Dark Vacation Surprise

Dark Vacation Surprise

The Plymouth wagon roared down the dark highway, despite its age and rusty exterior, it cut through the early morning mist as quickly as any racer.

“Hey, Rollo,” Mark called over his shoulder. “Wake up man, I am getting pretty droopy up here, it’s your turn to drive for awhile.”

“Hmmmm, what?” A muffled groan came from deep in the pile of sandy blankets strewn across the rear seat of the old station wagon.

“C’mon man,” Mark yawned deeply. “I’ve been driving all night and if I don’t close my eyes for a few minutes, I’m going to run off the road; your choice, man.”

After a few minutes and another groan, a tousled head emerged and leaned heavily against the back of the front seat. “Jeeze, dude,” Rollo croaked. “My head is killing me, you expect me to be able to drive a car in this condition?”

“Too bad, man,” Mark leaned forward to ease the tension in his back and added a groan of his own. “Jennifer is completely zonked out up here. We have to be back at the dorm by eight, I can’t miss that final this morning.”

Returning from a well deserved spring break, the trio of occupants could only dream about the sweet fresh air of the ocean beach long behind them, another couple of months and their college careers would be behind them as well.

Not one of them aware of the invisible noxious cloud seeping from the floorboards.

“Okay, okay! Geeze, Louise!” Rollo leaned back and stretched. “Pull over where you can and I’ll take over.”

Spotting a turnout in the road ahead, Mark eased off the gas pedal and flipped the blinker on.

“Hey, Jennifer,” he called softly, leaning over to gently shake the sleeping girl’s shoulder. “Wake up, sunshine; you can stretch out in the back seat the rest of the way.”

Getting no response from the girl curled up against the window, he shook her shoulder more firmly. “Jenny? Yo, Jennifer, wake up sweetie!”

As the car coasted slowly onto the shoulder, Mark gave her shoulder another poke. “Jenny?”

“Awww, man, let her sleep.” Rollo laughed. “She will be too bitchy to live with if we wake her up now.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Mark agreed, “it doesn’t seem quite fair that she gets to sleep while we drive though.”

As the car lurched to a stop, the unconscious girl fell heavily, face first against the dashboard, her eyes staring straight ahead.

“Jenny?” Mark called again.

The later autopsy theorized that sleeping with her long coat over her head had allowed the deadly exhaust fumes rising from the rusted floorboards to concentrate directly onto her face.