Page 2 of Joy
Please don’t beat the shit out of me for totaling our cars.
The stranger didn’t respond, instead only looked at his car and rubbed his bristled jaw.
“Do you?” I asked.
Still no answer.
“Hey,” I prodded.
He turned. “Doesn’t cover noninsured motorists.”
“Great,” I stated.
I could… well, not get in my car and drive away, because my piece of shit wasn’t likely moving anytime soon. But I could run. He didn’t know my name. I wasn’t from here. I could just turn around and hitchhike home. Let the dude worry about repairing his own car.
Except… that was probably the lowest, cruelest action imaginable. I didn’t have much to my name but my pride, and I clung to it like a raft adrift in a vast ocean. I couldn’t walk away.
I glanced up to see him staring at me. “I’m sorry. I—I’ll get this fixed. I don’t know how, because I have no money, but I won’t leave you all jacked-up like this.”
“Good intentions won’t pay for a repair.”
God, don’t be a dick.
“Hey, I’m trying to do the right thing,” I retorted. “Cut me some slack, will you?”
“I didn’t wreck your car.”
I relaxed my balled-up hands and took a really, really deep breath. “Guy—”
“Silas.”
“What?”
He motioned to himself. “Silas.”
Wow.Silas? Who the fuck named their kid Silas these days?
He stared at me.
“Silas,” I corrected. “Give me a minute to figure this out.”
As if a minute would make me less fucked than I was thirty seconds ago.
I put my hands on my hips and turned away.
It was quiet.
I hadn’t actually gotten out of my car since becoming lost in the countryside, away from the freeways and rest stops. But sure enough, up here in northern New Hampshire, in the middle of the road in late afternoon—silence. There was a brisk breeze blowing through the spring leaves, and they rustled like Mother Nature’s wind chime.
It was kind of nice. Mostly weird.
I mean, where were the people? The cars? The sounds of human civilization? There were more animal crossing signs than traffic lights.
I turned back to Silas. “Where the hell am I, anyway?”
He raised an eyebrow. “In between Lancaster and Dalton.”
“Are there any cities nearby?”
