Written for “It’s Story Time” where Jolene
has given us four prompts to work with.
They are shown below; here’s where they took me.
Janet pressed her hand to her chest as the hitchhiker climbed into the passenger seat. Her cardiologist had warned her about stress, but leaving a young woman alone on a rain-soaked highway wasn’t something her conscience would allow.
“Thank you,” the girl said, shaking water from her hair. “I’m Dena.”
“Janet. Where are you headed?”
“Wherever you’re going.”
They drove in comfortable silence for twenty miles before Dena’s hand appeared from her jacket pocket and with it, a small pistol.
“Pull over. Purse, keys, phone, and the rings.”
Janet’s heart stuttered in that familiar, frightening way. She gripped the wheel and breathed slowly, the way Dr. Andrews had taught her. Don’t panic. The panic will kill you, not the situation.
She pulled over, handed everything over and watched Dena disappear into the tree line.
An hour later, the state trooper who found Janet sitting in her car along the highway couldn’t believe how calm she was.
“She took everything …. except my memory” Janet replied pleasantly.
That night, Janet sat across from a detective, sliding a hand-drawn sketch across the desk. During those long twenty miles of silence, she had noticed everything …. the anchor tattoo at the base of Dena’s thumb, the motel key fob dangling from a stretchy coil around her wrist, the exit number they’d passed just before the gun appeared.
The detective stared at her. “How did you stay so composed?”
Janet smiled. “I have a weak heart. I learned a long time ago that fear is a luxury I can’t afford.” She tapped the sketch. “So I used the time to concentrate instead.”
Dena was arrested the following afternoon, still in possession of the rings that belonged to Janet’s mother.
Janet wore them to the sentencing. That was revenge enough.
NAR©2026
Nancy’s Notes: The prompts are: 1. Person with a weak heart; 2. Hitchhiker; 3. Robbery; 4. Revenge
This is “Hitchhiker” by Pearl Jam
Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.
The Elephant's Trunk 
Nice job with the prompts, Nancy.
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