The September Second Selected writer is Wesley Thomas
Please feel free to email Wesley at: wesley.j.thomas@gmail.com
THE CARWASH
by Wesley Thomas
Jan felt trapped. A crawling claustrophobia moved in.
She threw on a pair of jeans and left her bedroom. Light tore through the living room window as she stood overlooking the street. A row of houses with neat plots of grass affront them. Jan felt suffocated in her own home, craving life, being seduced by Mother Nature.
It had seemed like a mere second ago that the house was filled with children running and screaming, when in reality it was years ago. The silence still didn’t sit well with her as she stood surrounded by sofas, tables, family portraits, lights, and other furnishings; all of which held memories
Normally looking back on the past gave comfort, priding herself in the incredible family she had raised. Normally she was okay with the idea that now she was all alone in the big house. But not today. On this day she needed to run free and escape. She paced back into her bedroom, stepped into a pair of sneakers, ran a comb through her hair, slapped on a dollop of moisturizer, and headed for the front door.
As the breeze barged in through the open door, displaying her trimmed lawn, Jan frowned at her car. Dirt decorated the metal, and a heavy coating of mud covered the wheels. If she was to enjoy a nice, relaxing drive, a car wash was called for. Jan grabbed her purse and let it swing freely from her shoulder as she locked the door and tread the moist green.
She sat in the leather cushion of her red car and shoved a key into the ignition, eager to get on the road. It was invigorating how much freedom she felt just by sitting behind a windscreen and holding a plastic wheel. From that seat she could drive for miles, letting her troubles melt away and warmly welcome joy.
She pulled up to the stoplight only five minutes from the car wash. Given that it always took what felt like a lifetime for the lights to turn green, she took a second to look in the mirror. She flipped it down and fiddled with her hair, never quite satisfied with how it sat atop her head. It was full of life, naturally dark without the pain of grey hairs or dying, and full of perfect curls.
Then a car horn blared abruptly, bringing her back to reality and away from vanity. She jerked and flung the mirror back up and drove on. Store after store ran alongside the road, sandwiched in-between fast food joints and restaurants. Jan made a note to swing by and grab a burger when the car was clean.
The car wash came into sight on her right. The sun glared through her wind shield as she drove around to the back of the small brick building. She pulled up to a small yellow machine and with a swift swipe of her credit card, she paid for a deluxe cycle.
She approached a man in an orange jumpsuit gesturing for her to drive towards him. She complied with his wishes and glided to a black bar on the floor, then at his command, relinquished control of her vehicle and let the pulley system drag the car through the various stages of the wash.
As she swung along, Jan quickly checked all windows were closed fully. Confident they were, she let her back fall into the comfort of the seat. First came a sprinkle of water dousing the doors and windows, tapping at her eardrums. Tinkles of moisture danced down the glass as three furry cylinders began spinning enthusiastically up ahead, gearing up for contact with Jan's car, ready to rid it of dirt.
The large, multicolored brushes began licking the exterior with each twist and turn. A foamy pink wash smeared on the windows, blocking Jan’s vision of the following stage to invigorate the car with cleanliness.
Suddenly the pink wash transformed into a thick, red liquid.
“What the…?” Jan spoke aloud.
If she didn’t know better, she would have thought it was blood. It drooled down the windshield and slithered on the driver’s window. Feeling scared, Jan was impatient to exit, twisting and turning in her seat.
Then the red liquid fled the exterior of the car in a hurry. It peeled off and revealed a black void. The car sped out of control, travelling through the dark abyss. Jan started screaming. The speed was so intense she could feel skin on her face become taught, and hair rush behind. Her clothing rippled and swayed with the force, until the journey came to an unexpected halt.
She was speechless and unable to slow the pounding of her heart. Her eyesight adjusted to the darkened world, and she became disorientated with fear. It was the end of the wash cycle, but it was now night. How had that happened?
Had I fallen asleep? How is it possible for a car wash to take that long?
Jan drove out into the world to see it wasn’t just dark, but ruined. The roads were crumbling, street lights blinking on and off, restaurants destroyed, store windows smashed, cars upturned and wrecked. What the hell happened? I need to pull over and call 911.
