Southern Gothic

Charlotte again cursed herself for forgetting to charge her phone the previous night. Without it, the journey home from college involved a lot of blindly navigating unknown roads wishing she had brought the paper maps her parents insisted she take.

The oppressive winter weather outside added to the misery as did the car's fuel gage that was dipping dangerously close to empty.

Spotting a cluster of buildings in the distance, she prayed to whoever might hear that there was a place to fuel up and charge her phone.

As she crossed the threshold and entered what she expected to be a one horse town it was clear is didn't even qualify for that. Calling it a village would be generous.

She only had to drive past four buildings before she pulled into the gas station, the last stop before leaving the borders of this place again.

Parking up next to a pump she climbed out of the car as somebody exited the attached store. She turned to say hello and they stopped in their tracks when their eyes met.

The man stood there had the look of someone who had seen a ghost. He said, "Eleanor, is that you?"

Charlotte frowned, he breath visible in the chill air. "I think you have me confused with someone else. I'm looking for some fuel and maybe a place to charge my phone."

She held up the dead device, hoping they could move this somewhere warmer as soon as possible.

The man took a step forward and gave her an uncomfortably close look. "You sure do look like Eleanor. You her doppelganger or something?"

Stepping back a little, she held the phone up again. "Sir, I can assure you I'm not Eleanor. I don't know who that might be but I could really do with some help. I'm quite lost."

His gaze remained fixed on her for a moment before he seemed to be satisfied and stood back up straight. "Come inside", he said, jerking his thumb back towards the store. "You can stay warm in there while we sort you and your car out."

He led the way, holding the door open for her.

Stepping into the building she was hit by the strong stench of the carcasses that decorated the back section of the store. The smell of death was everywhere.

He noticed her nose wrinkle and said, "Sorry for the stink. I was in the middle of butchering dinner for the workers later."

Walking around the counter, he held his hand out. "You phone miss if you would, I have some cables back here."

She passed the phone over and he ducked out of sight. After a bit of rummaging around he rose back up sans phone but with a photo album.

Not wanting to push her luck with this odd man, she waited while he flipped through pages, muttering to himself the whole time.

A few minutes later, he exclaimed, "aha, I knew I had one of her," and pulled a photograph from the book.

Looking between the photo and Charlotte, a smile crept onto his face. "You really do look just like Eleanor. Our little skeleton key as we used to call her. There wasn't a place in this world that could keep her out."

He passed the photo over and Charlotte took it, humouring the man and hoping they could get on with getting her out of there. Her mood changed the moment she laid eyes on the photo.

In the picture was a group of young teens all huddled in front of a tree. Bang in the middle of the group was Charlotte.

She had the same unruly auburn curls, the same sharp nose and even the same mismatched eye colours.

"That's impossible," she whispered, her voice shaky.

The man sat on a stool and looked at her again. "Young Eleanor there was the talk of the town just over twenty years back now. One night she just up and disappeared without a trace. We were devastated."

She looked up at him to find a smile creeping into his face and tears at the edges of his eyes. "You mean she's my m-," she started, unable to finish the sentence.

Charlotte had always known she was adopted. Her parents were never ones to hide anything but she had also known it was a closed adoption and long ago given up any hope of knowing her biological parents.

The man just nodded. "There are unseen forces - I believe that. It seems somehow you've found your way back to us. If you want to hang around, I'm sure the gang would be more than glad to share our stories of Eleanor and her adventures."