#The readability coulda been a bit better here but you know what?

[sonicchaoscontrol]

[Ch. 1, Page 13]

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[moonlight-azalea]

The Prophecy on the Bathroom Wall

To fill some writing time, and to get in some practice, I’ve been working on some short stories and the like. Here’s one I’ve even completed, also readable on wordpress here.

Summary: The prophecy was written in sharpie on the wall of a gas station bathroom.

4441 Words

Part One

The familiar light, small though it was, caught the passenger’s attention immediately. She stretched her legs under the dashboard, yawning as she ran her fingers through her tangled brown hair. She looked to the driver, the lights of the console and the headlights outside the only things illuminating her face.

“You need gas.”

An exasperated sigh worked its way up the driver’s throat and spilled from her lips. “We’ll stop. You got any cash left, Kara?”

Kara frowned but struggled to reach in her pocket. After much twisting and grinding, she unbuckled her seat belt and thrust her hips into the air, a balancing act perfected by practice. She yanked her wallet from the back pocket of her torn blue jeans and sat back down, sliding her belt back into place.

“Ummm,” she pulled it open, fingers flipping through it. “Yeah. I’ve got some.”

“Alright.” The driver threw a look over her right shoulder before merging into the other lane.

“I don’t see why you bother looking. It’s three am and no one’s out here.” Kara leaned back in her seat, throwing a dirty sandal-wearing foot up against the dash.

“It’s a highway. I gotta look.”

“Sure thing.” Kara mumbled under her breath. “Paranoid Michelle over here.”

Michelle took one hand from the wheel to bat at Kara. “This kinda talk is why you never drive.”

Kara grumbled but said nothing more as Michelle pointed at the sign looming from the side of the road. “Look at that! A rest stop just in time.”

“Maybe they’ll have something to eat.” Kara thumbed her wallet again. “Wouldn’t mind some dinner or something.”

In the dark she couldn’t see Michelle’s frown. The car fell silent but for the hum of the engine. Well, maybe once it was a hum. Now it groaned and complained everywhere they went. Michelle handled the old metal smoothly, pulling off the highway into the rest stop. She drove slowly to the gas station, one hand reaching for wallet in Kara’s lap.

“Whoa now.” Kara lifted it out of Michelle’s grasp, pulling some bills from it before dropping the worn leather into her friend’s hand. “There you go. I’m gonna go see about food.”

“Fill up the drink.” Michelle turned off the car, pocketing the keys as she smoothly opened the door and exited the car in one fluid motion.

“Sure thing.” She blindly waved her hand between her legs until it hit her bag. She pulled it into her arms and followed Michelle’s lead.

Kara made her way across the pavement into the station. The tired cashier barely looked to her, just gave a small nod. Kara scurried past the check out counter, already eyeing the bathroom sign. She pushed open the door into the single bathroom, locking the door behind herself.

The duffel bag she set on the baby changing table, pulling out a pile of empty water bottles. She filled these from the sink one by one until the bag was full once more, heavy now on her shoulder. Kara turned to the door and stopped in her tracks, head cocked.

A fine scrawl adorned the off-white wall next to the door. Kara had seen all sorts of gas station graffiti, but none with the fluid cursive of this. She was accustomed to boxy letters and rude accusations. She approached the small script, black sharpie surprisingly vibrant against the dirty wall. She could only make out some of the words, to her disappointment.

“Fine graffiti like this should be enjoyed.” she muttered to herself.

Michelle’s voice from the other side of the door broke her musing. “Kara are you done in there yet? I gotta go.”

“Yeah sure thing. Here look at this.” Kara unlocked the door, swinging it open to reveal an unamused Michelle.

“What? More fine art on the wall?” She pushed past Kara. “Out. I need to go.”

Kara shrugged, gesturing to the wall as she took her leave. “We can’t all be connoisseurs I guess.”

“Mhm.” Michelle slammed the door shut.

Kara shook her head and walked a slow lap around the small store. She eventually settled on a tin of peanuts, taking her prey up to the counter to be rung up. She took her dinner outside, where she wandered the lot until she found where Michelle had parked the car. She slid into her seat, nestling in before cracking open the peanuts.

She had nearly fallen asleep when the driver’s door slammed back shut. She jerked awake, just catching the tin of nuts in her lap. “Michelle! What took so long? Everything working okay?”

Michelle slid the key into the ignition. “I was figuring out what your wall said.”

“Oh!” Kara forced the lid back onto her nuts and sat up. “And?”

Michelle shrugged. “Just a bunch of nonsense.”

