Night Drive

An unexpected encounter in the snow.

Photo by Matthias Tschumi on Unsplash

CW: This story contains themes of sexual assault and violence. Please read at your own discretion.

His stomach was in nervous knots. Jasper swore under his breath as his truck’s tires slid on the fresh snow. It had been coming down for hours, and there wasn’t an end to the storm in sight. He turned the music up, hoping to stop thinking about his nerves, and began humming along, feeling his anxiety lessen with each passing song.

He was sure he could make his delivery by the end of the night. He had downloaded the map of the route since he was sure there would be no cell service in the area, and he was right. Luckily, it looked like the rest of his drive would be a bit easier going since he had already traversed the steepest and windiest parts of the mountain.

Free from the grasp of anxiety, Jasper was feeling much better seeing the road looking fairly straight ahead. He dug into a grocery bag on the seat next to him and pulled out a soda and a bag of chips. Turning the music up louder, he began to sing in between popping chips into his mouth when suddenly he spotted a woman on the ground in the direct path of his truck.

He slammed on his brakes, spun the steering wheel sharply left, and felt relief wash over him when he didn’t hear a thud. As soon as his truck came to a stop on the shoulder, he jumped out of the cab and ran to check on the woman. She was alive and appeared uninjured but was unresponsive to all of his nudging. Unsure of what else to do, he brought her into the sleeping area of his truck cab.

He quickly covered her with a blanket, noticing that she was dressed more for a summer getaway than a winter snowstorm, wearing only a pink tank top and some denim shorts. He tried dialing 911 over and over, but his phone wouldn’t place the call.

A couple of hours passed, and she was still unresponsive on the bed. Jasper kept trying to nudge her arm to wake her up, but she acted like he wasn’t there. He buried his head in his palms, somewhere between grief and panic.

Suddenly, he had a realization. He lifted the blanket from her and looked to see if he could find any identification in her pockets. He also checked back outside around the area in which he’d first seen her and picked her up. Nothing. The knots in his stomach came back but with a different meaning this time.

Jasper walked back up to the door of his truck and stopped before pulling the handle. He looked toward the ground and widened his eyes.

This woman was out in the middle of a snowstorm, barely clothed and without any ID. That meant there was a good chance no one would know she was here or even notice she was missing. His breathing got heavier by the second as he decided to do damage control in a way that would also benefit him.

Reporting the woman to his company would raise questions. Sure, he wasn’t drunk driving, but was he too tired? Distracted? Corporate would do anything they could to protect themselves from an inevitable lawsuit. Jasper had worked hard to get this job, as no one wanted to hire a felon. He did his time and suffered the effects of being a social pariah for years, but people still acted like he committed his crime yesterday.

Thankfully, his girlfriend Gina’s mother called in a favor from a friend to help him get back on his feet again. Pulling in one last deep breath of icy air, he opened the cab door. The woman was still splayed out under the blanket in the same position he left her in. He lurched slowly towards her as if she could somehow read his mind and realize what was about to happen.

Jasper moved the blanket away from her legs and looked her over. Despite seeming out of place, she was well-groomed with smooth, hairless skin. He ran his index finger from her calf up onto her thigh. No response from her. He then placed his entire palm onto her thigh and squeezed, rubbing up and down. Still nothing.

His entire throat felt like it had been filled with a boulder he couldn’t move. Still, he was determined. He rolled her onto her back and started unbuttoning her shorts. He pulled them down, still enjoying the feeling of her skin on his hands.

For what seemed like an eternity, he stared at her. This was so clearly and obviously wrong, but he couldn’t get the thoughts out of his head. He started to motion his finger toward the elastic of her underwear, but before he could slide between it and her skin, he felt a sharp pain in his skull. Jasper fell onto the floor of the cab while the woman stood above him, steel tumbler in hand.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t going to do anything, I swear!” the fear trembled in his voice. The woman said nothing. She towered over him and didn’t shift her glance an inch.

“Please! Let me take you to the city! I’m headed there to make a delivery in the morning!”

The woman continued to stare. Her face betrayed no hint of emotion, only emptiness.

Jasper started to crawl backward away from her when she struck him again with the tumbler. Blood trickled from his forehead, and the woman said nothing.

She continued staring for a moment as she raised her arm. Suddenly, a smile crawled across her face as she slammed the cup into Jasper’s head again and again, the smile widening with each blow. The stale coffee from inside the cup showered the walls of the cab.

She sat at the edge of the bed and looked over what she’d done. After a moment of contemplation, she stood up and moved towards the door. She grabbed a trash can from inside to prop it open and grabbed Jasper’s ankles. She pulled him out onto the snow and started dragging him into the tree line. The sun was just starting to pierce the sky, and she noticed a small cliff in the woods. She lugged his body over to the edge and rolled him over.

She got back in the truck and turned the key, only to be welcomed by a half tank of gas and 80’s rock blaring through the speakers.

She slammed the gas pedal to the floor, and drove.

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