Part I

We all stared at Jerry’s mom as she waited for us to move first. I knew she wouldn’t budge from the exit, and there was no other way out of the cul de sac. Issac kept the car in drive, waiting for the first chance he got to escape.

“She isn’t moving any time soon,” Alice told us.

“Just go back to the house,” Jerry said with a sigh. He never broke eye contact with his mom. I was glad to be sitting behind him. I wouldn’t want to have a stare-down with his crazy-ass mother.

“You sure?” Isaac asked, glancing at him. Jerry nodded. Isaac backed up to the next street and turned around to go back to Jerry’s mom’s house.

We sat in front of the house for three minutes and, yet his mom hadn’t shown up. “Where is she?” Zane asked, annoyed. He looked out his window at the empty street around us.

I thought this could be a horror movie. She could pop out any second, and all of us would scream. Both because she would come from nowhere and because she was psycho.

“Maybe she thinks we just wanted to distract her so we could get out or something,” Alice thought out loud. Irritation and annoyance danced across her features as she stared ahead.

“Head back, I bet she’s gone now,” I said. 

Sure enough, when we got back to the entrance, she was gone. There was no movement in the street. Each of us surveyed it to be sure.

“Now go as fast as you dare so we can get the fuck away from here,” Zane told him.

Lucky for us, there were no cops driving by as we drove through the backroads. I’m pretty sure going fifteen over the limit is illegal.

“I think we got away,” Alice said when we were five minutes away. We would be on the highway headed home in just a few minutes. The trees were beginning to thin out, gravel turning into concrete.

I glanced behind us. “Um, I don’t know. That car is headed towards us pretty fast.” Dust was rising, creating a sense of a storm heading for us.

Everyone except Isaac looked back at the SUV.  Dodging cars, it swerved onto the main road and headed straight for us.

“Shit!” Jerry screamed, slapping the dash.

“What is she doing? Like 85 right now?” Zane asked.

I pushed up to see the speedometer across the car. Fuck, she had to be doing 85 if she was gaining on us that quickly.

“The on-ramp is right there,” Isaac groaned, flicking the blinker and reluctantly slowing down.

Silence swept over the car as Isaac kept his eyes on the road. Zane and Alice watched the light, probably praying it didn’t turn red. Jerry and I both watching his mother get closer and closer.

“Guys, she isn’t slowing down,” I said. A jolt of fear ran down my spine when I could finally see her face through the windshields. Curly dark hair stuck out all over her head, a cigarette in her mouth, and determination on her face. She looked like a damn demon.

“Oh my god! Turn! She’s going to hit us!” Jerry yelled.

Zane whirled around and gasped at the close proximity of the grey SUV. This was going to hurt like a fucking bitch.

Alice and I screamed as we turned around, expecting the impact of a car. The sound of squealing brakes came from behind us as well as from our car we were in as we were all shoved to the right.

Isaac made a risky turn onto the on-ramp and just missed being hit by cars coming at us and Jerry’s mom from behind us. Horns blared, more tires squealed, and high-pitched screams came from more than just the girls in the car.

Heavy breathing was the only sound in the car. Not even Issac’s stereo was on and vibrating through the car.

“Is everyone okay?” Isaac asked quietly.

“Holy shit,” Zane whispered. He turned to Jerry. “Did your mom just try to fucking kill us?”

“I think I need to pee before I pee my pants,” Alice mumbled quietly.

“Shit,” Isaac said as he looked into the mirror. “She’s coming back.”

Loud and constant honking came from her car as she caught up to us. She was even with our car and then swerved into us. Isaac swerved away from her and hit the gravel on the side of the on-ramp, which could have killed us on its own.

That would be our luck. Rather than the crazy bitch trying to kill us, we would die from losing control on gravel.

“Just stop the car!” Jerry yelled once Isaac took control of the car again.

Jerry’s mom had used the opportunity to get in front of us and slammed her brakes almost at the exact same time Isaac did. It was like he had prepared for her to hit the brakes as they stopped in sync. The five of us shot forward as he hit the brakes to avoid a collision. We shot back and came to a stop.

It was the worst rollercoaster I had ever been on.

“I fucking knew it!” Jerry growled. “She was trying to make the accident look like our fault. God damn rear-ending laws are bullshit.”

“Call the cops,” I said. “Now!”

“Anything else?” the cop asked.

“No, she drove off when she heard us talking to the dispatcher,” Jerry replied. His arms were crossed, and he was standing stiff. It was an improvement from the shaking we had all been doing from the fear of nearly being driven off the road, slammed into, and the adrenaline that had been rushing through us.

“Well, according to our records, the only call we got was from you.”

“I told you she wasn’t actually talking to the police,” Zane said. “She was just trying to scare us.”

“Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure she did that when she tried to kill us, not when she was making us think she called the cops,” Isaac replied dryly.

The officer winced in sympathy at Isaac’s retort. “There isn’t much we can do,” The officer said. “I’m going to go talk to her, but the only thing I can do right now is put in a restraining order for you. Without us catching her chasing you, this will be considered a domestic dispute. But if it were to happen again, we might be able to do something. It just depends on the situation.”

“I don’t want a restraining order. Just tell her to leave me alone.”

“Alrighty. I’ll call you when I’m done talking to her; let you know what she says.”

“Thanks,” Jerry said.

“You kids take it easy now.”

The officer left, and we went inside the gas station to sit at Subway. We ordered food and sat quietly until the officer called. All of us picking at the food we ordered and not tasting anything.

“What did she say?” Jerry asked him as he put the phone on speaker.

“She said you hit your brakes quickly, and she couldn’t stop. Then she told me she was only trying to get you to pull over afterward.”

Jerry shook his head, pissed, but refrained from saying anything.

“She also said if you want the car back, you can have it.”

Jerry snorted. “Hell no. I don’t want to go through this again.”

“Listen, I’m not supposed to say this, but off the record, I could tell she was lying. She got real nervous when she answered the door. You keep the card I gave you. And if this happens again, you tell the responding officers about me, and I’ll confirm the situation.”

“Thank you. We really appreciate your help.”

“Take it easy, kids.”

The phone went silent, and we all sat there, lost in our own thoughts.

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I had woke up this morning, I expected to sip on pumpkin spiced coffee all day and curl up with a book. I was exhausted mentally and physically felt wired enough to run a marathon.

“Well,” Zane said, pulling out a joint, “I never thought I would see the day where I was actually happy to see the police.”

And just like that, the tension was broken, and the five of us laughed until we could sense the other people staring at us like we were going insane.

Photo by Thomas Lardeau on Unsplash