The highway blew by in a confusing serious of broken yellow lines, tiny green mile markers, and hundreds of humongous eighteen-wheelers trying to force Allison’s tiny Nissan Maxima into an early grave. Her pale, bony hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as she attempted to force her motorized heap past yet another speeding Wal-Mart semi. A light mist of rain began to speckle the dirty windshield after Allison painstakingly forced the Nissan past the truck.

“Finally, I actually passed somebody,” she sighed as she harshly punched the dial to turn on the radio. A nasally voice filled the car as one of the pumped-up DJs gave the station identification.

The Nissan had been in her possession for a grand total of five years now. It had been the only gift that she had received for her fifteenth birthday minus the papier-mâché giraffe that her younger sister, Jane, had specially made for Allison in her fifth grade Art class. While Allison was excited about her sister’s gift, she was more ecstatic about finally receiving her very own car. Sure, it wasn’t brand new, and it’s white paint didn’t sparkle in the sunlight, but it was something that she could call her own. Sometimes, she couldn’t even bare to look at how many miles she had racked up on the poor automobile due to the many unnecessary adventures that her and her friends had taken it on over the years.

It had been the car that had driven her away from her home, and now it was the car that was taking her back to where it all began.

Going home was something that Allison had been looking forward to for months. Even while she studied endlessly for her finals, she couldn’t stop thinking about going home for summer vacation. Ever since Penny, her best friend since the beginning of time, had called to update her on all the new happenings in town, Allison could not stop thinking about getting to see all of her friends again.

Plus, Penny had faithfully informed her that Jake had just broken it off with his girlfriend of five years, Judith. That fact alone was enough to get Allison itching to boot it back to Menifee as fast as the Nissan could carry her. In fact, she momentarily began to question why she even chose to go to a college that was not located anywhere near her beautiful hometown, but then her rational conscience kicked back in and reminded her of her goal to be an award winning photographer.

It was true, sometimes Allison let her heart take control in all of her decisions. That was why Penny had given her the nickname “Emo.” It was a name that everyone seemed to quickly pick up on, and even people that she had never had an intimate conversation with in her entire life called her that if they happened to pass by her at the local supermarket. It was a name that Allison had come to despise since she had always labeled Emo music as being overtly angsty and utterly irritating.

Her dark blue ribbed tank top stuck to her back, and a layer of sweat covered her forehead as it dripped from her jagged dark brown bangs into her ice blue eyes. She rolled down the window and let a nice breeze and a mist of rain cool her down as she continued to fiddle with the radio stations. Most people would turn on their air conditioners in order to quench the heat, but Allison feared that running the AC simultaneously with the engine would result in four flat tires, a busted carburetor, a broken windshield, and a missing transmission. Seemingly impossible things like that just seemed to happen with the Nissan.

It was believed to be cursed by Allison’s closest friends and family. Many strange noises could be heard coming from underneath the hood even when the engine had not been turned on yet. Then, when the vehicle would start moving, every single part of it would seem to somehow break, especially when Allison really needed to get somewhere. Then, she would take it in to her uncle, the mechanic, and he would find absolutely nothing wrong with it. There was no unsolved mystery here, the Nissan was undeniably cursed.

The humid air was thick with various allergens that were already starting to make Allison sneeze uncontrollably. Once a scratchy feeling sneaked into the back of her throat, she quickly rolled up all of the windows and dared to face the ultra intense humidity.

“I’ll just have to deal with this crappy atmosphere,” she said, trying to adjust her tank top so that it wouldn’t stick to her back. “I’ve done it for years. It shouldn’t feel any different.”

Running her fingers through the hair on the back of her head, she attempted to spike the short strands into a messy bed-head look. For years, Allison had kept the same hairstyle of long stringy black hair with two colored streaks framing her oval face. The color of the streaks always depended on a number of variables such as her mood, the time of year, or whatever was available at the Quick-Mart. It had been her signature hairstyle for more than five years, and she had just recently cut off more than nine inches of her thick hair after being at college for only a couple of weeks.

“I wonder what they will think of my hair,” Allison said, looking at herself in the rearview mirror and pushing her sweat-soaked bangs to the sides of her forehead. “They haven’t seen me in two years. I wonder if I look any different.”

She studied herself for a few moments in the rearview mirror and the side mirrors. Everything pretty much appeared the same since she had left at the ripe age of eighteen except for the updated haircut. Her eyes were the same color and same shape, her eyebrows were still retained the dark untamed look despite continuous painful plucking sessions, and her eyelashes were still long, full, and envied by many girls. As for the rest of her body, she had retained her stick-like figure since she was fifteen, so she wasn’t worried about any making comments that she had either slimmed down or blown up.

Allison trained her eyes on a large weather beaten billboard on the side of the highway that was swiftly approaching as the Nissan sped along at a moderate speed. She didn’t even require having to strain to make out the white words against the red background to know that it was for The Sleep Inn, the only hotel that could be found in Menifee. Some of its business came from weary travelers who didn’t feel like journeying for ten more miles to get to another civilization, but the majority of its income came from oversexed teenagers on prom night. Usually, they were booked for months in advance for the big night. Allison had attended the after party ceremonies there when she was just a sophomore in high school, and she had consequently spent many years trying to forget everything that happened that fateful night.

Her hands beat on the steering wheel in an excited frenzy as the Nissan swerved into the other lane just as a car was attempting to pass her. Horns blared and middle fingers waved as Allison struggled to regain control.

“Ah, keep your hand gestures to yourself!” she yelled as she kindly returned the favor. “I’m almost home, suckers!”

When Allison was only a couple of miles away from the exit to Menifee, one of her favorite songs happened to come on the radio. Seeing as she had never ever heard this particular song on the radio at any given time in her life, she seized the chance to turn up the volume to its maximum capability. The car seemed to shake due to the blasting bass as she sang along at the top of her lungs.

I was never cool in school.

I’m sure you don’t remember me.

And now it’s been ten years.

I’m still wondering who to be.

And I’d love to mix in circles, cliques, and social coteries,

That’s me.

Hand me my nose ring.

Can we be happy?

Show me the mosh pit.

Can we be happy?

We can be happy Underground!

As the piano, bass, and drums kicked in to full swing, Allison drummed her fingers furiously on the steering wheel and banged her head to the rhythm while thinking about how much cooler she would have looked if she hadn’t chopped off her long hair.

Then, suddenly, the music was replaced by an incredibly high-pitched electronic zing that caused Allison to shriek in pain as she attempted to change the channel. Nothing would work, however; and the irritating noise continued to torment her while she attempted to try to drive while with both hands placed firmly over her ears and the steering wheel gripped between her thighs.

Just as abruptly as it started, the unexplained noise stopped, and the Nissan was filled with an eerie silence that left Allison stricken with confusion. She looked first at the radio, the only plausible source of the abominable evil, and then she looked around the rest of the car. After deciding that there weren’t any flaming demons in the back seat, Allison returned her gaze back to the road only to see the solitary exit to Menifee pass by in melodramatic slow motion.

“Ah, shit,” Allison sighed.

There wouldn’t be another glorious green exit sign for another ten miles. The curse of the Nissan had struck again, and Allison suspected that this wouldn’t be the last time.

A/N: The song featured in this chapter is "Underground" by Ben Folds Five. I'll probably use a whole lot of their music as references throughout the story. Anyways, please leave a review if the moment grabs you!