Knock 3 Times

Shane and Tracy left their friends’ bachelor party, and were on their way home. It was getting late, and the two were growing very tired.
“It’s 11:40.” Tracy noted as she checked her watch. Shane kept his eyes on the road.
Tracy sighed while she whispered, “11:41.”
“Yes, okay. I get it... Thank you.” He wouldn’t even look at her.
The young woman went back to starring out of her window. She smiled as she rubbed her ever growing stomach.
She let out an airy laugh, “You know, I think I got bigger over night.”
Shane glanced, without moving his head, at his wife’s perfectly round, protruding stomach. Tracy looked at him, hoping to catch his eye, but all she saw was his stubbly cheek. She tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear and went back to her window. She began to hum, like she always tends to do in awkward situations.
Shane bit the inside of his lip and rubbed his neck. He hated it when she did that. Her humming was just as off tune as her singing was. And he couldn’t stand it.
“God, Tracy could you just not? For five seconds, could you just, not?”
She stopped, and the silence made her uneasy. She crossed her arms and kept her eyes on the outside. It was quiet for quite some time. Tracy looked at her watch again. 12:23 great. A little down the road she saw some lights, for the first time; other than the ones from cars, and as they got closer she saw that it was a gas station. She peeked at the gage.
“Shane we should stop and get some gas.”
“We’re fine.” He said without checking the gage.
“But…”
“We’re fine.”
Tracy looked back at the passing station and noticed two old, creepy looking men sitting outside the station door. They seemed to stare at her. She realized that her husband was talking to her, and she looked back at him.
“…Somewhere, Chris was telling me about it.”
“Wh-what?”
“A shortcut.”
Tracy yawned. “Whatever. Just get me home.”
Silence again. They drove a few more miles when Tracy began to nod off.
When she woke up she checked her watch again. Oh, 1:07. Well, this turned out to be completely worth the trip. He goes off and drinks in the backyard with his buddies, and I am stuck in a tiny house with four women that I don’t know, sipping tea and trying to find things to talk about. Thank you so much Chris for living so far away and just having to get married. Well, trust me, it’s not worth it anyway.
“We on that shortcut yet?”
Shane rubbed his neck. Oh great, she’s awake.
“Should be coming up right around here.”
Not more than two minutes went by when Shane turned off onto a dirt road, surrounded by thick trees.
Tracy slammed her head back against the head rest. She took a deep, quick breath. “The woods? Really Shane? A shortcut through the woods?”
He remembered what she had told him about what happed to her when she was little and tried to calm her down. Oh God.
“Look, we’re fine. We’re driving, we’re in a car, we will be out of the woods soon, it’s just a shortcut. There’s no boogeyman, or…Curtis, that’s gonna come out and hurt you. Besides, that’s just ridiculous, you need to get over that.”
Tracy’s mouth fell open. Shane had been saying some mean things lately, but she never thought that he would say anything like that. He knew that it would hurt her, and that’s exactly why he said it.
She held back tears because she knew if he saw her cry he would just say that she’s crying because she’s pregnant. And that’s what pregnant women do. So, she just stayed quiet.
“Ah shi...”
“What?” She felt the car slowing down. It stopped.
“We’re out of gas…”
“Wh-.”
Shane crawled out of the car, ran his hand through his hair, and kicked the front tire. “We’re out of gas, God...” He pounded the hood with his fists.
Tracy, who was still in the car, spoke to herself. “I told him to stop for gas, but does he ever listen to me…NO.” She was out of the car by this time.
She looked at Shane who looked angrily back at her.
“Well, this is great, Shane. Just freakin great.” She reached back in the car and pulled out her cell phone. She flipped it open. “Oh and here’s a surprise, no service. Who could have predicted that one? Oh, I could have because you felt the need to take a shortcut through the woods; the woods Shane. And another thing, we wouldn’t even be in this situation if you would have just listened to me in the first place. You never listen to me, Shane.”
Shane took a few steps closer to Tracy and talked calmly in her ear.
“The only reason I took this shortcut was so that we could get home sooner, so that I could go sleep on the couch to get away from you.” He brushed passed her shoulder and started walking.
“Hey, where are you going?” She yelled.
“I’m going back to find that gas station and get some gas so that we can go home.”
“You’re not leaving me here alone are you?”
“I’m not stopping your feet from moving, am I?” Tracy stood by the car and looked down at the heals on her feet.
“No.”
“So are you coming or not, Tracy, because quite frankly I could care less either way right now.”
Tracy clinched her teeth. “If it means having to walk with you, then no. I’m staying here.”
Shane set off down the road, alone. “Fine.”
“Fine!” Tracy yelled back. She went back into the car, slammed the door shut and locked the doors. She looked back and saw a black mass that once was her loving husband walking briskly down the dirt road. She turned back front and put her head in her hands, and then she started to cry. The crying didn’t last long; she was more angry than sad. She could hear herself breathing heavily as she looked out the windows. And for the first time, she noticed the darkness. She noticed the wind howling and the leaves wrestling on the ground. And she noticed the utter silence in the car. And it scared her. Just as it did when she was little.
She felt a cold air blow on her neck. She turned around quickly, but nothing was evident that could have caused the breeze. She shivered and grabbed the jacket that was on the floor behind her chair and put it over herself close to her chin. Every sound now made her jump, and her eyes were wide and darting every which way. She felt herself slip onto the floor of the car where she put the jacket over her entire body so that no one would be able to see her. She was scared. It’s true she was still afraid of the dark. Not so much the dark, she would say, but what could be in the darkness that we can’t see. And it was then that she noticed, she was alone.
She reached out from under the coat to grab her cell phone and quickly slipped her hand back under the jacket. She opened it and the blue light hurt her eyes. 1:07, that can’t be right…She used the light to look at the watch on her wrist. 1:07? But that’s the time when I woke up last. “I don’t know, I don’t know.” She spoke out loud. She took a deep breath and sighed. And as she did, she rubbed her stomach, thinking about the eight and a half months that have gone by in silence. She remembered the expression on his face when she told him. And then she remembered the expression on his face when she told him it wasn’t his. She remembered the stupid plan they made to go on like everything’s fine, everything’s alright and like it’s their child. And how they would just live normal happy lives. Well, that’s how it seemed to other people, at least…He can hardly stand to look at her anymore.
Her eyes grew heavy as the memories of the first year of their marriage strolled through her mind, and then she drifted off to sleep. She sat there for quite some time, dreaming of happier times; when she was awaken by one abrupt tap.
She jerked her eyes open not realizing what had waken her. She checked her watch. 1:07?
Tap.
She jumped. “Shane?” Silence. She heard herself breathing heavily. “Shane?” She whispered this time.
Tap.
Her eyes were wide. Her breathing had gone to light and short bursts. Silence again.
She felt her fingers grab the collar of the jacket and slowly guided it down below her eyes. It was dark. Dark.
Tap.
Her eyes darted toward the sound and there she saw the legs and feet of a man, swinging in the breeze, tapping the window ever so slightly.