Rest Area

by Jason R. Davis

When Randall was tired, driving down a long stretch of highway, he thought it was a blessing to see the Rest Area on the side of the road. However, what he found there was more of a curse, one that now Randall isn't sure he can get away from.

Genres: Short Stories

14 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 24, 2016

About the author

Jason R. Davis is an Alumni of Columbia College Chicago who has continued on to be an author, event organizer and filmmaker. He is the founder of The Chicago Horror Film Festival and author of the zombie apocalypse series, "Invisible Spiders." Jason spends much of his time promoting and working to develop independent artists and hosts a weekly podcast, "Shriek Speak." For more information please visit jasonrdavis.net

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

** This is a Kindle 30 Minute Read **

A short, little tale that was both eerie and disgustingly funny at the same time. The author did a fantastic job with descriptive prose so that you felt like you were right there, bum clenching intestinal problems and all!
However I think the author can completely do away with the epilogue part of the story. It took the shine off the mystery and the tale would have been better left with the readers drawing their own conclusions as to what happened after.

[DaniPhantom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super short but still gives that creepy eerie feel that comes with visiting a gas station late at night.

[AudioBookReviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

My original Rest Area audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

I am always impressed by the amount of short stories that are being turned into audiobooks. I know the creation process is not very cheap and I now that, even though it is a hugely growing market, many people do not want to spent money on and audiobook that is so short. So my hat is off to Jason Davis for making a handful of short original horror stories available for my listening pleasure.

The summary does a pretty good job summarizing but I will give it shot too. Randell and over the road truck driver was needing to poop very badly. So when he saw the sign for the rest area coming up he didn't hesitate in stopping for drop his load. Once in the stall he found that his insides were ready to evacuate much faster than here first thought. While sitting there is started to read the writing on the wall. He noticed that somebody had scribed a list of names under a heading "Has dies here". Then he saw that the last name on the list was dated with today's date. While thinking about how he would, if he had to, kill somebody he starts to get a eerie feeling. Somebody was watching him. That is as far as I am going to go because I probably already gave up too much.

As far as the performance by Dustin Davis, I wonder if there is a relation to the author. It wasn't the worst nor the best, defiantly still worth the listen. This was mostly due to the recording quality. There was just something off about it. While he has a handful of titles under his belt. His pacing was also just a bit too fast, the story could have benefited form a slower speed. I strongly believe that with an equipment upgrade he will find audiobook narrating quite successful.

This was a short and sweet little horror story that was well written, but just too short. It gave me chills and has an ending that I was not expecting. Go check out work by Jason Davis, he just might scare the pants off of you.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

[thebonebreaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Rest Area' is about a trucker, named Randy, who pulls into a seemingly innocent yet small Rest Stop. Due to the fact that he really "has to go", he ignores the signs (eerily quiet, strange graffiti on the building, etc) that something just may be amiss. . .

Aside from the very end (epilogue), which I felt took me out of the reality of the story, I enjoyed this one.

This story is a quick read (under 15 minutes) and is, for me, a nice introduction into Davis' work.

[Randy Harmelink · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good short story, but I probably won't remember it a few months from now. I did like the ending.

[Kay Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun short story. It was funny and disturbing in more ways than one. I do wish the ending had been kept more mysterious though. And maybe a tad less bathroom talk?

[Patricia Kaniasty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting short story. I can feel what the main character was going though in the beginning. LOL The ending was a little confusing. Overall...……..a very good horror ride.