Midnight Ride
Part 1
by SiLK

Lordy!  It seemed to Cynthia like she had been 
driving forever, but it would be well worth the trip.  
She could hardly wait to get to Cynthia's.  She 
laughed at the thought.  Cynthia and Cynthia.  That 
was why when she was around her KISSister she went by 
"Silk."  It kept the confusion down and besides she 
liked it.  

She had struck out after she had finally convinced 
the other Cynthia that she would be perfectly fine 
and would start out early and take her time getting 
to Birmingham.  Well, starting our early on Thursday 
didn't work out like she had planned.  Things needed 
to be done and they couldn't be put off till she got 
back.  She had called Cynthia and let her know the 
change in plans.  Cynthia immediately said that she 
was on her way and after a lot of talking, Silk had 
convinced her that she would be fine and was going to 
start out at about 4 that evening.  Things kind of 
settled down and it was around 4:30 when Silk finally 
got started.  So it would be late when she got in.  
That didn't matter as long as she got there.  They 
were going shopping tomorrow for the perfect outfits 
and then Saturday was the Expo.

Birmingham.  They still couldn't believe it.  There 
was finally going to be a KISS Expo in Birmingham and 
there were going to be some great guest there.  Bruce 
Kulick and Eric Singer had all ready been booked and 
on the website it read "Special Surprise Guest ?? NOT 
TO BE MISSED!"  They all had joked over who it would 
be.  Silk laughed thinking about it.  She had been to 
one other Expo and besides some upsets she had had an 
awesome time.

Just then the CD player shut off.  Time to put in 
another one.  Silk thought as she reached for her CD 
case.  She was concentrating on the road and not 
really paying attention to which CD she got.  They 
were all KISS so any of them would work.  She took 
Psycho Circus out and put in the another one.

Just before the CD started she saw flashing lights up 
ahead and everyone was slowing down to a crawl.  She 
turned the player off.  She slowed her Firebird to a 
stop and waited to see what was going on.  In a few 
minutes a highway patrol man came up to the car and 
motioned for her to roll down the window.  "Yes Sir.  
Is there a problem?"  Silk asked.  "We've had a bad 
wreck up ahead involving a lot of cars and it looks 
like it will be at least 2 or 3 hours before we get 
the road opened again."  The officer nicely informed 
her.  "Three or four hours?"  Silk asked nervously.  
"Yes M'am, but there is an exit just a few yards up 
and we are detouring people by there.  Where are you 
headed?"  The officer asked, seeing that Silk was 
getting upset.  "Birmingham and I thought that I was 
only a little ways away."  Silk replied trying to 
keep the fear out of her voice.  She traveled 
wherever she liked but mostly went in the daytime.  
She didn't like being out at night by herself 
especially if it was somewhere that she wasn't 
familiar with.  The last time she had come through 
here she was on the bus.

The officer told her to pull over to the shoulder and 
he would give her the directions to get on into 
Birmingham.  Silk did as he instructed and put the 
car in park.  The officer came over and Silk listened 
attentively as she took down the directions as the 
officer rattled them off and thanked him.  He told 
her to be careful and then he headed back to 
directing traffic.  Silk decided that she had better 
call Cynthia and let he know what was going on, so 
she took out her phone and made the call.

"Hello?"  Came a voice on the other end with a lot of 
static going on.  "Cynthia?  This is Silk.  Can you 
hear me?"  Silk tried putting up the antenna on the 
phone but it didn't help much.  "Barely!  Where are 
you?"  Cynthia asked.  Silk explained the situation 
and told Cynthia what was going on and how she was 
going to have to go to get into Birmingham.  "Damn it 
Silk.  You be careful.  That is the back roads of 
back roads that you are taking there.  Don't stop for 
anything or anyone."  Cynthia cautioned.  "I won't.  
I filled up just a little bit ago when I got 
something to eat.  So I think I will be fine.  I'll 
call you if I get lost."  Silk tried to laugh at the 
situation.  "I hope you can.  The way you are going, 
you are probably going to hit a dead spot."  Cynthia 
sounded worried.  "Oh that's just great!  Oh well, 
nothing is going to happen and I am not going to miss 
this weekend for nothing."  Silk tried to sound up 
beat.  "NO DOUBT!  This is going to be the weekend to 
remember!"  Cynthia reminded her.  "Okay.  Well I'd 
better get off here and get started to you or I will 
never get there."  Silk told Cynthia.  "Okay Sis.  Be 
careful and remember, stop for no one.  See you when 
you get here in a couple more hours."  Cynthia said.  
"Okay MOTHER!  I promise!  I'll see you in a little 
while. Bye!"  Silk laughed and good byes were said.  

Silk put the phone back in it's holder and eased her 
way back out into traffic.  Just a few yards up, like 
the officer had said there was a detour sign and Silk 
exited like he said and started off down the back 
roads.  She had gone a little ways and something 
seemed to be missing.  Oh, she knew what it was.  She 
turned to CD player back on.

She listened as the music started to play.  She 
recognized it as Radioactive.  She must have put 
Gene's solo album in.  She laughed to herself.  
Wouldn't Misha be pleased?   She tried to keep her 
concentration on the road and trying to watch for the 
turns that the officer had told her about, but the 
music got her to thinking about the dreams again.  
Lord the dreams.  She had always been in love with 
Paul and always would be.  She loved the other 
members of KISS because they were KISS.  But since 
she had come back from the other Expo, she had been 
having numerous dreams about Gene.  All her 
KISSisters had teased her about it.  Yes, she thought 
Gene was sexy, but what woman in her right mind 
wouldn't?  But she had never thought of him in THAT 
way.  She heard the song end and heard the next one 
start, `Burning Up With Fever.'  MAN!  She scolded 
herself.  I have got to concentrate on where I am 
going.  So she decided to turn the CD player off and 
watch for the signs.

Just about that time, she noticed a sign that the 
officer had told her about, but it didn't have the 
same number on it.  She also noticed that the other 
cars ahead of her were not turning off, oh well, they 
must not be going the same way she was, has to be the 
same road the officer was talking about, he must have 
just made a mistake, Silk thought.  So she took it.  
If she was figuring right, she was now only about 30 
minutes from Cynthia's and actually making good time.  
Not that she was letting the grass grow under the 
Firebird or never did for that matter of fact.  It 
would get up and move when she wanted it to and that 
was most of the time.  It looked like a good straight 
stretch, so Silk decided to romp on it and give the 
car a good work out.  It sped up just as she wanted.  
It got up to around 80 and Silk decided that she'd 
better back it down, because she wasn't familiar with 
the roads and didn't know if there might be a curve 
up ahead.  She started slowing back down to the 55-
mph speed limit.  But the car started going below 55.  
"What the hell?"  Silk cussed out loud.  She eased it 
over to the side of the road careful not to get in 
the deep ditch that lined both sides of the road.  
The car stopped and the engine sputtered a couple of 
times and went dead.  She tried to crank it, but to 
no avail.

"THAT'S JUST GREAT!  JUST DAMN GREAT!"  Silk yelled 
as she yanked the cell phone out of its holder and 
dialed up Cynthia.  She was not going to believe 
this.  Silk waited impatiently for Cynthia to pick 
up.  Suddenly Silk heard a distinctive sound of the 
other end of the line.  "You have got to be kidding?"  
Silk heart sank as the thought of being stranded in 
the middle of nowhere with no phone service.