What’s going on? What are you doing? No! No! You can’t! Leave her alone! No! Stop it! Stop it!”
“No!” Janet awoke with a scream. She was perspiring. Sitting up straight with a jolt, she blinked in the dim morning sunlight. Looking around, she had nearly forgotten where she was—but only for a moment. Reality came back with a punch, and she moaned from the ache in her back. Sleeping in a car all night didn’t contribute much to a good night’s rest. However, before getting out of the car, Janet looked around at the new morning scene.
Everything looked pretty much the same. “But then, why wouldn’t it, dummy!” Disgusted at herself for such a trivial observation, she stepped out of the car and stretched followed by a moan. “I can barely move,” she complained and carefully stretched some more. Leaning against her car, she looked straight up into the trees. It was quiet and peaceful. A soft breeze still blew and danced through the treetops stimulating their soft sweet song. It sounded almost like gentle voices whispering to her that everything would be okay and not to worry. But she did worry.
Again, the memories of the past two days were foremost in her mind. Janet took a look at herself in the side view mirror. “I look a mess!” Like the day before, she ran her finger through her hair and tried to detangle it as much as possible. “What the heck,” she finally said and gave up. “It’s the best I can do. The party’s over.” At least she hadn’t completely lost her sense of humor. Somehow it was keeping her from fully breaking down. She knew she had to keep her wits about her and began taking stalk of her situation again.
“I need to be practical about all of this. I have no ruby slippers, and besides, this is definitely not Kansas anyway.” A good night’s sleep or not, she was definitely in a different frame of mind this morning. She felt more in control of her emotions, although not necessarily so with regard to her situation. “I’m still lost,” she reminded herself, now wishing she had opted for a newer car with GPS capabilities.
Janet decided to look for something else to eat and sat down in her seat once again, rummaging through the things on the passenger seat. As she wrestled with the potato ship bag, she thought she heard something and stopped…listening. Suddenly she became aware of a faint sound. It was an engine of some kind, but where? She quickly closed her door and locked it but kept her window rolled down slightly to keep listening. The sound was getting louder, and she readied herself to take off in a heartbeat. Now she wasn't so sure if she wanted someone to find her after all. Starting her engine, she continued to wait—checking her mirrors. Then suddenly, a jeep crested the small rise ahead and skidded to a stop in a spray of loose dirt and gravel at the sight of Janet’s car.
“Now what?” she asked at the sight of the driver. For a few seconds, they sat staring at each other. Then Janet threw her car in drive and applied the gas. “No one is going to get me. Not even you, buster!” Her tires spun in response with dirt and gravel flying everywhere!
“Hey, wait!” The other driver shouted for her to stop, jumping from his jeep waving his arms at her.
She slammed on her brakes and threw the gear in reverse, again applying the gas with more debris scattering in all directions. Finally gaining some traction, the car flew in reverse and right into some thick underbrush. Janet was now in a panic! The stranger ran to her car and grabbed the door handle. She shrieked at him to get away. Her eyes were filled with terror and her face drawn tight.
Surprisingly, he did back up, holding his hands up in a gesture suggesting he didn’t mean her any harm. His reaction surprised her, and she sat staring at him again. He stared back. If the whole thing hadn’t been so terrifying to her, it could have been rather funny—just the sight of two strangers engaged in a staring contest in the middle of a forest. But this wasn’t some other time or place, and she was still terrified.
Janet kept her engine running, talking to him through her partially rolled-down window. “Who are you!” she demanded.
“Well, who are you?” he demanded back.
“I asked you first!”
“Okay... okay, my name is Greg,” he answered, his hands still in the air.
“Greg? Just Greg?”
“That’s enough, isn’t it? Now it’s your turn.” He was smiling but kept his hands slightly raised.
She hesitated then replied, without smiling, “Janet.”
“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.” He stepped toward her car.
“Stay back!” she demanded immediately. He froze where he was and raised his hands higher. My name is Janet,” she shouted back.
“Janet?” He smiled again. “Just Janet? There was a tone of lighthearted sarcasm in his voice.
Janet smirked at him. “Okay. I’m sorry I acted so strange.”
“Strange? Heck, I don’t see what’s so strange about some ditzy city woman out in the middle of nowhere driving around like a crazed fool and yelling at me, do you?” he responded loud enough for her to hear.
“What makes you think I’m crazy, or ditzy, or even a city woman, for that matter?” she shouted back at him, obviously angry, but at the same time realizing that’s exactly what all this looked like, plus he had no idea what she’d been through the past couple of days—or did he?
Greg began to chuckle and slowly put his hands down, but he didn’t move yet. He didn’t appear to be all that dangerous. And he certainly didn’t look like those guys from the party or even the men she had seen at a distance with their binoculars the day before. Greg sported a closely cropped beard, wore dirty jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt, unbuttoned at the neck. Even his mud-encrusted boots looked friendly, if that were possible. Janet wanted to trust him. She desperately wanted to trust someone. And besides, he hadn’t been following her last night—not in that jeep of his.
“I don’t bite,” he called out to her.
Janet didn’t make any move to get out of her car or even shut off the engine.
“Are you gonna sit there all day?” Greg approached her again, slowly. “Where are you headed anyway?” He stopped about eight feet from her car and waited.
“I...I’m going home” was all she could think of to say, still talking through her half-opened window. It sounded stupid as soon as she said it. She was sure he thought so too.
“Just exactly where is home?” he asked, trying to keep a straight face.
Good question. At this precise moment, she really wasn’t sure which way home was. “I...I’m not exactly sure,” she finally replied. “I think I took a wrong turn somewhere back there.” She looked back in the direction she had so carefully driven the evening before.
His gaze followed then he looked back at her. “That was quite a wrong turn you took then. You’re a few miles from the main road, you know.” He cocked his head a bit. “Seems to me you would have figured out your mistake those few miles back.” The tone of his voice had changed a little, and he wasn’t smiling anymore. His eyes were serious, and he waited for her to respond.
Janet had to make a decision. She either had to trust him or turn around and go back to the highway and take her chances with whoever had been following her. Shutting off the engine, she opened the car door and stepped out. Greg took a couple steps toward her, then stopped and said, “I won’t hurt you.” His voice was calm with a hint of concern. “I promise.”
“Okay,” Janet responded and then looked away for a moment.
“Are you hungry? Why don’t you come back to my cabin and have some breakfast?” His offer was tempting. “There aren’t many fast-food places around here.” There was that smile again. “Then maybe we can figure out how to get you headed in the right direction.”
Janet felt embarrassed. “Okay,” she said reluctantly.
“Good. Just follow me in your car.” He started toward his jeep then turned and asked, “Are you stuck there, or can you get out?” He carefully made his way around to the rear of her car, watching her the entire time, and
took a look at her situation. “I think you’re okay here.” He smiled again and headed for his jeep. Janet got back into her car. She waited for Greg to get turned around then began to follow him farther up the dirt road with measured trust. She could still turn around and go back the other way, she reasoned with herself—that is, if she wanted to. But something was drawing her to Greg. Obediently, she followed him toward his cabin.
Chapter 6