Hopelessly Lost

The late afternoon sun was dipping lower in the sky as Sara pulled onto the lonely, two-lane highway. She was already running behind schedule, but she had an important business meeting in the city that she couldn't miss. Taking the back roads would shave 20 minutes off her travel time compared to sticking to the interstate. At least, that was the plan.

Sara hummed along to the driving beats of the pop song playing on the radio as she watched the flat Nebraska landscape whiz by. After an hour of smooth driving across the desolate prairie, she noticed signs for an upcoming turnoff that would connect her to the highway leading into the city's suburbs. 

"Perfect, making good time," Sara murmured to herself as she signaled and took the exit ramp. But as she rounded the bend towards what she expected to be the highway entrance, she was met with a brutally jarring sight - a shattered road surface encompassed by garish orange construction barricades as far as she could see. A detour sign with a crudely spray-painted arrow offered her only way forward.

"You've got to be kidding me," Sara groaned, downshifting to take the tight corner indicated by the graffiti-covered sign. At least she had filled up with gas before leaving town, but now her shortcut was quickly becoming anything but. Still, with no easy way to turn around or backtrack, Sara had no choice but to press onwards into the deepening twilight.

What followed was a disorienting labyrinth of dusty back roads, each turn presenting her with a fork in the road accompanied by another makeshift detour marker. The flat, unchanging landscape offered no helpful landmarks to guide her way. