The Snow and The Darkness

by Matthew Warren Wilson

exit, then slowly rolled to a stop. He switched off the stereo. Three police cars were positioned across the exit, all at different angles, preventing anyone from taking that route. A policeman with a flashlight, wearing a parka and a heavy wool cap under his standard issue policeman’s hat, walked slowly up to the driver’s side window. Frank rolled it down, and a gust of freezing air forced its way into the car, overpowering the heater in a few quick seconds.

  “Can’t come through here, folks,” the cop said. He had to shout over the wind. “We got a six car accident just up the road a piece and anyone tries to go that way’s gonna make it seven.”

  Frank just nodded. Jason could tell he was already planning his alternate route. Jason felt a twinge of worry in his gut. They shouldn’t be driving in this weather.

  “I’d suggest you folks hole up at the nearest hotel,” the cop continued. “This flurries ‘sposed to blow over in a few hours, then it’ll all freeze. Wait ‘til morning, wait ‘til the plows get another chance to come through and for some tow trucks to pull these cars out the way. No sense in puttin’ yourselves in the same position as them poor folks up there.”

  “Any idea where the nearest hotel is?” Frank asked. Jason was more relieved than he’d thought he’d be by that question.

  The policeman pointed ahead, back up the main highway. “Take the next exit on your right. Not the nicest place to stay, but it’s warm and they got beds. Have a good night, folks.” He tipped his hat and turned around, heading back to the three police cars serving as the roadblock.

  Frank put the Acura in gear and slowly started rolling forward, off the exit junction and back to the highway. He was cutting across multiple lanes, but there wasn’t any other traffic to mind.

  “It might be a crappy hotel,” Valerie said, “but it might be fun, too. We can make an adventure of it.” Jason could see she was relieved, too.

  “We’re not stopping at any hotel,” Frank said, and Jason felt his stomach drop again. “If we do, we’ll be stuck there for days. I don’t care what that cop said, this is only gonna get worse, and I’m not sitting in a hotel until they clean it up. I know how to get around that accident on 7. It’s not even that long a detour, maybe twenty miles, maybe a little more, and we’ll be right back where we want to be.”

  “Frank, seriously, I think you should reconsider.” Jason had always been the voice of reason in their relationship, the older brother, the responsible one. It had never worked in the past, Frank always did what he wanted, and Jason had no doubt he would do what he wanted this time, too. But it couldn’t hurt to try. “This is dangerous weather. We shouldn’t be out here.”

  “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. I’ve driven in weather ten times worse than this. We’ll be fine.”

  “But even if you do know how to drive in this,” Valerie piped up, “what if someone else doesn’t? If some idiot plows into you, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  “Not gonna happen,” Frank said. He looked at Lucy in the passenger seat. “You worried, sugar?”

  “Not a bit,” Lucy said, grinning. “I say, hit the gas.”

  Jason grimaced. She was a real genius, that one.

  Valerie squeezed his hand. He shrugged. What could they do? He leaned back in the seat and tried to relax. If he couldn’t change the situation, there was no use in worrying about it the whole time. If something happened he would worry about it then.

  They drove in silence for several miles before Frank took an exit, seemingly at random. At the bottom of the exit ramp he took a left, and they were in a world of white snow and nothing else. Jason couldn’t see very far into the flurries and the darkness, but it looked like there was nothing out there at all. No streetlights, at least. Frank’s headlights reflected off the falling snow, limiting visibility and forcing him to slow down even more. Jason leaned forward and peered over his brother’s shoulder; they were only going about fifteen miles an hour.

  So far, so good, though. Jason had to admit he hadn’t even felt them slide yet. So maybe Frank was right. Apparently he did know how to drive in this weather, and even if they were going slow, he was doing a fine job. And just as Jason was thinking this, of course, Frank hit the brakes. Not too hard, not enough to send them skidding off the road, but hard enough that Jason could tell something was wrong. He leaned forward again.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “You didn’t see that guy?” Frank asked.

  “No.” Jason glanced at Valerie but she shook her head. “No.”

  “There’s a dude out walking in this. We just passed him. We gotta see if he needs a lift.”

  “What?” Jason thought that was a crazy idea. “Why?”

  Frank rolled his window down. Snowflakes blew inside on a gust of icy, frozen wind. Jason shivered immediately.

