Pit Stop

This is a work of fiction. No real people, places or events were used. Copyright 2011 Plot Roach.

Pit Stop

By Plot Roach

Lizzy looked out of the car window at the cactus and mountains of garbage zipping past them. The dry heat of the desert was getting to her, as it was the rest of the group.

Tommy, Vince and Anika bickered amongst themselves as to whether they should stop for the rest of the day at some hotel and start again early the next morning or keep driving until they reached the city.

Lizzy kept her opinions to herself, since no one asked for her vote on the situation. I would just have rather stayed in Las Vegas, she thought. I know it’s a desert city, but it springs up out of the dirt like magic.

She kept watching the mountains beyond and imagining what life might reside among them. She sighed, wiping away a bit of the grit and that mixed with her sweat and reached for her water bottle. It was already half empty and they had only been on the road for two hours. Another two would get them back home, and Lizzy hoped that they would take a little time at a rest stop soon, but all the ones they had passed so far had been closed for the season.

“I say that we drive through” said Tommy. Vince agreed with him, much to Anika’s disproval. Again, no one asked Lizzy for her opinion. She was about to say something and shrugged. What will be, will be, she thought. That was when the front right tire blew out, sending them skittering across the road and into a ditch. No one was hurt, but Vince had neglected to pack the spare tire for their little outing, so they were stuck until help could arrive.

“I can’t use the cell phone, we aren’t getting any reception out here.” Vince said.

“Any good news?” Anika asked, rolling her eyes at the men.

“Maybe we can rest in the shade of that boulder over there” Lizzy offered.

“There’s probably rattlesnakes and things about.” Tommy said, as if the three years he was in boy scouts had made him the authority on desert wildlife.

“We need to stay with the car.” Vince said. “If someone stops, they can see us in the car. I wouldn’t want to try and run all that way from the boulder to catch them before they left.”

“Then why don’t we leave a note?” Lizzy asked. “Put it on the windshield and tell them where we are.”

“I have a bad feeling about all of this.” Anika said. She always has bad feelings about everything, Lizzy thought. Except for going out on a cross desert trek with these two.

Without waiting for the others, Lizzy began to walk across the hot desert sands in the direction of the boulder. She was a good fifty feet ahead of them before they raced to catch up with her. She smiled, for once she would be listened to. They walked in silence until they came to the great boulder, damn near the size of a house. “It looked smaller when we were farther away” said Vince.

“Well, duh” said Anika. “It’s called perspective.”

Lizzy searched the ground for ants nests, spiders and scorpions and then settled down into the shade, her back against the massive stone. The others followed suit, Vince sitting last. And as soon as his back hit the stone it moved.

They scrambled up and away, in case it had triggered some type of avalanche. When the rock stopped moving, Lizzy went to investigate. There was light coming from behind the boulder.

“Hey, guys!” she called out to them. “You’ve gotta see this.”

Behind the boulder, as if it was a door, lay a room filled with glowing crystals. Mostly composed of clear quartz with a few amethyst and citrines, the room seemed to hum with its own life. The lights pulsed as if powered by the heart of the Earth itself. Lizzy walked boldly into the middle of it, her friends mincing their way through the door only when they were sure that Lizzy had not suffered any ill effects by voyaging into this strange territory. Lizzy held her hands out to the wall, feeling the vibrant energy flow from the crystals to her hands.

“Ah, I see I have some guests.” Said a voice behind them. He was an old man, dressed like a prospector from the past.

“How did he get behind us?” Vince asked the others.

“I was out for a walk when I found your note and thought I’d meet you here.” he said, handing the paper over to Tommy.

“So you’re here to help us get out of our current predicament?” Vince asked

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” said the prospector.

“Do you have a spare tire or a phone?” Tommy asked.

“No, but I do think that I have something better to offer you folks.”

He lead them through a tunnel, hidden at the back of the crystal room. It was a natural staircase, also carved from stone. The stones themselves lit up from within and Lizzy could not stop herself from reaching out and touching them.

“You like my little paradise?” he asked. And she nodded, blushing at being caught. “It takes a special touch to keep this pace running. It sure as hell doesn’t do it on its own.”

“You made this whole cave?” Asked Anika.

“It takes magic to make a place like this one.”

“There is no such thing as magic.” Vince said, kicking a loose stone down the crystal staircase. The old man looked offended, as if Vince had kicked one of his children.

“You should have respect for things you don’t understand, boy.” the old man said.

“Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but how are we going to get out of here?” Tommy asked.

“Just on the other side of this mountain is an old gas station, there’s refreshments for you and your friends as well as a working phone where you can call for help.”

He lead them through the bright, beautiful cave system, stopping as a solid wood door. He unlocked it and bid them rest while he retrieved his car to drive them to the gas station.

“I wonder how he made them glow in the dark?” Vince asked, studying a crystal under the sunlight.

“You took one?!” Lizzy asked. “I don’t think we should steal from him.”

“Oh, get over it.” Anika said and pulled out a stone of her own. Tommy only winked as he tossed his into the air and caught it again.

“You’re defacing his home” Lizzy said. She got up away from the others and walked back into the cave, putting her hands out as if to ward them off from further vandalism.

“Oh, relax” Vince said. “Did you see how many crystals were in there? He won’t miss a few of them.”

But Lizzy was sick with fear that the old man would notice, and what he might do. When he returned with his car, the others only laughed and winked at one another, while Lizzy kept her eyes on the ground.

“What’s wrong, little one?” he asked her.

“I’m… Just going to miss your cave, is all.” she said.

“Now, before we get into the car, I have a little favor to ask of you three.” he said pointing to Vince, Anika and Tommy.

“Wait. What?” Tommy asked.

“I know that you took the stones and I will kindly ask you to return them before you leave.” he said, tapping one well used boot against the duty ground.

“Uh, what a pain!” Anika said. She was the first to return to the cave, Tommy and Vince soon followed with the old man close behind them.

Ten minutes passed and when her friends had not returned, she followed the trial leading into the cave. There was no sign of her friends, but the old man was standing in a section of the cave, patting the crystal wall and murmuring to it.

“Where are my friends?” she asked.

“They’re home now.” he said, turning slightly away from the wall to speak to her. She walked up to him and saw that the area he was patting looked darker than the rest. There was something sticking out of it. She gasped and backed away. She recognized it as a human hand coming out of the wall. As she watched, the old man stroked it and turned it into stone. Its opaque color lightened and became transparent, glowing with an internal life to match the rest of the lights of the cave.

“Oh, God no!” She yelled and dashed out of the cave. Once she was outside, she searched for the car in order to make her escape. Instead she only found a high sandstone wall that enclosed the exit like a fence. She could see daylight and even the blue sky, but she could not reach the land beyond the cave. She was trapped.

“There’s no need for that, little missy.” the old man said. She backed up against the wall, unable to escape further.

“Here” he said, tossing her a small crystal. It glowed, even in the daylight. Unlike the ones that had been stolen by her friends. “Now, your friends took what didn’t belong to them, and they had to pay for it. But you, on the other hand, gave the cave respect and are to be rewarded for it.”

Lizzy turned the stone over in her hands, keeping a wary eye on the old man to make sure he did not try something when her attention was diverted to the stone. It was as dark as smoky quartz, but shimmered under the sunlight and was prismatic, sending off a rainbow of light.

“You see, all magic comes with a price, be it a city grown up out of the dust or a cave made of crystal. But when that price is freely paid, as when you shared your energy with the crystals in there” he said, pointing back to the cave. “Well, sometimes the magic has a bit to give back.”