Luna sighed, leaving school at 8pm. She had lost track of time, missed her bus, and there was no one to pick her up - her mom was busy and her dad was no longer in the picture. She had a long walk home.

She wore yoga pants, a tank top, and a plaid shirt that was a few sizes too big. She wrapped it around herself in the cool fall air.

Luna was always a bit tall for her age of 18. She was 5’ 7”, with long blonde hair that moved behind her as the crisp autumn air blew around her. Her house was a 10 minute drive from school, but walking it would take her nearly an hour. She took a right and started down the long back roads toward home.

It wasn’t the first time she had to do this walk, and she was used to having her thoughts as company.

Just five minutes into her walk home, a car beeped at her. Luna looked up quickly to see a truck stopped not 10 feet in front of her, headlights on. As she approached, the window unrolled.

Inside was an older man - mid thirties - with dirty blond hair and blue eyes. He smiled at her.

“Hey, need a ride home?”

Luna’s mind raced. Every instinct inside her said to say no. Not getting rides from strangers was, like, the first thing she learned as a kid. But frankly, she was never really any good at following rules.

“I-it’s like a 10 minute drive,” she said.

“That’s not a problem. You look cold anyway,” he said, smiling at her again.

Luna looked him up and down quickly. He was dressed in a button down and khaki pants. He wore glasses. And he seemed strong. Frankly with how shit her day and her life had been so far. What was the worst that could happen?

“Sure,” she said after a long pause. She reached up and opened the car door, getting in to sit next to the stranger.

Luna told him her address and waited as he put it in his GPS. They started off, and he commented that her house wasn’t too far off from where he was headed anyway.

“I’m Alex by the way,” he said. When she didn’t respond, he continued. “What left you walking alone at night?”

“I was working on a project at school.”

That was partly true. If Luna was honest with herself, she really didn’t want to be home tonight. Her mom was having her boyfriend over, and he was a real piece of shit. Luna left that part out, obviously.

Nodding, he didn’t press her on it, driving in silence for a few minutes.

“Everything alright at home?” he asked.

“Yes,” Luna said. She could tell she was being a bit rude. She just didn’t want to answer any questions about her home life now.

He pulled up next to her driveway, headlights illuminating her mom’s boyfriend’s car still in the driveway. Great. It wasn’t just that he was an asshole. He always got her mom drunk and took advantage of her. Luna didn’t want to see it happen again.

The man put the car in park. After a long moment, he sighed.

“I can tell you don’t want to leave yet. What’s going on?”

Luna felt herself telling him everything. About how she hated her mom’s boyfriend, and that she couldn’t stand to be in the same house as them now. That she was deliberately late to try to miss them. And how that was his car in the driveway now.

Alex listened to her. And at the end, he reversed his car, pulling a few driveways down.

“We can wait here until he leaves, if that would make you feel better.”

It would.

Luna tried to stammer out a response. But Alex had already put the car in park and turned off the lights. They sat in silence for a few minutes.