Louise and The Old Motel

"What's wrong?" Maria asked her husband, nervously gripping the dashboard as their SUV lurched abruptly, emitting a grinding sound as it stuttered along the highway. "Did we hit something?"

"No! At least, I don't think we did," Terrance Meyers grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it harshly, concerned when it felt as though the SUV was fighting against him.

"Pull over!" Louise cried out to her father, pointing to a section of the road that was clear of traffic.

"I'm trying, but the wheel keeps locking up," her father replied, turning the wheel down as hard as he could, showing concern when it refused to budge. Checking his rear view mirror, Terrance checked to make sure that the road behind him was clear, then slammed down on the brakes. "Hold on!"

The family of four prepared themselves for impact. Louise braced herself and held onto the overhead roof handle, clenching her eyes shut as the SUV rapidly screeched across the asphalt and tipped forward. Thankfully, the steering wheel began to respond to Terrance's frantic movements and provided him with the chance to pull away from the highway and roll to a safe stop. It was only when she was certain that the danger had passed that Louise opened her eyes, finding her sister looking back at her with a look of pure exhilaration on her face.

"Talk about a wild ride," Cara laughed, brushing her blonde hair back down. "And here I was regretting coming back home from college for the summer."

"It's not funny, Cara," Louise frowned, wincing as she leaned back and unbuckled her seatbelt. "We could have been seriously hurt. What even happened?"

"I'm not sure." Her father hit a switch on the dashboard to unlock the hood. "I think it might have been a mechanical fault, but I'll have to give it a check to make sure."

Louise nodded and decided to give her father a hand, jumping out of the rear of the SUV to join him at the front end. With a reminder from her father to be prepared for anything, Louise took a long step back when he popped the hood and threw it open, glad she did when a cloud of thick black smoke poured from the engine bay. Holding her hand over her mouth, Louise moved in and pulled out her phone, using its built-in flashlight to illuminate the compartment. Though she had no idea what it was she was looking at, a repetitive tut from her father made it apparent that it wasn't good.

"Is it bad?" Louise asked, feeling as though she was stating the obvious.

"It's not good, that's for sure," Terrance reached in and made a futile attempt to search for the exact cause of the problem, giving up when he heard a loud bang before the engine fell deathly silent. "This thing is going nowhere."

"I'll try to get in contact with any local towing companies," Louise sighed, eating into her limited data as she held her phone up and searched for a signal by the side of the dusty highway, unsurprised that yet another one of her family trips suffered a disastrous start.

For as long as she could remember, the annual trip to the California coast had been an essential feature on the Meyers' family calendar, a means of getting away from the bustle of life in the city. Louise's grandparents owned a modest holiday home on the coast, always offering it for her family to use whenever it was left vacant. The prospect of a week of unwinding on a golden beach was, unsurprisingly, tempting. It should have been a time to take a step back from everyday life.

Yet, in spite of her father's best intentions, their vacation hit an almost literal bump in the road. Louise struggled to recall any of their trips that didn't run into complications of some kind, though never quite as bad as having their only means of transport suffer a catastrophic failure.

Louise Meyers had always been a source of pride for her family, a girl who took pride in her work at school, excelling at almost every subject, even those that were optional extras in her already brimming academic schedule. She was an overachiever at heart, someone who couldn't help but throw herself at every task that came her way, unwilling to give up until she had no other choice.

But the pursuit of perfection left her with little free time, spending her evenings after school tucked away in her bedroom, occasionally losing track of time when she had her head buried in a text book or glued to a computer screen. It was a habit that earned her a constant string of As and glowing performance reviews from her teachers, but one that caused her social life to suffer quite significantly.

It wasn't as if she had no choice but to become semi-reclusive, but being an extrovert made it far too easy for her to hide away despite her much more outgoing sister's best efforts to lure her out of her shell. Louise was, by all accounts, a stunning young woman, the recipient of interested glances wherever she went, both at school and around the city. She had a button nose, naturally full red lips, along with high cheekbones and a pair of dazzlingly golden-hazel eyes. Creamy skin was contrasted by a mane of bouncy brunette hair that flowed down her back, possessing a healthy sheen that didn't require the aid of damaging chemicals to maintain.

With a height that exceeded six feet, Louise always stood out from the crowd, hardly ideal for a girl that fought hard to blend in and go unnoticed. A tight hourglass waist and a heart-shaped rear were tantalizing features by themselves, but her ample bust ensured that she would be closely observed wherever she went, the main reason for her preference for baggy and ill-fitting outfits that concealed her figure rather than flaunt it. Like her sister, Louise inherited her appearance from her equally eye-catching mother, but lacked the confidence to take advantage. But with college just around the corner, Louise clung onto the hope of doing just one risky thing before leaving high school.

It took twenty minutes for Louise to track down the number for one of the nearest garages to the location of their breakdown, one that came with a less than stellar rating on Google. She briefly conversed with a gruff-sounding man before he unceremoniously cut off the call once she provided him with her family's approximate position. A further hour passed before an old rusty tow truck rumbled along the highway, swinging a sharp left as it parked in front of the stricken SUV. The driver's door squeaked when it was thrown open, letting the bulky, grease-covered mechanic drop out.

"You the ones who made the call?" The mechanic asked as he lumbered up to the smoking SUV, blatantly turning his gaze towards Louise as he approached her father, granted with the rare sight of her long flawless legs thanks to the bright yellow summer dress she had purchased for the trip. "The Michaels, or the Martins, or somethin' like that?"

"The Meyers," Louise's father corrected him politely, offering his hand to the mechanic, retracting it when the man glanced down at it distastefully. Undeterred, he glanced at the name that was embroidered on the breast of his grimy overalls. "Right, as you can see, er, Burt, we've run into a spot of bother. I think I might have hit something about a mile back. But these roads are so rocky that it would've been more surprising if I didn't hit anything."

"These roads are a bitch alright. Lemme take a look at what I'm working with," the mechanic ignored Terrance's light hearted joke and waddled up to the engine, leaning over to give it a cursory examination, only needing a few seconds of standing and beard-scratching before making his prognosis. "It's fucked."

"I know that," Louise watched her father bite his tongue. "It sounded like the engine was going to rip itself to shreds. Do you have any idea of what needs to be done to get it back on the road?"

"I'll have to tow it back to the shop and get it on the rack," Burt slammed the hood shut and trudged to the rear of his truck, returning with the chain, hooking it up to the towing iron eye. "But I'm guessin' that this thing is gonna need a new engine."

"Do you have an estimate of the cost?" Louise's mother asked as she stepped out with Cara, clearly feeling as though he wouldn't like the answer when it arrived.

"Like I said, I'll have to get under it to see what the problem is," Burt returned to his truck and grabbed a remote, winching the SUV into the air, making sure it was fully secured. "There ain't much room up front, so you'll have to bunch up."

"In there?" Maria scoffed, irked by the mechanic when he turned on his heel and clambered back into his seat without a further word.

"Where did you find this asshole, Lou?" Cara questioned.

"He was the best of the bunch," Louise answered, curious about the quality of the mechanics that ranked below Burt. "Believe it or not."

"Well, it's not like we weren't expecting a hurdle of some kind given our usual luck," Terrance shrugged, trying to maintain an air of positivity in spite of the situation. "We've got a whole week ahead of us, we can afford to lose a few days."

"And a few thousand bucks in the process," Cara muttered, walking beside Louise as they trudged up to the truck. "I've got a feeling that this little misadventure is only just beginning."

Louise and her family squeezed themselves into the bench seat at the front of the truck, rearranging their positions so they could all fit inside. Her mother drew the short straw and found herself sitting directly beside the ill-mannered mechanic, deeply regretting her decision to wear a breezy mini-dress, enabling him to 'accidentally' graze her thigh with his rough hand as they rumbled down the highway. The limited space forced Louise to sit on her sister's lap, bumping up and down as the rickety tow truck struck the many potholes covering the length of the highway. The condition of the road only worsened when Burt took a turn towards the small town of Rasville, a settlement whose residents relied upon visiting travelers for income.

Louise stared through the mud-coated windows as they drove towards Burt's workshop, looking at the town that appeared as if it had been torn straight out of the Old West and brought into the present day America. The feeling was only reinforced when she spotted a store that specialized in cowboy paraphernalia. Making one final turn, Burt rolled onto the forecourt of his shop, hacking out a cough as he jumped back out and deposited the SUV onto the cracked tarmac, shouting for one of his employees to drag it inside.

With the sun making its descent beyond the sandy horizon and the family facing the prospect of multiple days without their vehicle, Burt pointed them in the direction of a rundown motel a quarter of a mile down the road. The Meyers family retrieved their luggage and made the short walk along the roadside, finding a motel that appeared as if it had never received an update from the day it was built, suffering from decades of erosion. But with their options limited in number, the family filed into the reception and waited for its owner to appear.

"Hey there, folks." A slim figure emerged from a backroom, smoothing down his crisp white shirt, giving the visibly worn family a chipper smile. "My name's Lewis. What can I do for y'all today?"

"We're looking for a couple of spare rooms for the night," Louise's father stated, second-guessing himself when he took into account the mechanic's less than expeditious nature. "And then a few nights after that, if I'm being honest. We just had our car towed."

"To Burt's?" Lewis inquired, whistling when Terrance gave him a slow nod. "Well, you're not wrong about booking a few nights in advance. I gave him my Hilux once for some routine maintenance, I didn't see it again for a fortnight. Still didn't work right."

"That's what I'm worried about," Terrance smiled tightly. "So, do you have anything available for us?"

"You're in luck, I've only got two rooms left, twelve and fourteen," Lewis leaned down and grabbed his card reader, holding it out for Terrance to scan his credit card, smiling when the payment for an optimistic three nights was confirmed. "Wait here, I'll get your keys.

Lewis quickly returned with the keys and moved to the opposite side of the counter, stepping outside to help show Louise and her family to their rooms. Her parents took room twelve and said goodnight to Louise and her sister, both appearing in desperate need of a good night's sleep. Following Lewis, Louise glanced through the window of the room that divided hers and her parents', finding a stocky man pacing impatiently with his phone pressed up against his ear. He paused for a second and twisted around, baring a wide grin when their eyes briefly met. Turning away in a flash, Louise moved on.

"Here we are," Lewis announced, pointing to the old wooden door with a faded number '14' on it, with the vacant screw holes indicating that its original metal signage had long since vanished. "This room is the best of the bunch. I had it renovated almost five years ago."

"It looks like it," Cara said, eyeing the off-white paint peeling away from the wooden facade.

"It has everything that you'll need for your stay here," Lewis inserted the key and gave it a twist, giving the pair an awkward smile before barging his shoulder against the door when it refused to open. After a few attempts, the door finally gave way and sent Lewis stumbling into the room, wiping the sweat from his brow as he presented the sisters with their accommodation. "As I was saying, it has everything you need. The bathroom is just back there, though I would recommend jiggling the faucet before using the bath, it has a habit of locking up. Twin beds with matching wardrobes in case you need to store your belongi-"

"Do you have a television that's in color?" Cara asked, pointing at the ancient TV set as it displayed a black and white image of the local news. "Or WI-FI?"

"Afraid not," Lewis said, giving her an apologetic smile. "No-one ever stays here long enough to justify the cost of buying all the latest gadgets and gizmos. Well, no-one except for Bill next door, he's been here for almost two weeks now. That's a record for this place."

"Two weeks?" Louise said, looking at the wall separating their room from the one next door. "Do you know why?"

"His old lady kicked him out after she caught him in bed with his young secretary, in the marital bed of all places," Lewis shook his head as he pottered about. "You'd think that he would have learned his lesson and decided to grovel for forgiveness from his wife. Yet, his secretary still visits him here almost every night. But what do I care? As long as he pays for his room then his infidelities aren't any of my business."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Cara muttered conspiratorially to her sister.

"I'll leave you girls here to get settled, tell your parents that if you all need something to eat then you can visit Marge's Diner just across the road," Lewis stepped back outside, pointing to the establishment on the opposite side of the pothole-riddled street. "She's opens at six in the morning. Have a nice night."

"What a dump," Cara said, waiting for the door to firmly shut before giving her own verdict on the musty old motel room. Kicking off her black leather heeled-wedges, Cara raised her suitcase and dropped it onto her bed, opening it to retrieve her toiletries and nightwear. "Dad's trips always end in disaster, but this has to be the first time where the vacation didn't even have the chance to start before the shit hit the fan. It doesn't help that that creep of a mechanic was just a few inches away from fingering mom.""

"Cara! It's not dad's fault," Louise said, unzipping her own suitcase to pull out a pair of delicate pajamas, deciding against laying them out on the stained duvet. "You saw that road, there was debris everywhere."

"Maybe. But you have to admit that dad's good luck is almost non-existent at this point," Cara retrieved a bright yellow football jersey, a gift from her boyfriend. A smile appeared when the musky scent hit her. "Our trip home last year lasted four hours longer than it should have because he decided to take the 'scenic route', which happened to be a poor excuse for the navigation system going on the fritz and sending us in the opposite direction. There was also the time he decided to take us on vacation during Storm Edwin. And let's not even bring up the incident with the magpies."

"We don't talk about the magpies. And I get it, things have a habit of going awry during our vacations. But that doesn't mean you should give dad such a hard time over it," Louise replied, earning her reputation as a daddy's girl. "Besides, there might be something around here that could keep us distracted for the next few days."

"Louise, this place is so far off the map that I'm amazed they even bothered to build a road linking it to the highway," Cara held her phone up and searched for a signal, huffing when she only found an incredibly faint one. "The only source of excitement you're going to find around here will be the occasional tumbleweed that rolls through here, and that's if you're lucky."

"I'm sure that something will come up," Louise whispered, more for herself than her sister.

"If you say so," Cara grabbed her toiletries and threw the jersey over her shoulder, turning in the direction of the bathroom. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be getting all this dust and sand off me, and hopefully I won't contract a disease from this hovel of a bathroom."

Louise nodded and took a seat on the bed, rooting around in her bag, selecting one of the novels she had brought along. Opening it to the bookmarked page, Louise sat back and lost herself in the story, patiently waiting for her sister to vacate the bathroom, knowing that she was in for a long wait. A half hour and fifty pages passed by and Cara showed no signs of surrendering the grimy bathroom, especially when Louise heard her humming through the door. Unsurprised by the length of her sister's stay, Louise raised her book, continuing from where she had left off.

However, she barely made it through the paragraph before a dull knocking sound caught her attention. At first, she tried to ignore it, getting herself back into the right headspace to continue, but gave up when the knocking became more incessant. Tossing her book back into her bag, Louise stood and followed the sound to its source, inching towards the window facing the parking lot. Not wanting to attract attention, she pinched the tobacco-stained net curtain and pulled it aside, giving herself a better view of the area beyond.

Glancing around, Louise searched for the cause of the knocking, checking all the cars that were in her direct eyeline. When could find nothing, Louise prepared to let the curtain go and return to her novel, hopeful that Cara wouldn't take much longer. But a movement next door held her in place. Opening the curtain by another inch, Louise leaned in and altered the angle she was positioned in, catching her first glimpse of the secretary Lewis had mentioned.

Sure enough, Louise found a young woman no older than twenty waiting in front the worn wooden door, glancing around nervously as if she was expecting to be caught at any moment. Her angelic face was framed by coiling blonde hair that fell to her shoulders in a stylish bob, with her creamy complexion making the velvet scarlet dress encasing her lithe form all the more striking. The skirt fell halfway down her thighs, aided by a pair of metallic red stilettos to give her legs a longer appearance, giving the young woman a look Louise would have described as modelesque. Louise knew the woman was a true beauty, likely a head-turner wherever she went, making it all the more strange for her to be anywhere near a dilapidated motel in the middle of nowhere.

Louise felt guilty spying on the woman, but she just couldn't help herself. After a couple of minutes of waiting by the window, Louise heard the sound of a lock being pulled back, watching the woman as she was bathed in the yellow glow emanating from the room next door. A rotund shape stepped out, one Louise recognized as Bill. Though she couldn't make out what they were saying during their brief verbal exchange, she quickly surmised the nature of it when Bill moved in and wrapped his arms around the young woman's body, pulling her in tight so he could slam his mouth onto her crimson lips. It took a moment for the woman to reciprocate his advances, melting into his embrace as he fondled her body.