I bopped to the radio station LatestJams 104.0 as I drove along the road on my way home from work. It was a country highway and one of my favourites. Not many people, several miles from the nearest town, which was a well known city. Perfect for picking up hitchhikers and bringing them to my house for a little fun.

I spot my first catch. Two young teenage girls, smiling and sticking their thumbs in the direction of the city.



Smiling, I slow to a stop. One of my hands rests on the window button, the other gently strokes the tranquilizer in my pocket. “Hey ladies. Need a ride?”



“Thanks, sir. My name is Raven and this is Hailey.” The girls look at each other with a grin. Both get in the car and instantly burst out laughing.



“What the?…” these girls are plain wierd.



“Sorry…” Hailey gasps for breath. “We’re delusional. We ran out of water an hour ago and we’re kinda going crazy.”



“Ah,” I say. “Here, I can turn up the air conditioning if you want.” I lean forward, but instead of putting on the AC, I grab my tranquilizer gun. Whipping around, I’m about to shot them both when I see they both have a knife themselves and are about to try to get me.



“What the…” I tried to make sense of the situation. Clearly, the girls were in just as much surprise as me.



“Dude, what? Our targets aren’t supposed to have us as targets,” said Raven.



“Wait… you’re a hitchhiker killer? I’m a hitchhiker picker-upper kidnapper.” I said.



“Yeah,” said Raven. “We’re besties, and orphans. We take turns killing the driver and then pinning it on the other, then we claim the cash prizes for figuring it out. We always have a different identity so the police don’t catch us. After one is caught, the girl who turned the other in breaks her out of juvie. It’s our way of earning money.”



Their story is kinda sad, I can’t help but doing something about it. “What if I take you gals under my wing?” I suggest. “No sneaky business, promise. We can keep doing our thing, just not on each other.”



“Well…ok,” said Raven, glancing at Hailey. “Just no funny stuff. We’re killers, remember.”



“Not for much longer,” I said. “Now you’re with me, you don’t have to kill. Kidnapping is one thing, but murder is another. I’d rather have spouses who only kidnapped. You’ll find it’s a lot more harrowing when you realize how many lives you ended later.” I sighed. “Besides, I’m sorta like a mad scientist, too. I’ve found the recipe to a memory loss elixer. You’d like it.” I grinned at Raven and Hailey. “Ready to see my house?”



They nod and I take the first exit on the right, zooming towards my home.