***Everyone in this story is over 18. The wooden contraption is an idea I borrowed from a book I read long ago. I can't remember the name but wanted to attempt to give credit to that book. Also, I kind of fucked up the point of views in the story. My intention was to get the main characters' viewpoint each and hopefully it is not too distracting. Enjoy, I know it has been a while. **
Helena walked out from under the protection of the cypress trees, her clothes slightly damp from her dip in the swamp. The water was just as warm as the Louisiana air, but the swim was calming for her regardless. She was hitchhiking her way across the bottom part of the state, trying to get back to her sister in New Orleans. Helena had been on a drug binge, so deep she could not even remember the events that got her all the way out into the country area. She was not afraid to keep hitchhiking but she did hope a woman took pity on her this time around, not some man who would passively hint at getting a blow job the whole time.
Helena approached the side of the highway. Off in the nearby distance she saw an exit loop, with a sign that indicated the exit was for highway 90.
Well, that will at least get me pointed in the right direction.
Helena approached the loop and took a few minutes to straighten out her clothes. She was wearing dark green khaki shorts with her shapely ass jutting out, a white tank top, and slung around her shoulders was her empty purse. Her top was still damp and clung to her braless breasts, her dark but small nipples slightly peeking through the fabric. Her unruly golden hair fell in waves to her shoulders, as if the hair wanted to be curly but did not quite have the energy to form. Her face was angular, birdlike, her facial expression in a permanent state of boredom. Her alabaster skin was most assuredly pink now from her time swimming in the swamp and growing pinker now as the sun beat down on her. Her brown eyes lifted toward the curve of the loop waiting for the car to pass, her thumb now outstretched.
An old 1970s Chrysler came into view, its' ugly brown shape disturbing the calm light blue sky above it. Helena spotted a dark shape in the vehicle, unable to determine yet if it was man or woman. Helena turned with the car as it came around the loop. This felt almost too easy, Helena did not let hope build that this vehicle would stop for her. As the thought crossed her mind the brakes of the Chrysler squealed, prompting Helena to approach. She wrenched the heavy door open to begin the negotiations.
Helena's eyebrows barely rose at the shock of the driver. It was a thickset black woman, her lips were generous and her braids were maroon and flowed down endlessly from her head.
"Where are you looking to go honey?" She asked, cutting right to the point. Helena liked that abd brandished a healthy smile to the woman.
"New Orleans. If you ain't going the whole way that's fine, I'll go any distance as long as I'm going towards the city." Helena said, her foot twitching with anticipation. The woman returned her smile with an even bigger one.
"Alright then, in you come. I ain't going all the way to the city, but you can come with me part way." The woman said, leaning down to move her purse out of the way. In one swift moment Helena was in the car, buckling in. The car was pristine, it looked like it could have been owned by anyone. Save for a strange ornament hanging from the mirror. It was a grouping of feathers and sticks and other items Helena could not discern.
Just to get home,
she thought to herself. She did not like to linger thinking about the gods that lived in the Louisiana swamps.
The women spent the car ride chatting. Helena learned the woman's name was Crystal and she had no husband or children. Crystal worked at a nursing home but was currently traveling to visit family when she happened upon Helena. Helena felt compelled to tell her about her drug addiction that caused her to disappear for days at a time. Helena worked some of the time as a waitress for the diner her sister worked at, when one of the other employees called out sick. Most importantly though, Helena was working toward her next high. The drugs were here god, the drugs gave her the love no man ever could, and she knew it was a matter of time before the drugs took her and didn't give her back. Crystal did not gape at this information, she did not make a passing remark that Helena should go to church, she just took it all in and listened.
"Woo! That is some story gal," Crystal said as she laughed, "How about we stop and get us a bite?" Helena shifted her gaze from Crystal to a battered sign on the side of the highway, undoubtedly under the grime and age an emblem for some sort of restaurant existed.