looked out the back door. Ted’s car was still there. I must have dozed off and been dreaming this whole time. I shook my head and my heart settled a little. I looked up to have my breath stopped and I froze still. Hanging above me was a sight to break all reassurances. The large clock had those still counting numbers. Those blood red counting and dripping numbers. The floor below never caught any blood but instead it seemed to evaporate as it fell, like it wasn’t real, but it was. The worst part, the timer didn’t move from when I left the station earlier, 8:30:23 and counting.

I stumbled back a step, almost tripping into a shelf of car oil and other emergency roadside equipment. I stared at the counter, gapped at the disappearing blood dripping to nothing. Out of curiosity after I had become a little more settled (but not by much) I placed my hand under the timer, the blood dripped into my palm. It ran down the sides creating a small puddle. When I turned my hand over it all ran out of my palm and this time it splattered on the ground. My hand was red now and I wiped it on my pants leg, leaving a scarlet smear.

“Joseph.” I heard a whisper throughout the station saying my name. It was a woman’s voice, one I didn’t recognize. “Joseph. Joseph.” It repeated again and again. I couldn’t decipher where it was coming from. It sounded as if was echoing from every corner, from every crack in the floor, every crevice in the ceilings, and from every hole in the walls. An ominous voice that raised the hairs on my neck again. A spine chilling call that echoed the reality of this unrealistic occurrence. “Joseph. Joseph.” I had to get out. I ran towards the back door, threw it open and ran outside into the night. I stopped short when I saw an odd figure in the distance. I hoped to myself it wasn’t the same one I saw earlier. It looked like a man though, sitting curled up, rocking back and forth slowly. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t stop myself. I walked over, moving as carefully as possible. As I neared the man I could hear he was speaking aloud to himself, mumbling nonsense over and over. His voice was shaky and uncontrolled, his eyes darted back and forth and he was sweating. Over and over again he mumbled and mumbled but I still couldn’t understand. I approached him and stepped in front of him. I slowly reached out my scared hand,
“Sir? Hey man are you alright?” I questioned gently. The man stopped rocking, his voice stopped and slowly he looked up at me.
“Alright?” he whispered then laughed a chilling laugh. “ALRIGHT!?” he shouted and laughed louder in a way that echoed in the open desert. I couldn’t understand how sound was echoing in an empty desert but I couldn’t deny what I heard. I felt the air around me shift and it became darker and harder to see. I looked around, the wind was spinning wildly and I couldn’t focus on anything. I felt something jerk my hand down and I was forced to lean forward. I screamed in pain as the man clutched my hand, twisting it.
“The darkness is coming.” He spoke in a whisper. He released my hand, it still hurt and I gripped my wrist. The man smiled a crooked smile and raised his own hands. They were bloody and dripping and he wiped them across his face. I was frozen again, my scar was completely re opened now and dripping blood like a fountain, covering my hand and wrist entirely. It hurt horribly and as bad as it did at the accident. The man laughed again in the same way that chilled my spine and became blurry to my vision. Like a snowy T.V. screen. I couldn’t focus on him and slowly I lost more and more sight of him. All I could here was his creepy, unsettling laugh. I turned and ran back inside, my hand bleeding and dripping all the way. I slammed the door and locked it. I pushed shelves in front of the door. All I could find that had weight I threw in front of the door to barricade it. I ran to the office grabbed the lamp and ran back over and plugged it into the corner hidden from the back door. I grabbed the only flashlight I could find and tossed it down beside the lamp. I locked the front doors and shoved the last of the shelves in front of it. Outside I could hear the wind stirring and building up. The lights at the pumps outside broke and shattered one by one and the sky blurred with inescapable darkness. The timer was counting fast now, as if time were being fast forwarded like in some kind of horror film. I sat down beside the lamp in the corner and gripped the flashlight till my knuckles were white. Then, all the inside lights went out. The only light now, was my small flashlight.

The station wad dark, the outside lights were out fir good and all was black. I sat in the corner, my back to the wall, a single lamp beside me, illuminating the only safe area. The back door was still barred but the pounding continued. My hand was bleeding from my previous scar and my heart beat like a base drum. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and smeared blood everywhere. The salt from my sweat stung in my hand, but I didn't take notice.
The constant beat of the darkness pounding against the doors and windows drummed through my head, a constant reminder of what was to come. Finally there was a crack, the glass broke and shattered inside. The doors burst open as my single lamp was broken, everywhere was dark now. Swirling in, surrounding the station the darkness came in. I gathered my last bits of strength, stood and took in a deep breath. The dark completely overtook the room. The counter hit zero and there was no time left.

Shelves around me crashed forward to the floor and my hair flew crazily everywhere. The blood on my hand started to drip faster as I walked slowly forward into this cloud of black nothingness. I smelled the air of hopelessness and felt the chill of the end, and I knew,
This was it.

Awake

I jerked up, but was stopped by wires connected to my chest and nose. I blinked and looked around. A piercing and rapid beating rang through my ears. I could hear a voice.

“Doctor Rivers to room 181. Dr. Rivers to room 181 please.” I raised my hand; wires were connected to a weird clasp on my index finger. A lady dressed in white rushed in.

“Mr. Bright calm down, relax and lay back down.”

“Dana! What’s going on?!” rushed in a man dressed in white as well.

“He’s awakened. His heart rate is speeding up” she responded.

“Sedate him now, he’ll give himself a heart attack.” The man replied back. I struggled and tried to free myself. The lady rushed over and injected something into a suspended bad beside me. I felt my strength failing. I had to lay back down, my eyes slipped closed.
“He’s awake now. That’s good, I didn’t think he would to be honest.” Said the man in white.
“We all thought he wouldn’t. We all thought this was it for him” replied the lady beside him.