Dreamspell Nightmares II

Excerpt from “Closing Time” by D. Nathan Hilliard
The car still squatted out there, clear across the parking lot at the dim edge of the circle of light created by the gas pumps.
Erin gave it an irritated glance as she restocked the cigarettes in the overhead single pack rack. The clock beside her cash register showed twenty minutes to midnight, and if she could get enough of her closing chores done now she could be out of here by a quarter after. But that car sitting out there in the dark complicated matters.
She first spotted it sometime before ten o’clock. Erin didn’t give it much thought at the time since had her hands full with the night crowd of customers, and kids hanging out in the game room. It appeared to be an older model, dark colored sports car…perhaps a Firebird or a Trans Am. She figured kids were sitting out there smoking a joint and just chilling out, so it slipped from her attention. With brisk business going on in the bright fluorescent oasis of the store, goings-on out there in the dark didn’t seem all that pressing at the time.
Now with midnight approaching, and only Doobie Collins left in the game room, the car once again encroached on her mind. Pushing the last rack of cigarettes into place, she squinted against her reflection in the window and tried to make the car out better. The combination of bright lights inside and black night outside defeated her, making the large pane a better mirror than a window.
Resting her elbows on the counter, she drummed her fingers on the surface and contemplated her options. The click of her nails on the vinyl countertop made a staccato counterpoint to sounds of explosions and blaster fire emanating from the game room. She didn’t want to bother the police over what she suspected amounted to nothing, this being a quiet neighborhood with almost no crime rate. Erin felt that once she gave in to the heebie jeebies and let them dictate her actions, it would be that much easier to succumb to them next time. Besides, what kind of idiot would park outside a store for hours before holding it up?
Snapping her fingers, she straightened and turned towards the game room.
“Hey, Doob! Come here a sec.” She figured she might as well attempt to put the kid to use before throwing him out for the night.
There thundered a final sounding explosion and a muffled “aw”, then the skinny, stringy-haired teen slouched out. “Dude!” he complained, “that was my next to last quarter.”
She chose to ignore his confusion of gender terms.
“Don’t worry about that. If you do me a favor, I’ll put some free credits on the game of your choice tomorrow night.”
“Cool! Whatcha need?”
“You see that car out there, on the other side of the parking lot?” She rolled her eyes as the pot addled teen bent over and squinted out with his hand shading his eyes, “Doob, try to be a little less obvious.”
“Oh yeah.” He took two steps sideways and continued to peer out in the exact same manner from behind a stack of beer cases. He couldn’t have looked more conspicuous in a black trenchcoat and fedora, with a huge pair of binoculars.”So whatcha want me to do about him,” he whispered.
“Doobie, we’re alone in here. You don’t have to whisper.”
“Right.”
Erin took a deep breath.
“What I want you to do is go out the door like you’re going home, and be sure and walk past that car out there and try to get a peek at whoever’s in there on your way by. Then just keep walking down to the gas station at the other end of the block and call me from that pay phone they have outside. Can you do that for me?”
“Sure. But that’s my last quarter.”
“Free credits tomorrow night. Remember?”
“Oh yeah.”
With exaggerated caution, Doobie rose from his place behind the beer cases and made his way towards the door. Erin shook her head, moved over to the canned food aisle and started fronting the merchandise. This would let her work where she could keep an eye on the teen’s progress with her peripheral vision. She already felt foolish about the whole thing, but at least this would get her information she could act on. Grabbing a can of beans, she pulled it forward to even it up with the rest of the cans on the shelf.
“GOOD NIGHT, ERIN! I’M GOING HOME NOW! I’LL SEE YOU TOMORROW! BYE!”
Doobie stood in the open doorway, giving a large exaggerated wave goodbye.
It stood as a testament to her self control that she didn’t brain him with the can of beans.
“Good night, Doobie.” She sing-songed through clenched teeth.
With a big grin and a conspiratorial wink, he turned towards the dark outside.
Erin watched him leave and amble his way across the asphalt in the general direction of the car that lurked out there in the dark. She offered a silent prayer to whoever listened up there that nothing sinister awaited in the parking lot…and that she didn’t just send an innocent, if somewhat functionally challenged, kid out there into the middle of it.
Overall, she didn’t mind the boy that much. Doobie caused far less trouble than many of the neighborhood kids that visited the game room. He, more often than not, just contented himself with spending ridiculous amounts of time and coinage on the old pinball game in the back corner. It’s just that his nonchalant air-headedness irritated the hell out of her, reminding her of the stoner kids that existed at the far end of the social spectrum from her during her own high school years. At least for most of her high school years.
Now she watched with trepidation as he sauntered past the gas pumps, taking an angle that would take him past the front of the car before he reached the sidewalk and headed up the street. He just needed to walk past the car and then head up the sidewalk to the gas station at the other end of the block.
Of course, Doobie didn’t do that.
The boy almost made it to the sidewalk when he made a sharp detour and headed straight for the car. Erin almost choked as he trotted back across the front of the car and headed around to the driver’s side window. She couldn’t make out what he did there, since only his white shirt made it possible for her to place him out there in the dark at all. Dropping all pretense of working, she stared out the window at the dark end of the parking lot.
After what seemed an eternity, Doobie trotted back into the light and towards the store. Erin watched in bemused silence as he hopped onto the sidewalk fronting the store and pulled the door open.
“Well?”
“It’s cool.” He shrugged, “It’s locked and empty. Nothing but some old black and orange Camaro that somebody parked…woah!” Doobie noted the change in her expression, “Erin, you okay?”
She kicked herself for reacting in such an obvious manner that even a goof like Doobie could catch it.
“It’s alright, Doobie. It’s nothing.”
“Aw c’mon, Erin. Don’t lie to the Doobster here. You turned white as a sheet when I mentioned that car. Does that car belong to somebody who’s bothering you? Say the word, and bad things can start happening his way.”
“No. Nothing like that. It’s…” She realized that after using him like she did, she owed him at least the courtesy of some ¬explanation, “it’s just that the car you described reminded me of something very bad that happened a few years back.”
“Yeah?” he leaned against the front counter, “A wreck?”
She resigned herself to telling the story, “No, a stalker.”
“Whoah! And that’s his car out there? No problem! Four flat tires, coming right up!”
“No, Doobie! It’s not his. It just the same thing he used to drive.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“How?”
“Because,” she sighed, “he’s dead.”