The Ride

She awoke with a jolting start, the alarm clock ringing in her ears. Sleepily, she set her feet on the cold, hard floor, muttering to herself, “Here we go again.” As she reached the bottom of the stairs she could already smell breakfast cooking. Her mother was standing at the stove flipping pancakes on the griddle.
Surprised, she sat down at the table. Smiling sweetly, her mother acknowledged “Good morning Maggie”. “Morning”, Maggie replied still slightly confused. Her mother was never up this early and it was usually Maggie who was in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone. “What is going on?”, Maggie asked her mother, suspiciously. “Sweetie, your grandmother fell down last night and now she is in the hospital, I have already been there this morning.” Looking very tired, she continued, “I need you to bring her some things to make her feel more comfortable.” Maggie did not want to see her grandmother like that. She loved her very much and did not want her grandma to be in any pain. However, it was much better than going to school for the day, “Alright I can do that.”
Maggie slipped on her new leather jacket that her grandmother had bought her for her birthday. Maggie loved this jacket, the soft, red leather made her olive skin glow. She pulled her car keys out of her pocket, saying good-bye to her mother, collected the bag full of goodies and stepped outside. It was a beautiful day outside, “I think I will pull the top down” Maggie thought to herself as she strutted to her new Mustang sitting in the drive way, courtosey of her ill grandmother.
Cruising down the interstate, deep in thought about her grandmother, Maggie did not notice the silver Porsche creeping up behind her until the driver was right next to her. Maggie glanced over, first noticing the beautiful car then the driver. She could see that he was a handsome man, definitely older than her, probably late in his twenties. He had dark wavy hair and was very tan. “Wow”, thought Maggie “that car is not the only hot thing on the road right now!” As the driver began to pass he caught Maggie’s eye, gave her a shy half smile then sped past her.
As Maggie was walking down the long hallway to room 302, her legs started to get weak underneath her. She did not know if they were going to be able to hold her up. Her usual strut became more of a slow-paced dragging of her feet. She was really dreading seeing her grandmother in so much pain. Maggie slowly twisted the cold metal door handle. When she entered the room she almost fainted at the sight of the man sitting next to her grandmother’s bed. It was the man in the Porsche. There was no mistake, Maggie could recognized the wavy black hair and the shy little smile that he was giving her as she entered the room. “W-Who are you?” Maggie managed to stamper out. “Sorry” he replied, “My name is Ben I am your grandmother’s neighbor. I am the one who found her this morning.” “You must be Maggie”, he said holding out his hand. Maggie grasped it. His hands were strong and powerful he squeezed her hand so tightly she thought it would pop.
While Maggie’s grandmother slept in the bed, Maggie and the young man began talking. “I’m sorry” Ben stated, “It’s just that I always see you when you come to visit your grandmother and I am always too shy to come say hello to you.” “You are very pretty. It’s kind of intimidating.” Maggie was shocked at what she was hearing. He was one of the best-looking guys she had ever seen and he was afraid of her.
The two talked for well more than an hour and grandmother still had not waken up. So they decided to go get something to eat and Ben was going to show Maggie his new Porsche. As they walked out of the room Maggie got an uneasy feeling about the stranger she was walking with. There was so much mystery and uncertainty about him, yet Maggie was extremely drawn to his good looks. How could she had never seen him around her grandmother’s neighborhood before. She was there all of the time.
When they reached the shiny silver Porsche Ben quietly opened the door for her. “Get in” he said with very little emotion in his voice. The soft, black leather felt cool on Maggie’s bare legs as she slid across the seat.
It began to start getting late, Maggie and Ben had already eaten and were now driving through town taking various different routes. “We better be getting back, Im sure she is awake by now. I would really like to see how she is feeling.” Ben, who hadn’t hardly said two words the entire trip suddenly came to life. His eyes lit up, “I really don’t think granny is waking up yet.” His soft brown eyes were suddenly full of fire. Maggie’s stomach began twisting in knots, “What do you mean?” she managed to choke out. “I mean, it was no accident that your grandmother fell down. We had to have fate bring us together in some way. It just had to be at the expense of your granny’s health.” Maggie began to feel as if the car was closing in on her. “Don’t worry, Maggie, your granny is not going to be waking up for a long time.” His shy smile was now bold and confidant. “That means that me and you have all the time in the world to be together.” “You are sick” Maggie choked out through her tears.
Maggie soon realized that the silver Porsche was not on it’s way back to the hospital, but heading out of town. Down a long stretch of road that Maggie had no idea where it would lead to. Even worse no one knew that Maggie was on this road with this strange man. Maggie had no idea what would happen to her or where she would end up. It turns out, no one else knew what happened to Maggie or where she ended up either.