The Hitchhiker

In the thickness of the fog, the headlights seemed futile. The car moved deliberately down the highway connecting the small towns of Little Creek and Abigail. The driver scanned the dark road fighting visibility through the haze when he noticed a dark figure standing alongside the road. The driver was confident the figure was that of a man, and so he stopped his vehicle on the shoulder, pushed the button for his hazard lights, and placed the car in park.
As the dark figure approached the passenger side window, the driver leaned and switched on the overhead light. The dark figure was no longer dark as the light gleamed off of his face.
“Where you headed?” The figure asked. The man was tall and light skinned, with a spotty beard and the smell of oil permeating from the clothes beneath his overcoat.
The man in the car hesitated, looked the hitchhiker up and down, and took a slow breath.
“Upstate. I’ll be on the interstate for a while. I can give you a lift if you’re headed in that direction. “
The man standing outside of the window flashed a toothless smile, and replied graciously, “That would be fine. I been out here for a while, and starting to feel hopeless.”
“It’s been a lonely ride, and it’ll help my karma doing a good deed in all! The name’s William.” He was a short thin man, with a pair of thick eyeglasses sitting perched atop his nose. He was dressed in a pair of khaki’s with a bright red sweater. William put a flimsy hand out to the man entering his car.
“The name’s O’Brien.” Closing the door behind, O’Brien settled into the passenger’s seat, adjusting it slightly to accommodate his long legs.
William pulled back onto the highway and shifted his body anxiously as silence filled the inside of the moving vehicle. He glanced over at O’Brien who looked up to meet his eyes, and displayed a nervous smile.
“S-so what happened to leave you stranded alongside the highway at this time?”
O’Brien peered at the driver rapidly tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. “I had some car trouble a few miles back. Blown head gasket I think. Damn thing was overheating badly, so I figured I’d walk back to town and see if I could get a tow or something.”
“Luck doesn’t seem to be on your side tonight. First breaking down on a quiet road, and then getting stuck in the rain and fog while walking.”
O’Brien let out a snide laugh, and then replied, “Yeah, I’ll be glad when this one is over.”
The two men travelled the next few miles once again in silence. “Say friend, you mind if I put the radio on?”
“That’s fine.”
William fumbled around pushing the buttons In search of a station, but came upon nothing but static.
“Figures. I should’ve known better than thinking I was gonna get an FM station to come in clear out here.” William rolled his eyes and switched the radio over to AM.
The news came out the speaker, and William turned the volume up when he heard the beginning of the report. “Adrian County police are in search of a person responsible for the death of four motorists. The bodies were found earlier along highway 33. There are no suspects or a motive at this point but the police are advising all motorists to lock the doors to their vehicles and absolutely under no circumstances pick up hitchhikers—“William leaned forward and switched the power off on the radio. A smile formed out of the corner of his mouth and he asked, “O’Brien, you’re not dangerous are you? You don’t have any weapons, right? I’m not in any danger?” As he asked the last line he snickered under his breath.
O’Brien glared back at William with a look of confusion across his face, surprised at the forwardness of his intent. “No, you don’t have anything to worry about with me. I’m just looking for a ride so I can get my car and get back home.”
The smile formed on William’s face quickly turned to a hard stern stare out the window. “It takes a certain type of person to kill people. We’re not all built for it.”
Abrasively, O’Brien interrupted, “Listen, I appreciate the ride, but I think I’d like to get out of the car. The town isn’t too much further ahead, and—“
William slowed the car down and put his blink on as he pulled onto the shoulder. “I didn’t mean to sound weird. Just making conversation I guess, but, as you wish.”
O’Brien turned one final time before reaching for the door handle. “Thanks again for the ride.”
As he placed his door on the handle, he heard noise behind him. Before he had a chance to turn and look to see what the sound was, he felt a warm burning sensation across the left side of his neck. Immediately he felt blood flowing down the side and front of his neck, streaming over his throat and down his chest. Slowly he turned to face his attacker, but once again William swiped his large knife through the air and planted it into O’Brien’s jugular area. He gasped for air once more before dying, watching the world slowly fade to darkness.
William sat back in his seat and wiped the knife clean on O’Brien’s pants. He took a glance in the mirror to clean off any blood that may have splattered on him, and then exited the car, throwing the keys off into the field alongside the highway. William placed the knife in the back pocket of his pants, and began walking north on the highway, his thumb propped up on his outstretched arm.
The police found the abandoned car with the dead body a few hours later. The owner of the car, Sally Matthews, was found in the trunk, her throat slashed.