Fright Night

Thriller - Michael Jackson

It's Close To Midnight and Something Evil's Lurking In The Dark
Under The Moonlight You See A Sight That Almost Stops Your Heart
You Try To Scream But Terror Takes The Sound Before You Make It
You Start To Freeze as Horror Looks You Right Between The Eyes,
You're Paralyzed

[CHORUS]
Cause This Is Thriller, Thriller Night
And No One's Gonna Save You
From The Beast About To Strike
You Know It's Thriller, Thriller Night
You're Fighting For Your Life Inside a
Kiler, Diller, Chiller,Thriller Here Tonight

I was driving along I-94 Sunday night returning home from a busy weekend trip in Detroit. Earlier that day, I went with my Dad to Micro Center to pick up a new flat-screen monitor for his PC. He insisted that I stop at this one place for gas since it was $2.75 a gallon (which was the cheapest I've seen in a minute). I take advantage but only fill it up just past the half-way mark. After Micro Center and hooking the monitor for my Dad, I went to drop off some Tylenol at my Godmother's place. Later I went to visit my sister Trina & her boyfriend's new home. So all in all, a busy day.

So it's after 8PM Eastern time when I finally leave Detroit to make my way home. Traffic is flowing nice with the exception of one brief construction slowdown, which is way better than it was coming into Detroit Friday evening.

As I near the Michigan/Indiana border sometime before 10PM, I realize that I'm about Five Miles To Empty (link has no relation to this current post but since I have a post under that title...*LOL*). I see there's an Exit 12 Sawyer that has several gas stations to choose from. There's a lot of construction around and I somehow miss the exit.

I'm inching real close to the E (not me...*LOL*) so I decide that I need to get off at the next exit regardless and try to find a station.

That exit turns out to be Exit 6 Union Pier. So I get off and there's a sign with an arrow pointing to Union Pier but it looks like a park of some sort. So I foolishly go the opposite way. I'm driving along this one lane road, no other cars in sight, and all I see is woods everywhere with the occasional farm house.

I'm freaking out because I'm right on the E and there isn't a gas station in sight. Twice last year I found myself out of gas. Of course both of those situations I was in a heavily populated area. It wouldn't be like this situation where I literally feared for my life.

I had images of this one movie where two young women, one white/one black, wind up in some women's slave prison after running out of gas in the middle of the boonies. I'm a black man in the middle of the boonies, I couldn't even imagine my fate. Well I could. But I didn't want to imagine it.

It's not like I could walk up to one of those farm doors and ring the doorbell and go 'hey, I need some gas.' Before I even got half-way there, I'd be shot dead from Billy Bob shooting out his second floor window.

I'm probably exaggerating but hey, as a black male, you can't just freely roam in unknown territory, which made my current adventure all the more foolish.

Who would I call if I were stuck out here? And would they find me before some trigger happy hick did?

I turned off my A/C and my music and just screamed 'Oh my God' over and over and over and over. It was totally pitch dark on this road except for the occasional farm house and numerous woods.

I'm thinking if I run out of gas, what am I gonna do? I didn't feel safe exiting my car and I didn't even know where I would go and find a station.

I keep on driving, thanking my lucky stars that my car found the strength to keep going. After what seemed like an eternity, I hit a fork in the road. I'm not sure where to go but decide to head towards where I think the freeway would be.

So I continue trekking for several miles, screaming 'Oh my God' continiously. I see bright lights after a couple miles and for a moment I feel relief. But as I drive on, I hit this area that seemed straight out of House of Wax (the remake...*LOL*). The small town was all lit up. I saw some deranged dude in braids on a bike. I kept driving and screaming. Moments later, I saw another random guy just walking. I saw him look at me and I screamed, thanking my lucky stars that my car didn't run out of gas.

Another mile of driving and no gas station was in sight. I didn't know how much longer my car was gonna hang on.

As I looked to the right, yet again, I screamed. This time it was a scream of joy. I finally hit a gas station and what appeared to be a semi-major intersection. I was never so happy in my life to see a gas station. I gratefully paid the $2.79 a gallon and filled up my tank. At that point, I would've paid $10 a gallon. Just get me some fucking gas and get the hell out of dodge.

I then decided to take the semi-major intersection and pray that I hit I-94. God was on my side and I soon found the entryway for I-94 and I made my way home.

I'll be heading to work in a few minutes and for once, I won't be bitching. It feels great to be alive.