“Well it’s all nonsense, Shelly.” Kara shook her head. “Throw me a bone here.”

Michelle turned in her seat, eyes avoiding Kara’s as she backed out of the parking spot and began her trek back onto the highway. “It was a load of bull.”

“Come on!” Kara insisted. “Give it to me!”

Michelle lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “Oh, just some end of the world crap.”

“No way. Another one?”

“You’d think people would have better use of their time,” Michelle agreed. “than to write doomsday prophecies in the bathrooms of truck stops.”

Kara let out a long winded sigh. Silence reigned for only a moment though before she was back up. “So? What is it this time?”

“Flooding.” Michelle glanced over. “Rain of an ocean, it said.”

“At least they showed some love when they wrote it.” Kara sank into her seat. “Even if it was unoriginal.”

Michelle only nodded absently, mind already back to the drive ahead. It wasn’t long before Kara was asleep beside her. Michelle remained wide awake, body tense and mind alert. Kara had asked so few questions when Michelle suddenly insisted they leave the college, head back home out east. She had only nodded, asking after Michelle’s family, making sure everyone was alright. Michelle had assured her all was well, she just wanted to stop in and surprise them for the weekend. She did hate to lie to her best friend, but sometimes she had to.

The sun crept high into the sky before Kara awoke. She rubbed her eyes, mouth open wide in a yawn. She pushed herself back up in her seat, looking over to Michelle. Blue eyes stared straight ahead, seemingly unfazed by her all-nighter.

“Hey, you sure you don’t wanna sleep? There’s still a ways till we’re home. I can drive.”

Michelle had to swallow past a dry throat many times before she could speak. “No, I’m good. I’ve driven this straight before.”

Kara did not press the matter, only settled in to watch the road. She did not last, as she never did, and reached out to turn on the radio.

“I don’t know if that’s working.” Michelle spoke quickly, but her tone was even.

“Only one way to find out.” Kara turned up the volume, scanning for a signal. She hit the news quickly, fingers still on the volume knob as she listened to the announcer, eyes growing wide and jaw dropping. She looked over to Michelle. “Did you know it was storming this bad back at campus?”

“How would I know?” Michelle asked casually. “You just turned on the radio.”

Kara shook her head, watching the road as she listened to the radio announcer. “I don’t believe it. I’m glad we’re not there! Good weekend to get out of town, Shelly.”

Michelle said nothing. She reached for the radio, scanning until some pop singer began filling the car with her upbeat song. Kara grabbed her peanuts off the floor, diving in with the zeal of someone pleasantly surprised by the turn of life’s events. Michelle glanced over once, but then kept her gaze on the road before them.

Kara hummed along to the bad pop music on the radio, restraining herself only barely from dancing in her seat. Too many commutes had gifted her the knowledge of almost every lyric to the top forty pop songs of the day. She was just really starting to jam when the car took a major swerve in the road. She grabbed onto the dash, head slamming to the side. She eyed Michelle, who only blinked rapidly and straightened them out.

“Okay, what the hell was that?” Kara held on to the dash still.

Michelle reluctantly spoke. “I suppose I am not as awake as I thought.”

“Or hoped to be.” Kara shook her head. “Jesus, Shelly, you coulda killed us!”

“I know, I know.” Michelle carefully pulled over onto the side of the road. “Here. Maybe you should drive for a bit.”

“Yeah. I should.” Kara swung open her door and stood, stretching in the sun. Michelle stared at her hands on the wheel for a long moment before following her lead. They each rounded the car, Michelle nabbing the peanuts from the center console as she sat. Kara muttered nonsensical words under her breath as she adjusted the seat and mirrors.

“Okay let’s go. Take a nap skippy.” Kara glanced over her shoulder just a second before pulling back out onto the highway, less deserted now than it had been at three am.

Michelle cracked open the peanuts, eating in silence. When the can was empty she lidded it and threw it into the backseat. She reached down by her feet, pulling one of the refilled water bottles, and slammed most of it back before capping it and dropping the bottle to the floor. Michelle leaned her seat back, shielding her eyes from the sun with one arm. Kara reached out to turn down the music as Michelle drifted into an uneasy sleep.

“Aw hell.”

Michelle awoke immediately at the dispirited words. She sat up, looking over to Kara before looking straight ahead outside. Rows of cars sat still ahead of them. Kara herself slowed to a stop.

“Road work.” Kara grumbled. “For miles, it looks like we’re back up.”

Michelle peered out her window. “I know another way home. Take the next exit.”

