Not Titled

What the hell was wrong with him? David Ruffin had written over 10 novels and now he just sat in front of his computer to a blank screen. His screen had been blank for over 2 months. He couldn't think of a damn think to write about. He suffered from writers block before, but never this long. Everytime he would think of something to write about, he would throw it knowing it had already been written about. He was looking for that edge, something different His previous 10 novels were all thrillers, he was sick of writing about the same thing. Hell he thought if John Grisham could step outside of his law writing, why couldn't he. But again, day after day, night after night, nothing but a blank screen. His publisher kept hounding him for new pages on his latest book. He would lie to him and say, "Not until I have it right will I let you see it." Well he didn't know if he would ever have it right, hell he didn't know if he would have anything.

He got up from his computer and thought maybe a drive would clear his head. Not really believing himself, since he put more miles on his car over the past couple of months instead of on his writing.

He got into his mercedes and headed out. He put on a John Lennon cd and just mouthed the words to the song. He didn't know where he was driving to, just that he was driving. In fact, driving was about the only thing he knew he could do right. After about 30 minutes of driving around, he thought he would step into the local bar and have a drink. Maybe the alcohol would jar some thoughts in his empty head.

The locals in the town were all there. He was the only real celebrity the town had, so he got some special treatment, but nothing like a Tom Cruise would if he stepped into the bar. Ted James was the owner and bartender. He always was a good guy to talk to, Ted loved talking about David's older books and would try to get a little sneak preview of his new stuff. Before David could even sit down, Ted called out and had the Miller Lite bottle on the bar waiting.

"Been a little while since we've seen you in here. You must be cranking out another best seller." Ted said.

"Yea, needed a little rest before I hit it some more. How have you been? I see business is still the same." David replied.

"Well if it wasn't for the same 10 drunks, I wouldn't be in business." Ted laughed out.

"I understand that." David said.

"So come on Dave, give me a little of what your working on now." Ted said.

"Yea, spit out some words bookworm." Ralph said.
Ralph was one of the 10 drunks Ted was talking about. He had a family at home, but didn't really like them that much. He spent most hours, sitting in here drinking away, and talking about how much his life sucked. Ralph was on disability from the steel mill. He had half of his right hand cut off in an accident. But since he was left handed, his drinking didn't suffer. The mill closed down about 3 years ago, and that put the town in a depressant state. A lot of houses became the property of the bank, and drove people out. Ralph was one of the few that like small town life and would die in this town.

"Hey Ralph, how are things coming along with you?" David asked.

"Well lets see, my wife is a pain in my ass, I'm only on my 4th beer and well, my wife is a pain in my ass. So everything is pretty much the same." Ralph said.
Ralph left his normal spot on the end of the bar and moved next to David. There was 4 more guys shooting some pool in the corner and was the extent of the crowd.

"You going to give us some word or what. I some kind of fucking entertainment, Ted is cute to look at, but that's about it." Ralph said.
Ralph lite up a cigarette and offered David one. David took it and lit up also. The state had a no smoking in public places policy, but really the five cops in this town didn't really give a shit about that.

"Not much to talk abou really, it is still coming together." David replied.

"So you don't have shit do you?" Ralph said with some laughter, ashing his cigarette.

"Shut the fuck up Ralph, what you got David, anything?" Ted said.

"Well I haven't quite decided on how this one is going to go, so I'm out just clearing my head trying to figure it out." David said.

"I got an idea. Write sex with my wife, that should be good for a few laughs." Ralph said.

"Yea that would fill up about half a page." Ted said laughing.

David knew this wasn't helping any. He finished his cigarette and beer decided to leave.

"No really, if you need inspiration come home with me and you can take notes while my wife fucking screams at me." Ralph said.

"I'll think about, you two have a good one." David said walking out the door.

He got back in his car and started driving home, no closer to anything than when he left. He got home and layed on the couch watching some T.V. He fell alsleep after about 4 hours.

He woke up to the sound of ESPN's 2:00 am broadcast and a storm that moved in. His neck was hurt from sleeping on his couch. He rolled his neck around, trying to get it to crack when he saw lights outside. He got up and looked out the front window through the curtains. It was a car coming down his driveway. Who the hell is coming to his house this late at night. As the lights cam closer he saw it was a truck. As the truck pulled up to his house, he couldn't make out the driver through the headlights. The truck stopped and David saw what looked like a lady getting out. The trucks headlights were still on, so he couldn't be sure. The door bell rang and David slowly made his way over. He opened the door and looked back at the site of a woman. She had short black hair, not that tall and was thin. She didn't have a coat on and was wet from the run to the door.

"Hello, I'm sorry to bug you, but I'm lost. Can I come in and use your phone? For some reason my cell phone is not getting any service out here." The woman said.
David stared for a second, and then let the woman in.

"I have a phone right here in the living room. I'll grab you a towel to dry off." David said.

David walked the woman to the living room phone and headed off to get a towel. On his way back he heard the woman leaving a message on a voicemail.

"Here's your towel. What's your name?" David said, handing the towel over.

"I'm sorry, I'm Katie, Katie Walker. I missed a turn off in the rain and ended up here."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to an old friend's house from high school, but I don't why she is not answering the phone. She lives in Beavercreek, off of route 10. Some road called broken arrow drive. Do you know where that is?" Katie said.

"Can't say that I do. I know where Beavercreek is, but that is about 15 miles away from here. You are way off course."

"Can I sit down? I'm still a little wet." Katie said.

"Sure, go ahead."

"Thanks, it has been quite a day. Can ask your name?" Katie said.

"David."

"Well hello David." Katie said, putting her hand out for a shake.

