One Way Car Wash

Here is a freebie to enjoy! By the way, Volume 2 of A Daily Dose of Ghosts has been started! I hope to have it out by October 1st. 

One Way Car Wash

by D L Kaiser

Dexter pounds on the bar.

“Brrrrinnng me annnother one!”

“Sorry Dex.  No can do.  You’ve had too much buddy.”

He pushes his way through the crowd, spilling drinks, and grabbing one from a girl that is not paying any attention to hers.  He downs it in one gulp.

“Hey! That was mine!”

“Tooooo bad!”

He charges outside to his car, barfs loudly on the outside, then crawls inside to pass out for a half hour.  He barfs again all over his upholstery.   An hour later he smells the mess he has made. 

The gas pedal is floored, and the car skids into the carwash.  Silence greets Dexter pulls out a twenty and stumbles to the change machine.  The twenty dollar bill slides in. 

“You need to sober up bud.  No lushes on the job.” 

“Where did that come from?” Blood shot eyes scan the area.  He is starting to come around.

Unsteady steps lead him back to the car.  He grabs some rags in the trunk and wipes off his upholstery.  A squeal permeates the air as the car jerks forward to the air fresheners.  The money goes in.  A voice speaks.

“Smells better than you loser.”

Dexter laughs at the joke.  It smells like tacky pine scented aftershave to him.

He uses the shampooer and drops several quarters.  The same gravelly voice is taunting him.

“You need more than soap to fix your life Dexter.”

“The things they can do with computers.  Must have got my info from my credit card.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows that he did not actually use his credit card.  He shakes it off, empties the car of trash, then jerks the car forward into the bay.

Bay doors close and slam loudly.  He could have sworn that you had to press a button to have the bay doors close.

“Must be automatically done.  Yeah.  That’s it.  God, I’m tired.  Get this done.”  The mats are next.  He grimaced and almost vomited again looking at them.  Depositing ten dollars worth of quarters, the machine speaks to him again.

“Can’t hold your liquor can you?  You broke the biggest rule of them all Dexter.  I don’t allow unreliable workers in my car wash.”

“Somebody’s idea of a sick joke!” 

His hand reached for the washing wand, and it is so hot, so hot, it seems like it is melting his skin.  He feels odd. 

The arm for the foaming brush floats to where he is standing.  His mouth forms an “O” because he is in awe of what is happening to him.  The foam suddenly squirts out all over Dexter’s face.   He feels as if it is dissolving his skin.

“Get away from me!”

He runs, but the arm follows him, and foam squirts all over him.  The wand in his hand turns and starts sucking at his face.  The foam meanwhile, squirts more of the dissolving liquid onto Dexter.  Night closes in as screams echo in the bay.

Harvey looked around for the owner of the car first thing in the morning.  Odd.  Nowhere to be found.  Funny, the same thing happened last year.  He bent to clean up some old clothes and trash in the bay.

His mind brought up a memory of his coworkers telling him a story about the original owner of the carwash, how he had been cruel and abusive to his employees.  They even claimed that he haunted it on the anniversary of his death.  Ridiculous.

A gravelly voice comes from nowhere. 

“Good job Harvey.” 

Harvey jumped in surprise and then laughed, wondering when they had installed computers.

THE END