  “Does that answer your question?” Frank asked, rolling the window up again.

  Actually, it did. If they opened the paper tomorrow and read about some guy freezing to death on the side of whatever road they were currently on, Jason knew he would feel awful. He would feel responsible. But he still didn’t like the idea of picking up a random stranger in the middle of the night. But even as that thought came to him he realized how ridiculous it was. It was the product of too many movies and television shows. This was just some guy in need of help.

  Frank was peering into the rearview mirror when he said, “There he is. He’s coming up on your side, Lucy.”

  Lucy rolled her window down, chilling the inside of the car with another blast of wind, and poked her head out. “Hey,” she called, “you need some help?”

  The man who appeared in the passenger window wore a puffy parka with the hood up. Jason could see he had a full beard, not too clean from the look of it. His cheeks were pockmarked—what could be seen of them, anyway—and his nose was bright red. His eyes looked dark, mostly hidden by a thick wool cap pulled down over his brows.

  “Hi-a!” the man said. His deep voice seemed to resonate off the inside panels of the car. “Lil’ bit chilly out hee-ah.” He laughed heartily at that. Jason thought he might be drunk.

  “Where you headed?” Frank asked, leaning across Lucy so he could be heard over the wind.

  “Just up yonder,” the man said, pointing in the direction they’d been driving. He gave no more information than that, but Frank wasn’t deterred.

  “You need a lift?”

  The man seemed to think about it for a moment, as if maybe he was enjoying his midnight stroll in the freezing snow and wind. Finally he said, “Uh-huh. If ya’ll don’t mind, that’d be a right nice gesture, I’d think.” To Jason, this man’s speech seemed forced, as if he were trying to sound like some good old local yokel, but trying just a little too hard.

  Frank didn’t hesitate. “Hop in the back.”

  Valerie glanced at Jason and he knew what the look on her face meant. “Come around to this side,” Jason called. He unfastened his seatbelt and slid into the middle seat. A few seconds later the bearded man was hauling himself into the car beside Jason. He smelled of stale tobacco and even staler sweat. He was bulky, but that might’ve just been the parka. He smiled at Jason, then leaned forward and grinned lasciviously at Valerie.

  “Hi-a,” he said. His eyes were black and penetrating.

  Valerie mumbled an almost inaudible hello.

  Jason leaned forward and blocked the man’s line of sight. He didn’t like this.

  “What were you doing out there,” Jason asked. This wasn’t friendly banter or small talk; Jason really wanted to know what he’d been doing.

  “This and that,” the man said, “this and that.” He seemed to think it was a perfectly reasonable answer.

  Frank put the Acura in gear and began to move forward again. “So how far you going,” he said from the front seat, not taking his eyes off the road.

  “Just up yonder a piece,” the man said. “I’ll let ya know when I need to be dropped off.”

  “How ‘bout you let us know right now w
here it is you’re headed,” Jason said.

  The man laughed again as if Jason had just told the best joke he’d ever heard. After a moment he directed his voice toward the front seat and said, “Yer boy back hee-ah ain’t the most hospitable of folks, izzy?” Then he looked directly at Jason with those penetrating eyes and said, “You want I should get out right hee-ah?”

  Before Jason could answer, Frank spoke up again.

  “Lighten up, J. We’re just helping the guy out. By the way, what do they call you?” he asked the bearded man.

  “Call me Cliff, most times, when they ain’t callin’ me asshole.” He waited for the others to laugh, and when no one did, he took it upon himself to laugh for them.

  Jason put his arm around Valerie and squeezed. He had the feeling they were in for a long ride.

  But to Jason’s surprise, Cliff didn’t say another word. Instead, he leaned his head back against the seat, his hood still up, and closed his eyes.

  No one spoke for what seemed like ages. The only sound was the wind outside the car. Frank was plodding along slowly, making sure to stay on the road, but Jason knew it was going to take them hours to get home at this rate. And the snow just kept falling. Jason found himself wishing Frank would turn the Guns N’ Roses back on.

  Cliff seemed to be asleep. He wasn’t snoring, thankfully, but his breathing was very slow and deep. His eyes were closed.

  Jason snuggled up closer to Valerie, farther away from Cliff. He didn’t like the man,