Kara grumbled as they inched forward. Michelle righted her seat, settling in for the slow haul. “It’ll be okay. Once we’re off of here let me drive. I’ll get us there.”

“Sure thing.”

Michelle was silent as Kara tuned the radio again, pop music dying as a new host spoke. Kara listened intently, but Michelle just stared out her window. “Dude.” Kara shook her head, the car creeping forward another few precious inches. “It’s sounding pretty bad. I’m glad we’re out of town.”

There was no response to her words. Kara did not push for one. After what felt like forever, the radio still telling tale of the storm back on campus, Kara was able to pull around a couple cars and head off the highway. She pulled into the first gas station she saw, turning off the car and stretching.

“Bathroom.” She grunted before leaving.

Michelle took her place back in the driver’s seat. She pushed her chair back, straightening her mirrors once again. She turned the key, changing the radio back to the top forty hits. It could have been any station, anything that played music instead of telling them about the weather at home.

Kara fell back into her seat, a plastic bag of cheap foods in her hands. “Hey my check went through! Not a bad gig, being employed.”

Kara triumphantly threw a bag of pretzels onto Michelle’s lap. “Here you go. Eat up.”

Michelle didn’t touch them, just pulled back out of the gas station and continued driving.

Michelle had plenty of understandable fears about Kara driving; she was reckless, didn’t look around nearly enough, and she had a horrible habit of suddenly falling dead asleep while in the car. Kara insisted she concentrated enough while driving that she couldn’t fall asleep, but they didn’t know for certain. Michelle never let her drive long enough. And she was glad for it, too, as Kara leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. Within minutes she was out.

Michelle turned the radio down, back to the news. A grimace twisted her face as she listened. Kara didn’t need to hear any of this. The storm still raged on the coast, but had begun moving inland. Following them.

Michelle drove a little faster.

Part Two

Kara roused slowly, expecting to blink back sunlight, but finding herself instead in the dark. “Whoa. How long was I out?”

Michelle glanced down at the clock. “The sun just finished setting. You were asleep maybe five hours.”

“Wow.” Kara stretched in her seat, covering a yawn with her hand. She froze there, hand in front of her mouth, sleep seeping away as she thought, hard. She worked her way through her thoughts before slowly speaking. “Wait. Five hours. We should be there.”

“We were.” Michelle shrugged. “They weren’t in. Apparently they’re at my uncle’s for the weekend. So we’re headed there.”

“Oh.” Kara thought a moment. “You didn’t even wake me up when we got there?”

“No need to.” Michelle shook her head. “You were sound asleep. “

“How do you know they’re at your uncle’s?”

“They left a message on the fridge. My brother returns home this weekend from his trip abroad.”

“And they weren’t there to greet him?” Kara asked incredulously.

“Maybe there was an emergency,” was all the more Michelle would say.

Kara couldn’t quite put her finger on what she didn’t like about the conversation. Shrugging it off, she reached for the quiet radio. “Campus is wrecked.” Her voice held a certain sort of awe. “I had no idea it was supposed to storm so bad. Flooding, though? When’s the last time campus even flooded?”

“I don’t know.” Michelle was curt.

“Okay.” Kara turned off the radio and faced Michelle as much as she could in the confines of the seat belt. “What’s going on here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh no don’t you pull that shit, Michelle.” She shook her head. “We were never going to your folks, were we? You lied to me.”

Michelle released a long sigh. A heavy silence lay upon them for many minutes before she finally spoke, “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

Michelle’s knuckles were white against the wheel. “I’ve been having these awful dreams. And so far, everything has been happening just like them.”

“Wait, you’re taking me god knows where because of a dream?” Kara leaned towards Michelle. “That’s a little weird, you know.”

“I know.” Michelle glanced over, pained look in her eyes. “I knew you wouldn’t take it seriously but… I couldn’t take the risk.”

“What risk?”

At the ensuing silence, Kara’s heart fell in her chest. Michelle carefully took one hand off the wheel, reaching to take Kara’s hand in hers. Her sweaty hand gripped Kara’s tight, squeezing as though Kara would disappear if she let go.

“And then the rain actually started and,” Michelle’s voice broke a moment. “It’s happening just how I saw, Kara.”

“This is all a lot weird.” Kara fell back into her seat, still holding Michelle’s hand. “But I guess I’ll let you have this one. I’ve pulled you around for all sorts of shit.”

“Thank you.” Michelle said quietly.

Kara was only quiet a moment before she asked. “So where are we actually going?”

