My letter “H” pick for the A to Z Reading Challenge was HITCHHIKERS by Ben H. Winters. This was an Audible original story and while only novella length, it packed one hell of a punch.

The story centers around Annie, a girl who grew up hard, escaped a bad life, found a dream of a guy, and is now taking classes toward a degree and cheerfully planning her wedding. At the opening of the story her fiancé, Greg, is staring out the window at a creepy old woman who has been sitting in her odd-looking car and staking out their house for hours. Greg doesn’t like the look of her, but Annie—who knows a thing or two about having a rough life—feels sympathy and believes the woman may be homeless and living out of her car.

Remember when I said Annie had a dream of a guy? Well, not so much a dream as a brewing nightmare. Greg is a lawyer, and he swept her off her feet by love-bombing her validation-starved soul. Then he moved her in and started bankrolling their wedding, her studies, and her entire life—and he won’t let her forget it for a moment. He’s got passive-aggressiveness down to an art and cheerfully disparages her as a helpless female—just the way he likes it.

The old woman disappears that night only to reappear the following day, sneaking into their house while Greg is at work and Annie is taking out the trash. In the kitchen the old woman confronts Annie with a very large knife and begs her to listen—just listen. It turns out the crazy old lady is none other than her own self from seventy years in the future and she’s come back with a frantic and ominous warning: get away from Greg. Now. And all those little red flags she’s ignoring about his controlling behavior and occasionally bad temper? They all get worse, so much worse as the years go by until Annie is abused, isolated from all friends and family, and trapped. Older Annie (whom young Annie takes to calling “A”) begs her to get in the car and escape, but Annie (despite the feeling of truth in her gut about all these accusations) balks. “A” leaves reluctantly. Later, Greg gets pissed that Annie let a homeless woman into his house and gets particularly nasty – this time with violence. Annie flees and “A” (who saw this coming) is right there in the driveway waiting to rescue her.

From that point on in the story it’s a whirlwind of escape and making plans to see to Annie’s safety and future (which will re-write “A’s” life as well). The ending is completely unexpected and really ties things up in a thrilling, hair-tingling way. I’m giving this one four and a half stars only because I wish it had been longer.