Day 4.

It was 6 AM. Julien and Anna hadn’t woken up yet, but Ashley was trudging through a hardware store in search of anything she might find useful in the near future. She slugged through the aisles, finding things both pointless and handy. Her final purchase consisted of one hammer, one drill gun, 3 packs of 4 inch nails, one hatchet, 3 saws of different sizes, two Hershey’s bars she found at the check out line, and several sharp and pointy objects she did not know the name of.

She tiredly made her way back to her car, the only one in the parking lot. She slowly drove back to the motel where Julien and Anna were currently residing. Their car was still in the parking lot when she arrived. Lazy bastards sleeping away. Selfish assholes don’t even know I’ve been up all night for them. She waited a few more hours until the couple finally emerged from the room. They routinely headed to any local diner they could find for breakfast. Ashley routinely followed.

She sat across the street eating a Hershey’s bar as she watched the couple share breakfast together, oblivious to Ashley’s existence only a few yards away. Ashley saw Anna leave the table. She stumbled across the street as quickly as her exhausted state would let her.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Julien turned towards the tapping on the window next to him, and his fear from the day before was confirmed. Ashley, dirty, deranged, and with a small hatchet at hand was hovering over him through the glass. He bolted for the women’s restroom.

“We’re fucked,” Julien said inside one of the stalls in the lady’s restroom.

Anna laughed.

“You don’t fucking understand. Look. Remember when I said I the roads were unsafe.”

Anna only nodded.

“Well they fucking are. I said that because I thought I’d seen someone. Someone I knew. Someone who destroyed my peacefulness back in Los Angeles. Someone I can’t stand. Someone who was more obsessive than I thought. She’s here Anna. She’s fucking here. And she’s get some little goddamned ax with her.”

“Who’s here?” Anna asked, clueless to what the fuck Julien was talking about.

“Are you fucking kidding? She followed us. That fucking whore followed us.”

Ashley? Anna only thought it, and nodded at Julien. She didn’t know what else to say to him. She didn’t even believe him. He cried for a few moments until Anna asked, “Ax?”

Julien burst into a sobbing fret. He wasn’t joking, but Anna assumed he was, but seeing his pain she said to him: “It’s not that big of a deal. Look I’m scared too, but I’m not going to shed a tear. I won’t even wince until she poses a real threat. All we have to do is lose her. It won’t be that hard. And once we’re in Seattle we will be OK. There are plenty of people there. It’s not like these hick towns. We don’t even need to worry. Worry won’t be on my face.” Anna said all of this sounding brave and fearless.

The couple remained hidden in the women’s bathroom stall for a while at Julien’s request until an old, bitchy waitress demanded they cut out the “hanky panky” and get the hell out. Julien terrified and Anna unaffected, they headed for their car. To Julien’s surprise, they didn’t see Ashley anywhere. He couldn’t come up with any other location she may be, but he found comfort in knowing that she was out of his sights.

“See. She’s no where to be found. This will be OK. Why don’t you let me drive?” Ashley said opening the driver’s side door. Julien reluctantly got into the passenger seat. They drove in silence.


“You don’t believe me,” Julien finally pouted.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. Anything is possible, but this is just a little too far-fetched to be true,” Anna replied.

Julien replied to this with silence.

“Just try not to think about it. We’ve been driving for, what? Two hours? And still nothing. I haven’t seen a trace of her.”

“She looks different. She’s not all glamorous. She’s dirty and mangy looking.”

“Then how do you know the woman you saw was Ashley if she didn’t even look like Ashley?”

“IT WAS FUCKING ASHLEY!” Julien demanded.

Anna ended their discussion instantly, and continued heading for Seattle in silence. Eventually Julien fell asleep, and remained in dreamland until nightfall. He didn’t awake until he felt the car slow down as Anna pulled off the freeway.

“We can’t stop! She’ll catch us for sure we have to keep going,” Julien sleepily insisted.

To avoid the fight, Anna pulled back onto the freeway and continued driving in the darkness. Eventually, however, she was too tired to drive, and didn’t trust Julien to do so in his hectic state of mind. She once again exited the freeway when she found a lit town. Julien was furious, but still too tired to actually do anything about it. She forced him out of the car and into another motel for the remainder of the night. It was about 11:10 when the couple got to their room. Anna slept instantly, and Julien lied awake in bed exhausted and paranoid. There was no refreshing sex to speak of.


Ashley was as usual, parked outside of their motel room. It happens tomorrow. Sleep well Anna. You will be in for quite a day, but don’t worry. It will all just end in you sleeping much, much more. She watched the clock on the dashboard turn to 11:15. You have forty-five more minutes. She smirked, and watched the inactive room contently, chomping on the other Hershey’s bar.