I wanted to have some fun with wordle, so I looked up one of the sections from my old nanowrimo entry back in 2005. Next I’ll track down the whole thing to see what it looks like, but I like the way this one turned out. Click on the image to see the bigger version.
My first inclination was to keep driving. Don’t look back, just keep going until the car runs out of gas. Could I do that though? Was I ready?
“Screw it.”
Pushing my foot to the floorboard, I swung around the first right I saw. I didn’t know what road I just turned on, but I knew that it was the right one. All of a sudden, images of what I was supposed to do at work the next day started floating through my head, the voices of my family and friends asking where I went started filling my ears. I reached over and turned up the volume on the radio:
“My hands are turning numb, but I still gotta strum, my velvet guitar…..”
As the music filled the air, everything else quickly faded. The only image was that of the yellow lines buzzing by the tires and the trees reaching out from the darkness on the side of the road. The only sound was sweet music mixed with the rushing cool night air.
This was life.
But where was I headed? So much space to drive into, but where was my final destination. I hadn’t thought that far yet, and I didn’t want to. The best option for me would be to drive first and figure things out later. Silently, I started to wonder if my friend was in the same boat or if he had just gone home like normal and fallen asleep. Well, either way, I was on a mission that was not going to be stopped. A mission for change.
After driving for about an hour, I realized that I hadn’t even really payed attention to what road I was on or what direction I was going. It all happened so fast that I didn’t care about anything when I started. Keeping my eyes open for passing signs, I started to slow down a little bit and try to grab my surroundings. Where were all the signs, there should be something out here telling me where I was. Looking around, I noticed to myself that I hadn’t seen any headlights on this road at all since the one car I passed when first turning onto it.
“I must be in the middle of nowhere if there’s this little to go by”, I thought to myself.
Oh well, keep on driving, that’s the plan.
Suddenly, the sun started to rise quickly. The night went from darkness to daytime in an instant. My mind started racing, what the hell was going on? I looked down at the clock, the minutes were cruising by faster than the trees. I shook my head, confused as hell. Where was I and why was this happening to me? As quickly as I was confused, the realization came to me.
“Oh Shit!”
My eyes slammed open in time to be blinded by the headlights of an oncoming semi, horn blaring, swerving into the opposite lane at the last minute. My car fishtailed into the ditch on the wrong side of the road as I slammed on the brakes. Finally, it slid to a stop, the back end against the grass, headlights shining into the air. I rubbed my hands across my face and started laughing.
Nervous laughter has that habit of making you think you’ve just been cured of stupidity.
I shifted into park and started to relax.
If there ever was a time to be lucky, that was it. How could I have fallen asleep at the wheel like that? I’ve driven home hundreds of times even more tired than I am right now. How long was I asleep, that moment seemed like it was lasting forever.
I slumped down in my seat, totally confused, totally exhausted after that adventure.
“There’s a story inside your eyes that needs a witness…..”
The music continued to play as my eyes drifted slowly back to sleep, an image of the sun rising and setting continuously in my head.