Chapter Text
A blue truck rolled down the dark highway. The double yellow lines on the driver's side and the spaced white lines on the right curved and swayed with the road. The headlights of oncoming traffic on the other side of the road passed infrequently this time of night, or morning.
Sarah checked the speedometer absentmindedly when the truck sighed on the open stretch, 75 mph, good oil temperature, good rpm's, and good on gas, just under 3/4 of a tank, and many more hours of road to drive until she hit the city.
She was traveling from Emherst, cutting north and east on the 16 to get there.
There was an event happening at a university in North Bend, and she wanted to be there a day or three before to photograph the campus' art gallery.
There was recently a painter there who was murdered, the culprit still on the loose and the papers had all been in a stir about the grotesque-ness of it all, eyes and fingers and vocal cords, and- Sarah took a breath, it was horrific what had been done, and to someone so young, not even old enough to drink.
She took another swig from her thermos, still-warm cocoa with a few shots of gritty espresso and fresh ground cinnamon filled her mouth, the cold wind continued to slide and howl off the wind-shield.
In the passenger seat of the truck was her bag, an old yellow backpack filled with cameras and batteries and granola bars.
Through the silence of the radio and the hum of the engine, a pager beeped and buzzed in the cup holder next to the thermos.
[*** 82-32-23-64-05 ***] Blinked across the small screen in green blocky text.
"Hm, what's Cam' doing up?" Sarah mumbled to herself.
The passing overhead signs on the highway listed a town 15 miles ahead, Porter Creek. Sarah cracked the window with a slight crank of the lever, and cold air seeped into the cabin and made her shiver, but it also brought with it an alertness and awareness to boost the caffeine and sugar in her system. The 15 miles became 10, and became 5, and then she took Exit 3.
The truck pulled slow and steady into the gas station, and pulled along side one of the pumps. She turned off her old blue chevy and clipped the keys to her belt, and tossed a blanket over her backpack on the floor, and grabbed her shoulder bag, checking the easily accessible pocket and zipping it back up again. She exited the truck and clicked the fob.
*Honk*
Keys jingled and her steps echoed hollow on the gas stained concrete. There was a thick buzz in the air from the florescent lights.
The door of the gas station opened with a single ring, and the inside was a bright numbing white, rows of chips and snacks lined shelves. The cashier was sat at the counter reading a book. Sarah headed down the aisle to the refrigerator doors and grabbed a 99c bottle of water of the shelf, it slammed shut with a dull *pat*.
Sarah walked slowly up the middle aisle, looking at the bags of sunflower seeds, gummy bears, and hot-chips. They had a buy one get one free on peanut butter crackers. Sarah grabbed a few packs and headed to the register.
The counter was old and colored a pale yellow that might've been white once. And the middle aged woman at the counter raised her head out of her book and dog-eared a page to save her place. She had slim reading glasses, bifocals that made her eyes look cut in half horizontally for a second as she shifted her view.
"hello hon', how are you tonight?" she said, her accent was lively and had a slight northern ring to it, like her Uncle Jay.
"been driving for a few hours, but I'm alright." Sarah said, rubbing her eyes
"That's good, is there anything else I can get for you tonight?" The older woman said.
After a breath Sarah responded, "Uh, yeah, do you have a pay-phone I could use? And can I get this broken down into quarters?", and slid a five dollar bill across the counter, there was a name placard in machined stainless steel sitting there that read: Margaret.
She looked about 50, streaks of grey running through her hair, and was wearing a maroon red sweater that was zipped halfway up, revealing a light blue t-shirt and a loose hanging necklace with a small dove pendant.
"Yep, pay-phones are outside on the right side of the building, by the air and water dispensers hon'." Margaret said, as she was fishing quarters out of the register. Sarah held out her hand and the small silver coins clinked one by one as the fell into it.
"Thanks."
The woman hummed twice and picked her book up, flipping through to dog-eared page, and adjusted her reading glasses.
Sarah took a drink of her water as the door shut and clattered behind her, and headed towards the pay-phones. They were hidden behind some of the few trucks that were parked in front of the store.
The pay-phones were all faded and weathered stainless steel and black buttons, a thick rubber wrapped cord connected the phone to the receiver. Sarah picked up the phone and slotted 2 quarters into the coin slot. The dial tone was filled with different sounding low-pitched beeps followed by the tell tale sound of the stutter tone, it was ringing.
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"Hello?" a voice said on the line.
"Cam! Hey it's Sarah, I was driving and I just pulled over to call your page back."
"Sarah! Hey! What's up? How far are you from North Bend? How long have you been driving? How soon do you think you'll be in town?" Their voice perked up over line and they were talking a million miles a minute.
Sarah chuckled: "I'll probably be there tomorrow around noon, I'm booking it through the low hills right now, I've been going since around 6 yesterday afternoon, I still have to drive up the mid-land pass onto the Vidar bridge, but I'll probably hit that around 2am in the morning or so, and I'll have another stop in Scottsdale, but then I'm there."
"Mhm mhm, okay you're not so far off, I've got my futon ready in the spare room, and I picked up some onion bagels and pears for you." Cameron said.
"Thank you!!! You're so kind!!!" Sarah said.
"You're welcoooome! I'll see you at noon tomorrow then? I'd love to talk more, but I do want to get some sleep, and you have a long way to drive, I just wanted to check on how you're doing."
"Ok, I'll see you about noon tomorrow, get some sleep Cam'."
"Ok, I will, bye Sarah."
Sarah said 'Byeeee' with an elongated ending vowel, then hung up the phone with a clunk on the receiver, and a quarter dropped into the coin return slot.
She grabbed the coin and put in into her pocket, a soft clink in her jeans faded into the night.
In the bright glow of the florescent lights, Sarah took a drink of water, and headed back to her truck.