She slowly veered right, a crimson light weighing down on her vehicle. Her eyes rose up to the source of the redness to see a bloody moon. Not a white ball floating in a sheet of mystic navy blue, but a maroon globe that appeared to be hemorrhaging.
Streams fell from the moon and pooled the roads in lumpy slime. In a frenzied panic, Jan reached for her purse sitting on the passenger seat, and yanked out her phone. Frantically she dialed 911 but was met with a sickening screech and then a loss of dial tone. “Jesus fucking Christ!” she screamed.
And then she saw it on the hood of her car.
The phone fell from her grip as she floored the breaks and shrieked. Jan pressed herself into the seat in a vain attempt to make as much distance as possible between her and the female beast that knelt on the hood. It had white flesh, shredded clothing, completely white eyes, long sword-like nails and sharp fangs that trickled blood.
Jan hysterically pounded the accelerator and the creature spiraled in the air and thudded to the road. It skidded on the asphalt, rolling awkwardly as she drove away in a hurry, looking through a mirror. The thing was standing and waving at Jan from afar, completely void of injuries. The monster had inhumanly managed to survive.
It was then she noticed there were several creatures swarming the streets, destroying shops and diners. An abundance of beasts were wrecking everything. Werewolves, green demons, witches, reptilian monsters, like-sized spiders, zombies, and other creatures that couldn't be identified.
She made a U-turn and began speeding back home. Go somewhere familiar, a place safe and warm, her instincts told her. She spun corners and screeched her tires.
Streets were littered with demons of all kinds. Some had multiple arms, others had more than two legs, several heads, and new body parts. Jan dodged, circled, veered and swerved until she pulled into her driveway. Everything had been a blur of dusk, but now she stopped, absorbing the surroundings on her block. Houses were destroyed, walls caving in, glass pebbling the ground, grass torn, cars twisted and dented. It was the Devil’s playground.
Anxious and afraid, she jumped from the car and raced to the front door. Jan jammed a key into the lock and fell through into the living room. The windows were bordered up, furniture was in tatters, with muck and grime coating every surface.
This was not her house. This was Hell’s version of her residence.
Suddenly Jan saw a woman wearing a blood stained t-shirt and jeans, holding a knife. Jan threw herself down and crawled around the coffee table that was missing a leg and held a blanket of dust. She looked at the woman juggling knives to see she was looking at herself.
Her own twin stood, lowered the knife, and confusion seemed to spread on her face
“Who are you?” they both said in unison, echoing off the walls and boarded windows. Jan thought, This isn't possible, as she was seated on the floor, staring up at the doppelgänger.
“We have to go,” the twin ordered Jan.
The twin dragged Jan from the living room down the hall into a spare bedroom. There was a bed, but everything else was either weapons, or storage with weapons on or in. Drawers full of knives, wardrobes holding guns, corners of the room had bats leaning against the damaged plaster, and silver gleamed from under the bed; God only knows what was now under there.
The twin quietly closed the door and secured it with an abundance of locks and bolts. Jan went to turn the light on but was met with a hand swat from the other her. “No! They’ll find us!” the twin whispered.
Jan rubbed her hand and frowned. “Who are they?”
“You don’t wanna know,” the twin said, walking to a heavily boarded window and peeking through a tiny gap near the bottom.
Jan peered through the window. The street was now swarming with beasts. They were ruining everything in sight, breaking into homes, and some werewolves were shredding people alive on the roads and gorging on their muscle. Jan felt the need to vomit, her stomach not ready for this.
“We need to go!” Jan demanded.
“No, we need to wait it out, how else do you think I have survived this long in this shithole of a place?”
“How long have you been here?”
The twin said, “As long as I can remember. How did you get here?”
“A car wash went wrong…I think.” Jan shrugged.
“A car wash! There must have been a portal in there and they sent you through it!” the twin said as she sat and pulled out an oat bar from the pocket of her jeans.
“What do you mean?” Jan asked.
“This is Hell. And there can only be one of us in hell, and one on earth.” She tore off a chunk from the bar as some stray oats crumbled on the wooden floor.
“But doesn’t Hell mean you’ve died?” Jan asked. “Does it mean I am doomed after I die?”
“Hell is the opposite of earth. Only one of us is supposed to be here.”
“If that’s the case, how did I get here? Or more accurately, how was I able to travel here if only one of us can be on earth and the other in hell?” Jan quizzed.