At Michelle’s shrug, Kara let out a soft “Oh,” and looked out her window. She said nothing more.

Eventually, Michelle slid her hand from Kara’s grip with one final squeeze, returning it to its place on the wheel. They drove through the dark in silence, but Michelle could almost hear the downpour of the storm chasing them along the highway. She had no destination, only knew they would drive as far as the car could take them. She had never dreamed of anywhere beyond campus, only knew they had to be as far away from it as they could get. She didn’t know if the storm would carry this far, only knew they had to keep moving.

Kara offered to drive, hours into the silence. If they didn’t have a destination, she needn’t worry about knowing which turns to take. Michelle nearly accepted, but a sudden panic overtook her. What if Kara turned them around, knowing now the reason they drove? She could take them closer and closer to campus, where Michelle somehow knew despair lay. She firmly refused Kara’s offer. It didn’t matter if Kara believed her so long as they kept heading inland. The storm would pass. They would return to their friends and their home and all would be well.

Michelle should have thought harder about why she never dreamed of their time beyond the campus.

Part Three

“Shit.”

The tone in which Michelle spoke would have rattled Kara enough, but the curse passing her lips took it to a new level. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

“I should have put more gas in at our last stop.” Michelle frowned. “And I don’t know where to find a station.”

“How low are we?”

Kara’s question was answered as the car spluttered to a halt. The engine stopped humming and the ensuing silence was deafening. Michelle held the wheel for a long moment before opening her door and stepping out into the dark. Kara hesitated before following. She threw open the door and stood, blinking in surprise as the lightest rain fell on her head. She turned around to speak to Michelle, but no words would come when she saw her friend standing perfectly still, shoulders slumped and head back, rain falling on her face. After a moment, she realized she was crying.

“Hey,” Kara skirted around the car to wrap an arm around Michelle’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay. We’ll find a station and get some gas. Walking’s good for you, anyhow. Or maybe we’ll get picked up, you know how I’ve always wanted to go hitchhiking cross country…” she babbled as she held Michelle.

“It’s raining.” Michelle’s voice was empty, defeated. “I thought if we moved fast enough…”

“It’s just a drizzle, Michelle. Not the rain of oceans.”

Michelle flinched at Kara’s words. “We need to go.”

Kara watched as Michelle reached back into the car, grabbing her keys and Kara’s purse. She pocketed the keys and slung the purse over her shoulder and began to march down the road.

“Hey hey hey!” Kara shook her head. “We need to push the car out of the road.”

When Michelle kept walking, Kara swore under her breath. She shoved at the car, just budging it out of the main path of the back road it died on. When she could do no more, she ran to catch up with her friend. “You’re losing it, Michelle.”

“You haven’t seen what I’ve seen.”

“They’re just dreams!” Kara pleaded. “Come on, Michelle, some sense here!”

“What if they’re not?” Michelle turned on Kara, grabbing her hands in her own. “Please just bear with me. Everything is happening just the same and I can’t… I can’t.”

Michelle let her hands fall to her sides, looking away from Kara’s accusing stare. She turned back along the road and started walking, each step taking her farther and farther from Kara. The latter stood, blinking away rain as it fell in her eyes.

“It was one thing, riding around for the hell of it. But look at us!” Kara shouted after her. “Out of gas, stranded god knows where. How is this better than waiting out a damn storm?”

When no response came, Kara growled curses under her breath but took her first step forward. As the anger and hurt subsided, a new panic flared. The light drizzle was quickly becoming a torrent, water hurling itself down on them. Another curse, and Kara was racing after her friend. Each footstep splashed in increasingly larger puddles until she reached Michelle, almost sliding to a stop in front of her. One hand pushed against Michelle’s chest, quickly catching Michelle’s attention.

“Alright look.” Kara had to speak up now over the rain pounding around them. “We’re not gonna get anything but hypothermia if we stay out here, okay? Let’s sit in the car, wait this out a bit. Maybe someone will come by.”

Michelle wanted so badly to argue, but Kara already gripped her shoulders and began to direct her to turn and head back to the car. She could not think of any words that would convince her friend, so she helplessly followed Kara’s pushing and trudged back to the car. Kara reached into Michelle’s pocket, pulling out the keys with some difficulty. She dropped them in the mud, swearing up and down as she bent over to get them. She let go of Michelle, wiping the keys off on her sweatshirt. When she looked back up, Michelle was exactly where she left her, staring up into the rain.

