The Last Guardian

Chapter_45: Highway 66

It was around 12:30 in the night. As Lisa’s car stopped abruptly in the, middle of the road, an eerie silence overwhelmed her senses. It was strange- she tried to start the car for a couple of minutes but it won’t budge. Only the headlights were on. This was the first time that this has happened to her- it has only been a year that she had bought the car, so she was surprised that it would break down all of a sudden. She unhooked the seatbelt and went outside to look into the car’s bonnet. Even though, she had no previous experience of fixing a car, she had to try. As she stepped outside the vehicle, she felt a cold gust of wind touching her face. The street was deserted, she was stranded in the outskirts of the city, there were dense forests on the either side of the road and she was starting to get a little worried. She had heard strange stories about this part of the road-Highway 66- a place known for its paranormal activities, from sightings of ghosts and monsters to alien abductions, this place had it all. She cursed her luck and opened the bonnet, using her phone as a flash light, she checked the engine- it looked fine to her- no smoke! She closed the bonnet and scrolled through her phone to call for emergency services...

The sky was pitch black and the atmosphere felt heavy with a strange presence. A light breeze blew across the trees on the side of the road and the leaves swayed in the breeze in eerie harmony. All she could hear was the sound of an owl hooting far away- aside from the lights on her car, the place was dark as hell. She was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable as no one was picking up her call.

“C’mon... c’mon, pick up-”she whispered impatiently holding her phone to her ear.

The call got connected but an automated voice responded from the other end saying that all lines were currently busy.

“Crap!” she whispered in frustration and this time called dispatch to send any police officer near her location.

Luckily the dispatcher picked the call but as she was about to speak, her phone battery died.

“Hello? Hello? Ugh! God! Why is this happening to me?” she cried in frustration.

She looked at her watch under the light of the car. It was 1:00 a.m. and she was stranded on this creepy road, all alone with no one to help her and worst of all her phone had died. She went back to her car and sat inside for a minute thinking what she was supposed to do next. Suddenly she saw a tiny source of light coming from the far end of the forest towards the east. She peeped through her window- there was indeed something there. She thought she should go check it out- it might be someone’s house. Every bone in her body was telling her not to leave her car but she went anyway, hoping that somebody in there might be able to help her out. She took her gun and a small flash light with her and locked her car leaving the lights on...

The road was treacherous, there were thorny bushes and puddles of mud along the way but she managed to walk ahead. The light ahead got brighter- it was coming from a hurricane lamp placed inside a room. She was now 200 meters away from the house- it was an old shack built in the middle of nowhere. The place was in ruins but someone was inside. She paused for a moment and observed- the place looked harmless even though she knew that a cabin in the woods was always a recipe for disaster. But she needed help, so she walked towards the house carefully watching her every step. The sound of the cicadas crying monotonously and the creepy hooting of the owl was all she could here besides the sound of her own foot steps...

As she got closer and closer, she could smell the delicious aroma of food being cooked inside. Someone was preparing dinner even though it was way past supper time. She bravely approached the door, stepping carefully on the creaky wooden porch and knocked on the door.

“Hello? Anybody in there?” she called.

The door suddenly creaked open and an old lady stood in front of her. She seemed kind and had a pretty smile-she was short and stout and wore a long skirt. Her cheeks were red and she had short blonde hair.

“Yes my dear- are you lost?” asked the old lady.

“Sorry to bother you ma’am but my car broke down in the middle of the road and my phone’s battery has died too- do you have any phone that I can use to call emergency services?” asked Lisa politely.

“Oh! I’m sorry my dear we don’t have a phone but you are welcome to stay until morning-please come in-”replied the old lady.

Lisa was disappointed but there was nothing else she could do and agreed to accept he old lady’s offer to spend the night.

“Uh! Okay Thank you so much-”she said.

“Oh! It’s all right dear, I was just preparing some food, my husband has gone hunting and he will be back anytime now-”replied the old lady.

“And you two stay alone here?” asked Lisa sitting down on an old chair beside a broken table.

“Yes, every few months, we come down here from the village in the country to spend some alone time-” she said bringing her a glass of water.

“I’m Thelma by the way- what’s your name?” asked the old lady.

“Lisa- Lisa Munroe-” she replied taking the glass of water from her.

“Oh such a pretty name and you are so pretty too- are you married?” asked Thelma.

“Uh- no, I’m far too busy for that- I have to work long hours, pretty hard to go out on a date-”smiled Lisa.

“Oh that’s too sad-wait here for a while, I’ll get some food for you-”said Thelma and slowly walked into the other room.

Lisa waited anxiously as Thelma walked into the kitchen. She looked around the house- it was in a bad shape-unkept and unclean- it didn’t seemed like they have stayed here for long. There was just a table and two old chairs and a hurricane lamp on the table, besides that the room was pretty empty. She didn’t drink the glass of water and kept it aside- the glass looked like it hadn’t been washed in ages. Something about the smiling and sweet old lady didn’t quite seemed right to her.

Moments later Thelma walked in from the other room with a bowl of soup and placed it on the table.

“Here you go dear- I got you some tomato soup-”she said smiling.

“Oh Thank you- um you’re too kind-”Lisa replied and looked at the soup.

She took the spoon and gently stirred the hot soup but she saw something strange- two white little balls were floating in the soup. She looked closer – they were human eyeballs! She gasped-

“Oh my god!” she cried.

“What is it my dear?” asked Thelma smiling.

“There’s- there’s-something in there-”she stuttered in fear.

“Oh that? That’s just something I use, to flavor the soup- let me taste it- umm delicious-”said Thelma taking an eyeball from the hot soup with her hand and popping it in her mouth.

Lisa almost puked and stood up in disgust.

“What? You don’t like it? Sit down dear-finish your meal-”said Thelma kindly.

“No-no- What are you?” she said trying to move away from her.

“I said SIT DOWN!!”Thelma growled like a monster. Her face changed for a moment and it almost seemed like she turned into some demon for a minute and then she turned back into the same smiling old hag.

Lisa immediately sat down on the chair, trembling with fear. She knew it was a bad idea to come down to the cabin. But what could she do now? She slowly reached her hand towards her side arm.

“Oh! You’re a sneaky little thing aren’t you-”said Thelma and raised her hand and closed her fist.

Lisa couldn’t move her limbs, she felt like some unseen force was squeezing her entire body. She struggled and groaned in pain...