It was the first day of April. The sun shone brightly in the sky, and warmness crept into me as I looked outside the car window. A fresh breeze blew my hair behind my face. An upbeat song was playing on the radio. It was just the perfect spring day.
For our spring break, my friends & I decided to go on a road trip. We left Atlanta a few days ago, and stopped every night in a motel to get some sleep. Our final destination was Fort Lauderdale. I couldn’t wait to get there.
My stomach growled. Great, I was hungry. Interrupting my friends, who were speaking very loudly in the background, I said:
“Hey! Are any of you guys hungry?”
Joey, my best friend sitting at the back with Rachel grabbed her stomach and groaned.
“Yes! I’m definitely hungry”, she complained. “Can we stop somewhere to eat Cat?”
Cat was, of course, short for Catherine, my friend driving the car.
“Fine.” Cat replied casually. “Laura, check the guide to see if there’s a place we can stop.”
I grabbed the road guide then flipped through the pages. There was a gas station on the way, with a café. I gave Cat the directions and we drove on, anticipating the meal awaiting for us with hunger and impatience.

We drove for another hour then finally arrived at the gas station. Cat parked, then we all got out of the car and walked towards the café. From afar, it seemed empty and desert. How strange! I prayed that it would be open. But when we arrived in front of the door, we saw a sign hanging from the inside: “CLOSED”.
“Please don’t tell me this is happening!” Joey whined. “If I don’t eat something right now, I swear – “
“I’m sure there’s another place to eat on the way” Cat interrupted.
“I’ll check the guide,” Rachel proposed.
After minutes of searching for any restaurants, bars or cafes, we didn’t find anything. The closest restaurant was five hours away. We were really in the middle of nowhere.
“I really can’t hold on for another five hours…”Joey whimpered.
“Stop complaining for God’s sake!” Cat said, rolling her eyes.
Both girls continued arguing until a voice interrupted them:
“Do you need help?”
I turned around and saw, coming around the corner, a man in his mid-twenties. He walked towards us smiling.
“If you guys are hungry, you can come over at my place. It’s just ten minutes away.” He proposed. “I can cook”.

I didn’t think it was a good idea because, first of all, I never accepted any kind of invitation from strangers, and second, I felt this place was strange. Deserted. Creepy. I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. I was about to object when Joey gushed:
“Thank you so much! We would all love to!”
She turned around and nodded at us approvingly. Rachel and Cat both smiled and started asking the man some questions. He said his name was James and that he lived in this place his entire life. Wow. Interesting. I just shrugged and followed everyone. How bad could it be?

The drive to his place took around ten minutes. The moment we stepped out of the car, we looked at the surroundings. His house was huge: it was an old-style brick house, with lots of tall trees around overshadowing it. Thus, the place was quite dark. You could barely see the sun, shining through the leaves and branches. It was also colder. I shivered. This area was strange…I didn’t like it at all. I really had a bad feeling about James, this house, everything. I had lost already all my appetite. And the worst thing was, my friends looked like they were having a great time: they were all trying to talk to him and laughed every five seconds. How pathetic!
The interior of his house was equally somber, decorated with dark, wooden furniture. I could smell something cooking in the kitchen.

“Here, sit.” James said, gesturing towards the table. We sat and waited until he came back. While he was gone, my friends started chatting excitedly all about how nice and funny he was. As for me, my mind was distracted: why did I keep on having this feeling that something was not right? When James came back, they immediately changed the subject and started eating. Joey swallowed everything on her plate and left not even a crumb. I barely touched mine. Trying to find an excuse, I said:
“I’m not feeling so well. Where is the bathroom?”
“Behind you, turn left, and it’s right on the corner.” James replied.
“Thanks”.
I quickly disappeared, following his directions. A few minutes later, I stepped out of the bathroom, and headed back to the dining room. Everyone was now seated on the living room sofas.
“Are you okay Laura?” Cat asked, concerned.
I nodded, smiling, then sat by her side. In a few minutes we would be out of here. I could finally relax. My joy did not stay for long, because all of a sudden, James clapped his hands together and said:
“Let’s play a game.”
A game? What, how old did he think we were? I quickly replied:
“Actually, we have to get going…”
“No! We’d love to!” Cat said loudly.
“Great!” James said, grinning and completely ignoring what I said. “How about a game of hide and seek?”
You got to be kidding me. Hide and seek? I haven’t played that game…since I was eight! This time, I thought my friends would object. I was wrong.
“Excellent!” Joey and Rachel exclaimed together.
“Ok. So you hide, I seek. And you better hide well, ‘cause if I find you, I will kill you”. James said slowly with an evil grin on his face.