Ok, I had closed my flat on the West Coast and after getting the key to my landlord, I was to return to my hometown on the other side of the country. Last weeks were kind of brutal, lost a job, lost a boyfriend, plan a relocation, plan the trip, but now I was in my car, finally heading out of that city.
Lucky for me, I've always been a squirrel, so I have enough money in my account to take things lightly, and since I do not like to travel alone, I've logged up on an app to share the trip with other travellers.
This is simple, I had to describe my journey, to filter the kind of people I was willing to pick up (I'm a girl so I chose only girls) and finally tell the cost to share, keeping in account toll, fuel and car usage.
The app collects Id information from me and my passengers, and deals with credit card payments, so that I can collect the money before they even jump on my car. Easy, no?
By the way, my name is Monica, until three weeks ago I was working in an IT company, as a server load balancing supervisor. We were victims of a credit card scam, that emptied the company funds, and we were bought by another company that let the majority of employees lose their jobs. So much for gratitude.
And so I sent most of my things packing to my parents' house and with just a trolley full of clothes, I started to bring my car home by road. Regarding the boyfriend, he was an asshole, so leave it at that.
I looked in my phone for the first passenger details, she was waiting for me in the outskirts of town.
I followed the indications on the app and found Gretchen. She is a college student that took a job in Vegas for the summer. Well, not my choice, but whatever. She was carrying a couple of trolleys, that went nicely in the trunk along my own baggage. Next stop was in a city an hour off, where I had to pick up another woman.
The trip was pleasant, while driving I chatted with Gretchen, she is studying English Literature, and she found a job in a hotel in Las Vegas to teach English to children of rich tourists from abroad. First I thought she would have to work on the play floor (perhaps selling cigarettes, my imagination is wild sometimes!), and I told her that her actual job was way better.
She laughed at my imagination and told me: "They do not sell cigarettes anymore, it was Bugsy's times!!"
Then we stopped in the center of a little town near Los Angeles, where we were greeted by Sarah, a teacher returning to Las Vegas as well. She got a course at Las Vegas University, and she had just passed a week with her boyfriend. Actually, he was there with her and even helped to get her backpack in the trunk. Seemed a nice guy, California style...
Just one stop and we would be ready to leave California.
My last passenger I had to collect near the Airport, in a hotel.
As I approached the curb, I realize that there would be a problem.
From the app, her name was Dawn, tall, black hair, she was wearing a dress and high heels. Sure not a dress for the trip, but that really was not the problem, which instead was the trunk that she had beside the trolley.
The latter I could fit in the car, but the other, there was no way we could shrink it in the car, it was a three feet by two thingy.
Beside her looks, Dawn seemed like a very down to earth girl, and she also immediately realized that there was a problem, and a big one from her point of view, since she had to carry that trunk in Vegas for the next day.
"Ok, I know I'm asking a lot, but, what if I pay for your dinner here at the hotel, while I address this whole mess?"
We looked at each other, but I have to say that she was gracious in her offer, and once we were seated in the hotel restaurant, she left us to phone for arrangements.
While eating, the three of us, chatted about Dawn. She was obviously a model of sorts, but despite her looks, she acted very kind, and also she had been very nice to offer us lunch.
We were finishing our meal as she returned. She had puffy eyes, as if she had cried or screamed, or both. She had changed her outfit to a black loose tunic dress, and there was something in her demeanor that changed from before, but I could not place it.
As she got to the table, she beamed a smile and told:
"Ok, all set. My large trunk has been shipped. So, is there still some space for this?"
Her cabin size trolley would have no trouble fitting in the car.
She took some bread from the table, nibbled some dessert and after that she told us that she was ready to go. We were still startled by her behaviour, but the meal had quenched most of our doubts.
We all jumped into the car, and I took the first leg of the journey and to keep myself awake I started the conversation. The main topic was, obviously, was Dawn. Her entrance has done really a splash.
"What is your job?" I asked, just to start something.
She was in her own thoughts, so she took her time to understand the question.
"Oh... well... I work as a model for some industry. I'm going to Las Vegas, because we have a convention and I was to carry a special item to the venue."
"The one you shipped?"
"Yes? Yes... yes. It is a prototype..." there was a doubt in her voice, something that would make a lot of sense later on.
"Can you tell us anything?" Gretchen asked.
"It's a really specialty item... Very technical. Sorry, girls, I've a NDA. What if some of you is a spy?" She quipped with a laugh.
We all laughed with her and then she asked Sarah what kind of courses she was teaching at University.
The first couple of hours were full of laughs and chatter, and we were reaching the state border as I decided to stop for fuel and to take a walk, and also a trip to the bathroom. It was a little town in the middle of the mountain and as I saw Sarah and Gretchen literally jumping out of the car, Dawn instead was mainly controlled with her movement, stiff.
She did took a walk around the station and she was the last to go to the bathroom.
As we were returning to the car, Gretchen was asking me if I was all right to continue driving. And Dawn told me: "Do you want a change? Just to keep me busy?"
Well, I needed some rest, but since we were scheduled to pass the night in a motel in a couple of hours, I had not thought to ask. Yet I accepted, and looked as Dawn climbed into the car and adjusted the seat and the rearview mirror.
I noted that her back was very straight and with it and the heels she had to get more space to sit comfortably.
We were again on the road and she was a very quiet driver, not too speedy but sure and very attentive. She seemed to be so concentrated on the road that she was taking very little part in the discussions.
Sometimes she was looking at her phone but since part of the road was going through the mountains we all did not have a signal to connect most of the time.
I was seated at her side and I could see that her dress was somewhat bothering her, but I kept it to myself.
We arrived at the motel, in the middle of the mountains. The season was not so busy, so we did not need to book our rooms. Turned out that there were just two double rooms that we could occupy. Even if she tried to hide it behind a poker face, I could see that this news had some kind of effect on Dawn. So Gretchen and Sarah offered to share, leaving me and Dawn the other one.
We went to get your baggage down and then directly to eat. I was starving and I wanted to lay down in bed.
After the meal, we had a drink in the motel bar, and Gretchen and Sarah went to their room to sleep. I told Dawn that I was planning to get an early bedtime, and she told me that she would stay a little more, since there was a wifi connection in the bar and she had to sort some things out before going to sleep.
Once in the room, I showered and went directly under the covers.
Even if I went deep in my sleep, I got the clear sense of someone entering the room and sneaking in the bathroom. This was enough to wake me up a little, but hearing some lamentations from there, led me to be full awake.
I stumbled out of the bed and approached the door, after all I was in a motel room with a stranger, so there was the chance that something very wrong was going on.
It was closed, and when I knocked, I heard a surprised yelp from inside.
