Friday, May 14, 2010

Where I Was Last Night

And suddenly I was conscious and driving down a a steep and giant hill. I noticed the cars ahead of me further down the slope at a stop light, but my attention was elsewhere...

Gazing at the horizon I noticed the sky was growing dark. Somehow it still managed to maintain an assortment of colors regardless of the coming darkness. It appeared as sunset, but the hues were changing, flowing. It were as if the oranges and blues that were present in the sky were attempting to choke each other. In this struggle that shifted the two colors continuously were streaks of red as if a battle had turned bloody. As the fight continued the air became smoggy, and choked both parties which slowly lost their colors with the growing darkness. Then, in an instant, two birds appeared in my vision. At a distance I saw them and they became larger as they flew towards me. I could see that they were eagles, abnormally oversized, that were caught in a conflict that consumed both of them. It seemed convenient that the horizon would facilitate a background for their confrontation. As they fought amidst the air I watched unaware of anything else that could be happening as I drove.

"Did you see that?" I asked as the giant eagles drifted out of sight, but no one responded and that's when I saw it. I was quickly approaching the aforementioned slew of cars waiting patiently at the stop light. I stepped on the brake, but the road was slick and it was unresponsive. I panicked and pressed harder, but still nothing. As the cars grew closer I attempted to change lanes to allow myself more space to slow down. It was useless. I barreled past the car in front of me as I changed lanes and continued left narrowly missing the back corner of a truck in the next lane. I was forced to go off the road. I hit the grass in between lanes and still couldn't make the car stop. It seemed as if the more force and weight I put on the brake, the less it wanted to respond. Still not slowing my heart raced as I veered into oncoming traffic. The other cars swerving to avoid my car, I crossed the opposite lanes one by one. As it looked like I would never stop, I eventually lost momentum. Rolling into a gas station on the side of the road, my car finally came to a stop, and I allowed my breath to return.

In a miraculous act of some higher power, I had not hit anyone else when I lost control. I was alive, and so was everyone else. I stepped out of my car, unhurt, but alone. I left my car and never did look back at the road I had come from.

I wandered away from my car and started walking through the small town I had now arrived at. I was soon stopped by a woman. She was middle-aged, and quite short, and wasting no time, asked me who I was. She insisted that I tell her because in this small town, she believed in knowing everyone personally. I told her, but moved past her down a nearby alley. The walls of the alley were covered in ivy and the buildings around me appeared to be all lit by candle light. It was now dark outside, but and odd flickering sunset-like glow provided scarce amounts of light. More people approached me as I walked, and as I searched.

For what was I searching? I didn't really know exactly. It was as if I was searching for something I could only feel. As if my soul were telling me, "Warmer, you're getting warmer..." but I never found it, regardless of how "warm" I was. My search eventually turned into me looking for my car in an attempt to leave this small town.

I found myself in a parking garage that I couldn't help but feel I had been in before. The light should have been a typical florescent glow, but it wasn't. It remained a continuation of the same candle light like the rest of the town.

"Is this your car?" he asked, as I walked. I couldn't see his face, but his voice remained nonetheless. It was as if he, and the rest of the townspeople who asked me similar questions had words to ask, but not bodies to produce those words. I never answered any of them, I just kept walking. I just kept searching. Eventually an officer drove up and asked me where my car was. Again, there were words, sound, voices, but no body in the car. As he drove by, I again remained silent, not responding, just searching...


It was at this moment I awoke, never finding anything but a head full of questions...

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