It was two thirty when we pulled into the parking lot of the rest stop. The day had started out sunny, but the further we traveled south, the weather began to change. They were calling for sever thunderstorms up till midnight in and around the area of Roanoke. The stop was about a half hour outside of Roanoke between Troutville and Buchanan. The place was semi-dead with mostly truck drivers pulling in and out of the area. As we're getting out of the car I noticed a strange man near one of the trash cans. He was wearing what looked to me like a janitors jumper, and brown work boots. The man looked to be in his early sixties with a balding head. He watched us closely with eyes of silver. It gave me a bad feeling so I started speed walking to the rest room.
My sister yelled at me, "What's the hurry Punk?"
"I've got to pee really bad," I yelled back.
I heard her and Steph snickering, but didn't care. I wanted to put as much distance between me and that janitor as possible. Hopefully when I come back out, he would have disappeared. Finding the nearest empty stall, I went into it and took care of busines. Soon the girls had joined me and I waited around for them, but was getting thirsty. They were taking their sweet time, so I decided to and get a bottle of water.
"Hey you two. I'll meet you at the drink machines, need something to drink," I said.
"We've got drinks in the car you dope," came my sister's reply behind the door across from me.
I rolled my eyes and answered back, "Yeah but there not water."
"Oh well in that case, go knock yourself out," she said.
I just looked at her through the door strangly and went outside to the snack area and to wait for them. The clouds had completely blacken over and it began to rain. Lightning cracked through the clouds like a whip and the thunder was causing the earth to shake beneath my feet. It had only taken me a few seconds to walk around the building to the other side where the snack area. I pulled out some change and stuck it into the water machine for a bottle of water. Out of no where pops the strange man from the trash, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin.
He looked at me and said, "I'm sorry for scarying you miss but I believe it's my duty to inform you of what I see in your future."
My mind was screaming run, but I couldn't get my legs to move. All I could say was, "Ok."
"You will soon get a visit from a lawyer about a piece of property. Tell the lawyer you want to get rid of it. If you don't things only seen in movies will come alive and haunt you in your dreams," he stated.
The man was starting to scaring me and when I stepped back away from him, he grabbed a hold of my hand and said, "Head my warning miss, don't take over as the new owner. Things of the night will be howling at your doors and you'll be trapped there forever."
At this point in time, I was really freaked out and before I could ask him how he knew what was going to happen. He just vanished into thin air, just like that. I was standing there with my mouth hanging open, when Winky and Stephanie came around the corner. They were chatting up a storm until they saw me just standing there looking at nothing with my mouth hanging open.
They looked at me and ask together, "What's wrong Punk? You look like you've seen a ghost."
I couldn't answer, all I could do was stand there wondering what the janitor meant by, things of the night will be howling at my door. Was this some sick joke or was he for real?
When I didn't answer, Stephanie pushed me hard enough to bring me back to earth. I glanced at her then looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary.
By this time they both had lost their patience with me, with Winky being the first to say, "Are you going to answer our question or not."
"What question?" I asked blankly.
Stephanie sighed, rolled her eyes and said, "The question was, what's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"The strange little janitor just scared the hell out of me is what's wrong," I croaked.
They both looked at me like I've lost my mind, while Winky asked, "What janitor?"
I sputtered, "Yyyou knnow tthe onee."
She shook her head and replied, "No I don't. Please enlighten us."
By this time I was scared and a little soaked for we were all standing in the middle of the rain like idiots. So I pointed out toward the trash can and said, "The guy that was standing at the trash can when we got out of the car."
Wink wrinkled her nose and asked, "What about the guy?"
I stomped, bent down, grabbed my water from the vending machine and said through clenched teeth, "Oh never freakin mind."
"Punk, I think you've been nipping in the cap nip again," stated my sister.
I stuck my tongue out at her and walked toward the car with them both on my heels. A streak of lightning hit the ground a few feet in front of me, causing me to jump six inches into the air. Winky and Steph ran up to me and pulled me back. I had enough nerve to say, your a little late, but I let it go. We hurried up and got into the car and got back on the road. We still had another hour to a hour and a half to travel and the storm doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon. Days like this, it doesn't pay to get out of bed.