“You got me there,” the bizarre version of Jan said.
“So how do I get back? Through the car wash?” Jan asked.
“No idea.”
Jan stared at the hell version of herself to see she hadn’t fared well in life. Jan herself had aged very well by everyone’s standards, but it was only now that she believed it herself. Looking at how she could have aged, she saw that the twin was haggard and wrinkled, hair a blend of grey and brown, each strand greased and ends split.
The sound made her jump. “Shit, they came in!” the aged twin shouted. “We have to go, now!”
“But I thought you said—”
“Now!” she cut Jan off, reaching under the bed and pulling out a sledgehammer.
The twin began smashing the boarded windows. They came to pieces in a splintery demise. After a few powerful blows there was enough space for both of them to crawl through. The twin landed first, hitting grass then rolling to a stand, followed by Jan who landed less gracefully and staggered up.
Together, they hauled ass to the car, the twin following not far behind. Jan opened the driver’s side and jumped in, waiting for her sister from another dimension to accompany her in the passenger’s side. Jan put the key into the ignition and turned on the engine, but it wouldn't start.
“Oh come on, you piece of shit!” Jan yelled.
“You need to hurry!” the twin spoke the obvious.
Jan saw bald, white skinned, long-toothed creatures crawl up on the car’s hood. She repeatedly twisted the keys as the inhuman beings started to lick the windshield.
Finally the motor roared to life. Both women exhaled loudly as Jan reversed out of the driveway. The demons fell onto the asphalt. As she turned they both noticed a hoard of demons running from both sides of the street.
“Crash into the bastards!” the twin said through clenched teeth and flared nostrils.
Jan careened ahead, hammering the accelerator as the car flew into the flurry of beasts. Each one somersaulted and vaulted backwards, crushed under the wheels, flying through the air. The windshield cracked upon impact and the sound of horns and teeth scraping on metal pierced the women’s hearing. Eventually through screams and creased faces, they had barged through and were headed to the car wash.
Jan gripped the wheel as if it were a lifeline. The twin sat laughing, while Jan was a wreckage of nerves. “Nothing’s funny,” Jan spat.
“Running them over is a victory for me. Now let’s get you home, because you’re not meant for this world,” the twin chuckled
The car wash was ahead, just below a dark-red moon that was still leaking fluid onto the world. Jan veered into the car wash and spun round to the back. Oddly enough, the vicinity was free of monsters. But the back was closed.
Jan felt dread flutter in her stomach. “Hey, don't worry, wait here,” the alternate version of Jan said as she left the passenger seat and entered the darkness.
Jan could see her approach a garage and bang at it vigorously. It seemed to achieve nothing. Then the twin’s hand fell through some kind of vortex in the wall. Had she found the way back?
Jan leaped from the car and dashed to her twin, only to be violently pushed down to the ground. “Only one of us can be in each world permanently, so when I go through you’ll have to take my place here,” the twin said.
Jan tried to get off the ground but halted when a gun was pulled out on her. “Hey, I think it’s fair, Jan…I had my turn in Hell, now it’s yours,” the twin said. “Remember, only one of us can live on Earth, and only one in Hell.”
The twin fell through the void in the wall and vanished. Jan jumped up to follow through the vortex, but it had gone. She turned around in a daze, looking at the red moon dripping blood into Hell.
That’s when she saw the demons approach.
Wesley Thomas is an author, freelance writer, marketer, business owner and actor. Raised in the UK, he developed an unhealthy obsession with all things horror from a young age. He started to freelance, writing for various websites and blogs. In 2012, he wrote and published his début novella, after which he published his first horror novel, The Darkness Waits.
He now has multiple publications, some of which are Amazon best sellers. His collection of short horrors What Goes Bump In The Night? became a best seller in three categories (British horror fiction, werewolves and shifters suspense, and vampire suspense, along with Terror Train that made two best seller lists). He has been interviewed on American radio shows, Twitter interviews, featured in local and national newspapers, and read his work at events.
His short story “There’s Something in My House” can be found in an anthology titled Found Fiction Journals.
In addition, he writes for a website reviewing horror novels and movies, and is a keen blogger. Wesley’s publications, services, short stories, and upcoming projects, can be found on his website HERE