They shook hands and David felt the smooth skin of Katie. In fact, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. In the light she was a very attractive woman, around 30 David thought. She was a wearing a tight red sweater and blue jeans. David could see that her eyes were a beautiful brown color. Quickly a thought of a Penthouse letter was running through his head, but then he shook it off.

"Well I could make some coffee or tea. Do you want some?" David said.

"Oh that would be great. Thanks again." Katie said.

David walked in the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove. He stood in the kitchen staring out at Katie sitting on the couch. He walked back into the living room.

"Water should be done soon. So, what do you do for a living?" David said, trying to make some small talk.

"I'm just a legal secretary. Nothing exciting, and you?" Katie said.

"Actually I'm a writer. Well not much of one at the moment." David said.

"Really that sounds interesting. What do you write?" Katie asked.

"I've written some books, thrillers mostly." David said.

"Oh, I read romance mainly. Thrillers scare me a little too much." Katie said.

David sat there staring at her, not responding. The kettler began to whistle and the was David's cue to get up. He came back in with two cups of tea and handed Katie one.

"I wasn't sure what you would like, so I just made some green tea, hope you like it." David said.

"Oh that's fine." Kaie said.

They both sat there drinking for a second, David watching her, not trying to be seen.

"I still can't understand where my friend could be. Can I use the phone again?"

"Sure. I'll be right back." David said.

David walked away like he had a purpose, but really didn't have anything to do. He went back into the kitchen. He had a good vantige point to watch her. He could hear her talking, but couldn't make out any words. When she put the phone down, David walked back in like he had perfect timing.

"Did you get a hold of them?" David asked.

"No, and I don't know what to do. I hate to ask but is there a hotel close that I could spend the night in?" Katie asked.

She brushed her hair back and handed David back his towel.

"There isn't one in town, nobody stops here to sleep, they pretty much drive through the one stop light and keep going." David said, taking the towel back.

David stood there looking at Katie. She was very upset and sat back down on the couch. You could still see the headlights from her truck shining into the house.

"Look, I know it might be a bit awkward, but you could sleep in the spare bedroom. Then in the morning you could call your friend and catch up with her then." David said, really hoping she would say yes. He had those nasty thoughts running through his head again. He was so wrapped up in not writing that a little female company might be what the doctor ordered. He knew it was a far fetched idea, but there was still that one percent chance something could happen.

"Oh that is so nice, but I don't know." Katie said.

"I'm really a harmless guy. It would be no problem. The bedroom is already setup and you could use some sleep." David said.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. I'll get my bag from my truck." Katie said.

"No, I'll get it. You've seen enough rain for one night. You just sit here and relax." David said, hoping the nice guy approach might score some points.

David ran outside and grabbed Katie's bag and turned off her truck. Right before he opened the door something hit him. She never asked if he lived alone or anything. That seemed a little odd, but oh well, she seemed safe enough. David came inside and handed Katie her bag. He then showed her to the bedroom and the bathroom so she could clean up. He went back to the living room and cleaned up the tea cups and took them to the kitchen. He also cleaned up the kitchen a little and sat back down in the living room and turned on the T.V. After a couple of minutes, Katie re-appeared in the living room looking more refereshed. She had changed her clothes and her hair had dryed. To David's disappointment she was wearing just regular flannel pj's. That one percent was getting smaller by the second.

"I want to thank you again for letting me stay here. I really didn't know what I was going to do. I think I'm just going to head off to bed." Katie said.
She gave David a little kiss on his cheek and walked back to the bedroom. All that kiss did was leave David speechless. He watched her walk back to the bedroom. When she was out of sight he turned off the T.V. and lights and headed back to his room.

He got into bed and was lying on his back, hoping that good dreams would follow him to sleep.

It wasn't that long after David went to sleep that was woken up by the sound of a clicking noise. He opened his eyes, not really focused yet and saw Katie standing over him. He was looking at her but through the barrell of a gun that was about a foot from his face. He was startled by the site and jumped back on his bed, forcing himself to sit up.

"What the fuck are you doing?" David said.

"Shut up. I know exactly who you are and quite frankly I'm a little upset you don't know me, but then again it has been over 10 years." Katie said.

Sitting on his bed, David didn't know what the hell was going on, or what she was talking about. He was suppose to know her? Over 10 years ago, what the fuck is going on. First he can't write and now he is looking at a crazy woman he wanted to sleep with a couple of hours ago and is being told he should know her. Well the hard on that was in his dreams had left and the sweat began.

"I'm sorry I don't know who you are. I think you made a mistake. What do you want? Money?" David said.

"Don't insult me. I want what was taken from me. What you stole from me." Katie said.

"I've never stolen anything. What are you talking about?" David said.

"Let me refresh your memory. You wrote a book, well a story about 10 years ago called Glass Box. Remember that? Well that was my story. I've been trying to figure out how you got a hold of my story, but I can't figure it out. So I thought I would just come up here and beat the answer out of you." Katie said.

David woke up from the dream and Katie was not around. The T.V. was still on to ESPN. He looked around, no Katie. He was on the couch again. He jumped up and looked outside. No truck, no rain, nothing but the night. He went back to the couch and just sat down. Then it hit him.

"Are you fucking kidding me, I can't write, but I can dream about a Stephen King story, Rear Window, well sort of. Isn't that some shit."

He got up from the couch and got some water. He thought of throwing it on his face, but decided to drink it instead. He looked at the clock on the wall, it read 2:30. He put the empty glass in the sink, went to the living room and turned off the T.V. He headed to the bedroom and fell on his bed, pissed.

He would have more dreams that night, none that woke him up. However when he did wake up, one dream he remembered and he was actually excited. He would now write his greatest story, and yes a thriller it would be, but this time it would even thrill him to write it.