“Jesus, Shell.” Kara muttered as she forced the key into the back door. She yanked it open, immediately bending inside and pushing days of trash out of the way and onto the floor. She emerged back into the pouring rain to push Michelle into the car. Michelle did not fight, just moved numbly into the back seat. Kara followed, pocketing the keys on her way in. The door slammed shut and they were out of the rain, though they could hear the steady pounding on the roof.

“I should have known nowhere would be safe.” Michelle whispered then.

Kara was busy bumping her elbows into everything in the car as she removed her sweatshirt. After hitting the seats, the window, the roof, and Michelle, (twice), she finally threw the soaked fabric onto the floor of the passenger seat. Only then did she respond to Michelle’s words. “What, because you dreamed about some rain?”

Michelle shook her head, looking out the window into the darkness for a long moment. Kara opened her mouth to release scathing words, thought better of it, and just sighed. She leaned back in the seat, listening to the rain on the car.

“Because of the truck stop.”

Kara’s head lolled to the side so she could look to Michelle. “The truck stop?” She asked dumbly.

Michelle finally looked to her. “Yes. That stop with the graffiti. The one you couldn’t read.”

“Oh yeah.” Kara was quiet for a minute before she spoke again. “You were pretty spooked after that one.”

“It was my dream.” Michelle whispered. “The graffiti said the same thing as my dream.”

Kara snorted. “The prophecy on the bathroom wall, huh?”

“I hoped not.” Michelle looked out the window again. “But it looks that way.”

Neither said anything more for hours. They sat in their own heads, Kara moving once to scrounge in the trash for a snack. When she could find nothing, she settled for pushing her torso between the front seats to grab a water bottle and downed the whole thing. She slid back into her seat with a sigh, staring at the ceiling.

“I’m sorry.” Michelle broke the silence.

Kara bit. “For what?”

“We could have spent our last time with all of our friends but I dragged you out here.” Michelle whispered, her quiet words almost too low for Kara to hear.

“It’s a storm, Michelle. No one says we’re dying.”

When no response came, a cold grew in Kara’s heart. She went to open the door, but Michelle grabbed her arm. “Don’t go out there.”

Kara ignored her, forcing the door open and spilling out of the door. She barely hit the ground, splashing instead into inches of water. She scrambled to sit up, looking in the dark to the car. The little light above Michelle illuminated enough for Kara to cough out a dry laugh. She slowly stood and shook her head in disbelief.

The water already was passed her ankles. Simply standing there was difficult, the force of the water pouring from the sky trying to force her back into the dirt. Kara made eye contact with Michelle, whose eyes were wet with tears.

“How is this even possible?” Kara asked then, shouting over the rain.

Michelle slid into Kara’s seat, barely staying out of the rain. She peered at the growing flood. “I don’t know.” She shook her head, pushing her words out through her tears. “We spent so much time wondering how it would all end. I didn’t think a biblical flood would be it.”

Kara lifted her foot to take a step and a rush of water from above stole her balance. She fell with a splash, landing on her hands and knees right beside the car. She grabbed onto it with her hands, looking up into Michelle’s bleary face.

“I’m so sorry.” Michelle whispered again. Kara could not hear it, but she knew the words.

“I forgive you.” Kara wanted to scream the words, throw them at her friend, but she said them calmly as she stood, pulling herself up so she could duck her head into the car. Michelle went to move back, give Kara space, but Kara shook her head. She reached in to grab Michelle’s hand, pulling her close and pressing a wet kiss to her forehead. They were both shaking, but neither noticed. When Kara pulled back, Michelle tried to grab back onto her but Kara evaded her grasp.

Michelle knew with sudden certainty what Kara was about to do. “No, don’t,” she whimpered. She knew Kara could not hear, but she also knew Kara would not listen even if she could.

Kara turned from the car and pushed her way through the water. Michelle trembled, watching Kara fall. When she did not immediately get up, Michelle threw herself from the car and half swam her way over. She found Kara on her back, eyes closed, fighting to breath against the downpour. Michelle forced her up, Kara’s eyes snapping open at the hands on her arms.

“You’re not dying alone.” Michelle screamed.

Kara’s scream as she pulled Michelle into her arms wasn’t words, just confusion and anger and rage. Michelle clutched her best friend to her, burying her face in Kara’s soaked chest, feeling the water pour over them. Kara pulled her arms tight, holding Michelle with all of her strength. She had the passing thought that the greatest indignity was not understanding why, not having a reason. She always hoped, as everyone hopes to some extent, that her death would be meaningful. She would do something meaningful.

The most meaningful thing she could do now was hold Michelle until the very end.