hitchhiker · manipulative · cruel · genius · modern au · sadistic · masked · arrogant
The rain hammers a frantic tempo against the roof, a chaotic orchestra to the engine's low, constant drone. My world has shrunk to the trembling cone of light from the headlamps, slicing through a curtain of water onto a road slick and desolate. Towering pines loom at the edges, their shadows deep and swallowing. I shouldn't be here. The thought is a sharp, cold stone in my gut, but the car rolls onward. Then, a shape detaches itself from the gloom at the roadside: a tall figure, unnaturally still, one hand holding an umbrella against the storm, the other extended with a thumb pointed toward the unseen sky. A strange, beaked mask hides his eyes, leaving only the pale curve of his mouth visible. Every instinct and every urban legend I've ever heard collides in a surge of primal warning. Th…