The eerie feeling of the woods around the gap covers me like a blanket. It's whenever I leave here that fear seeps into my bones. It isn't a fear of anything in particular, just a feeling that washes over me. Constant glances over the shoulder, deafening silence, checking the rearview mirror to make sure no one is in the back type of fear. The silly kind of fear, because even though I know no one is back there I still look. The only thing I forget to look at is my patched tire that has slowly leaked air for days.

Instead of the constant yellow glow the tire pressure light now flashes, screaming at me to pull over. The tire blows out its last breath of life as I round the curve, almost pulling out of the dense woods. The phone service is nonexistent, and the spare tire saw its last days a few years ago. Miles away from town, broke down, damsel in distress.  After sulking for about half an hour boredom wins and pulls me from the car, sending me on my way for help. A few cars pass me broadcasting flashes of my shadow onto the ground, when they are out of sight my only source of light is the weak glow from my phone.

With each car that passes I pick up my pace. I secretly hope someone will stop and offer help, even though I wouldn't accept it. The overwhelming feeling of being watched is worse out here. As if the woods and mountains are waiting for me to take a wrong step, and when I do they will eat me whole. My cheeks are flushed from the wind that whistles through the gap and my legs burn as I march up the hill. I don't stop, not until I make it to the rusted stop sign at the fork in the road.

I settle with my back against it and I keep my head turned toward the road in fear of what my eyes may see if they peek into the deep abyss of the woods. Hopefully, I unlock my phone and to my surprise I have one bar of service. I act quickly, dialing the first number that comes to mind. I eagerly place the phone to my ear; ring, ring, rin- the phone stops ringing but no one answers. "Hello? Hello, is anyone there?" I glance at the screen but see nothing. I hit the power button over and over but it never turns back on. It is just my luck to have a flat in the middle of nowhere, and the moment I get service it dies.

"Hello?" A voice sounds from behind me, sounding almost like a child. Chills go down my body as I turn around to see who is there but I see no one. Squinting, I look around the edge of the woods, "Who is out there?" I say hesitantly, wondering if my mind is playing tricks on me. The child's voice sounds again from behind me , "Can you help me?"

I turn around as quickly as I can, and standing across the road from me is a man. A man not a child, my heart jumps out of my chest as he stares at me with intense dark eyes. I muster up the only words I can think of,  "I can't help you sir." He continues to stare at me as he ducks his head down low and tilts it to the side in an inhumane way. "Sure you can." His voice still comes out as a child and his lips curl into a gut wrenching smile that travels from one ear to another.

The dreadful feeling I once had is now taken over by fear. A different type of fear than before, a fear that I have never experienced until this very moment. A fear that this world has never known. Because this, this man standing in front of me is no human. I couldn't say what this was, I just know that I am frozen in place. My mind begs me to run, to go back to the car and lock my doors, drive on the flat tire if I have to. Anything to get away, but I don't. I don't move, I don't speak, I just stand there as it takes a step closer to me. As it approaches I see it's features are sunken in and its skin is pale and wrinkly, it looks frail as if I were to touch it, it would break like glass. My world stops as the painfully slow steps become faster than my eyes can process. In just a second all I can see is black.

I hear myself, "Hello? Hello, is anyone there?"

The Gap