Billy Argus decided to get off the Interstate and take State Highway 6 home. This route cut through the mountains to the coast via a long and narrow agricultural valley. It was a two lane rural highway and was very dark and dangerous at night. Locals nicknamed this stretch of road Route 666 because of all the traffic fatalities that occurred along its deadly path. Knowing the dangers involved, Billy chose this route home because it was a more direct shot to his parent's house off the coast highway. The Interstate was quick and convenient, but he would have to travel an additional 12 miles out of his way to another freeway then back track up the coast.
The time difference between the two routes were roughly the same, but Route 6 saved Billy mileage on his dad's Lincoln Town car. He let Billy borrow it to take his girlfriend, Sara, to a Halloween dance at her school in the Central Valley. Billy was 19, a year older than Sara, who was dressed in a revealing French maid costume that Halloween night in 1996. Billy dressed as Count Dracula. Sara wanted to go home right after the dance instead of driving out to Harper's Lake for a make out session, much to Billy's disapproval. So Billy reluctantly dropped off Sara at her house and went home horny and frustrated.
About three miles off the Interstate, Billy strained to see the darkened road before him. It was extremely dark and not many cars were on the road past midnight. Even with the high beams it was difficult to see. He slowed his speed to compensate for the hazardous conditions. It was quiet and the radio was turned off, not being able to pick up any radio frequencies because of the high mountains surrounding the valley. As he let his foot off the accelerator Billy observed a blinding white figure ahead of him on the right side of the road.
As he approached closer, he saw the ghostly figure of a woman standing by a large oak tree and dressed in a white gown waving a white lace handkerchief at him as he approached, then passed. She appeared to glow in the darkness and she did not seem real to Billy. His eyes were wide and he was too frightened to stop for the haunting apparition who seemed to be beckoning him. He was tired and a little buzzed from the Jack Daniels he sneaked into the dance. Billy thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. But he thought for a second, "What if she is real. She may need help. After all, she is out here in the middle of nowhere."
Billy looked in his rear view mirror, but he could no longer see the woman in white. He slowed the car and glanced over his shoulder to look out the rear window and saw the woman in white sitting in the back seat of his car staring at him. Billy jerked the car to the dirt shoulder of the road and slammed on the brakes. Did he really see what he thought he saw? He slowly turned his head back around to convince his disbelieving eyes. She was gone. "Maybe I had too much to drink?" Billy thought out loud to himself in relief. Just then, the woman in white appeared at his passenger side door. Billy jumped in his seat. She knocked on the window. Billy regained his composure and rolled the window down. The woman spoke, "I am so glad you stopped. It is very cold out here." She helped herself to the door and got in the car and sat next Billy.
The woman had a gray pallor to her face and bare arms. She had dark circles around her eyes, which for some reason Billy could not get a fix on. She looked to be about 18 to 20 years old, but had a weathered or haggard look about her. She wore a long formal dinner gown, which was pure white and way out of style. It looked like something from the 1950s or 1960s, Billy thought. She had beautiful golden hair which was piled high and pinned upon her head. Billy figured that she was dressed in a Halloween costume of some sort. The make-up job was superb. She must have spent a great deal of time on it.
"Going for that retro look, huh?" Billy asked the young woman.
"Retro? What do you mean by that?" The woman answered back curtly.
"Oh, nothing." Billy thought it be wise to say no more about her appearance. "Where too?"
"The beach. There's a party there and I am already late." The mysterious woman said impatiently. Billy pulled back onto the highway and drove into the darkness. He kept looking over at the woman and found her to be odd, but he did not know why. She seemed distant or vacant. He was curious to know why a young girl like her was out on the lonely road all by herself.
"Did you run into some trouble back there?" Billy asked.
"Oh yes. We had some car trouble." The woman replied.
"We?" Billy wondered who was with her and where they went.
"Oh yes. My boyfriend, Henry."
"Where is he?"
"He went to get some help I suppose. We had just come from a Halloween masquerade ball and were going to a post party at his friend's beach house, when we had a little accident, I' afraid." The woman said as she stared off into the darkness ahead.
