<div style="background-color:#000000; border:1px solid black; margin:10px 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><div style="background-color:#470000; border:1px solid black; margin:10px 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><div style="background-color:#800000; border:1px solid black; margin:10px 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><div style="background-color:#000000; border:1px solid black; margin:10px 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/fDvydiv.png">[ img ]</a><br/><br/>___________________________________________________________<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="color: #FF0000">7:15 PM</span></span></span></div><br/><br/><table width="100%"><tr><td style="vertical-align: top; width:50%; padding-right:10px;">“Baby, get back in the car.”<br/><br/>Silence. The man was met with nothing but the chilly shoulder that she kept pointedly in his direction as she strode up the otherwise deserted road, refusing to even look in his direction.<br/><br/>“Get back in the car.”<br/><br/>Nothing. Her cheek still smarted from the punch he’d landed, trying to get her to stay in that godforsaken car. Her body was sore, but her dignity was intact, as was the money he’d given her, tucked away in her bag. Heels clicking against the asphalt, he refused to leave her alone, following right alongside her, the smell of exhaust filling her nose and wrapping her in an uncomfortably stuffy blanket of annoyance. Lifting a hand, she flipped him off, still refusing to look in his direction as she wanted nothing more than for him to disappear.<br/><br/>“Fine! Fucking bitch.”<br/><br/>Finally, the car sped off down the stretch of road, disappearing around a corner, leaving the tail light’s glow to be the last thing she saw until, at last, she was alone. Rain poured down on her, having soaked her through to the core the moment she stepped out of the car, but now it really began to register. It was cold, hard, beating down on her like his fist had only moments before and now that she was coming down from her adrenaline high, it was really beginning to take its toll.<br/><br/>Feet the first thing to go numb, she found herself more wobbly than usual in her heels. Each little pebble she encountered on the road had her off balance, stumbling to keep herself steady. Her arms couldn’t decide if they should be gripping her coat more tightly around her or if they should have been outstretched to keep her upright, so they continually flitted between the two positions, bringing them back whenever she got too cold. Occasionally, if she thought she heard something that could have been an approaching car, she’d turn and hold her thumb out, trying to will a person into existence that she could bum a ride off of; it wasn’t as though she couldn’t pay them for their help. But, all the positive thoughts in the world didn’t change the fact that she was on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere with no hope of calling for a ride because there was no one to call.</td><td style="vertical-align: top; width:50%; padding-left:10px;">A yell drifted on the wind to her on the lonely road, and had her glancing in its direction. Not much could be seen, but she knew what she heard, the word followed up shortly thereafter by another, confirming her suspicions that it wasn’t in her head.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Someone else lost out here is better than nothing. I could get them back home for the price of a ride…good deal to me,</span> Faye reasoned to herself, setting off toward the sound. Her steps, though more assured than they’d been previously, were still off balance, having to stop every once in a while to right herself. Now, though, she had a destination. This wasn’t aimless wandering, but a woman with a mission. Whoever was calling for someone couldn’t have been doing so because they’d gone where they intended, right? If that were the case, they wouldn’t be yelling for others in the vicinity. They had to be open for some sort of a deal, right?<br/><br/>Turning into a driveway, she paused. Looming ahead of her was a house that was dilapidated at best, falling apart at the seams and just begging for a “condemned” sign on it. A few cars were parked in front of it, but no one seemed to be lingering with them, the owners seemingly inside the failing abode…save for one. The figure was hunkered down in the doorway, unmoving, while clogging up that doorway with his enormous frame. His clothes looked like something out of a horror movie, all black and billowing in the wind, hair matted to his head from all the rain.<br/><br/>With a wince, she walked forward. <span style="font-style: italic">Better inside than out here,</span> the woman thought to herself, squeezing her slight form past the man with a mumbled “’scuse me”, only making it a few more feet in when she stopped. It appeared the man who had been yelling was also attempting to drum up attention by banging on the counter, causing the old thing to creak and moan under his strong hits. Over and over, he banged while she merely watched, hearing more footsteps upstairs and while being painfully aware of the man at her back.<br/><br/>“Alright, alright, we hear you,” Faye called out over the obnoxious racket, accent dropped in the wake of the company. “Banging isn’t going to help anyone, including yourself, if the house starts to go. Talking would serve a far better purpose, dah?”</td></tr></table><br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">___________________________________________________________</div><br/><span style="color: #000000">line break formatting</span></div></div></div></div>