rolling

The other night on my way home from work sometime around 3:30 am, the highway was unusually quiet and void of cars. It gave the night an eerie air. My mind loves it when I am alone on the freeway, and I was amusing my self with thoughts of, what if...

What if they closed the freeway and the bridge is out ahead...

What if I am the only one left on the planet...

What if I see a hand in the road, will I stop?...

You know the stuff your mind barfs up to keep you awake.

After 15 miles of nothingness I saw flairs ahead.

What if its a trap to get you to pull over?...

I moved over and slowed down. Now awake and curious. I passed the state trouper at a near crawl....because there was a mini-van laying on it side straddling the center line of the highway.

There was a trouper crouched down peering in the window with a flash light. I drove off the road and passed the vehicle. All the while playing detective.

There were no skid marks, there was no broken glass, no car parts scattered about, no apparent damage to the vehicle, no smoke or steam, no spinning tires. Nothing. It looked as if someone had just gently laid this van on its side, on the freeway.

If the police hadn't had their flairs set up odds are I wouldn't have seen the underside of the van until it would have been too late, and with it on the center line, would have hit it. The location was in a curve.

After prayers for the safety of the occupants, my mind chewed on the images.

what if...

While there is not complete story to be had from the data...I had gleaned enough to plunk a chunk of images into my writers compost pile. That place I toss scraps and interesting tidbits to rot and ferment until I need to use them in a story.

This is what I wrote and deposited in my mind:


....Tired, so tired...each exhale nodding my head lower and lower. Each blink heavier and heavier. Head lights reflecting the fain hint of misty rain as they slice through the blackness. The repetitious lulling sway of the curvy road dulling my exhausted mind even further.

The shadow arched up from the road and congeals into the shape of a man so fast it stopped my heart. My hands claw frantically at the wheel pulling it to the right. The world slows as the wheels leave the highway and the car tips.

Its hangs for an eternity

the pavement reaches for me and punches the window in. I feel the wet damp coldness touch my skin. The seat belt snatches me back with a powerful jerk.

Metal screams as we slide to a halt.

I go to open my eyes and find they are already wide open.

Silence. Save for this sound coming from within my soul. The sound adrenaline makes when it contacts the air. The same sound a soul makes as it slips from its tangible form.

The car and gravity play tug-a-war with my body. At last air forces its way in and expands my lungs. I don't fight it and ride the waves of deep breaths till at last my chest calms.