Jonathan Hemsworth's Arc

Chapter 1 of 7

The Tesla died with twelve miles of charge promised and nine feet of road delivered. Jonathan Hemsworth coasted the last stretch in silence, the dashboard blinking red, his hands tight on the wheel. He worked in software licensing. He owned a car that cost more than most houses. He did not own the kind of sense that checks a charging map before driving into nowhere. The car rolled the final inches and stopped in front of an old gas station. Its windows glowed warm and yellow. Two pumps stood out front, the kind that took cash and had rust in every seam. "We made it," Jonathan said. Eva did not answer. She sat with her arms crossed, her black glasses catching the pump lights. She had told him, an hour back, to turn around. She had said it once, then stopped saying it. That was worse. Jonathan got out. The air smelled like wet leaves and cold metal. "See? There's a station. Someone's here. We're fine." Eva climbed out and shut her door hard. "These pumps are gas. We drive electric." She looked at him over the glasses. "You understand that." He opened his mouth. Nothing came. A door creaked. An old man stepped out from the station, bald, with a grey beard down his chest. His uniform was blue and stained dark with oil. He stopped on the step and looked at the white car, then at the two of them. "You Ole Jeb?" Jonathan asked. He'd seen a name on the window. "Our car ran out. We need a tow. Or a charger. Or a phone." Jeb did not move toward them. "You folks need to keep going," he said. "This place is cursed." Eva laughed once, short and dry. "We have no charge. We can't go anywhere." "Then you shouldn't have come," Jeb said. He came down one step. His boots were heavy on the wood. "Nobody stops in Shady Brook. I tell every one of them. The ones that don't listen, I don't see again." Jonathan looked past him at the dark treeline. Shapes moved where the light ended. He made himself look back at Jeb. "We just need help. My wife is cold. It's getting late." "Late's right," Jeb said. He glanced at the sky, then at the road behind them, empty in both directions. "You got maybe an hour of quiet. Get in there." He jerked his head at the station door. "Lock it. Don't open for anything that knocks." Eva stepped closer to Jonathan. Her shoulder touched his arm. It was the first time she'd touched him all day. "Knocks," Jonathan repeated. "You'll hear it," Jeb said, and went inside. Eva pulled her coat tight. "Go," she told Jonathan. "Whatever that was. Go." The dead Tesla ticked behind them as the metal cooled. Jonathan walked toward the warm yellow door. There was nowhere else to walk.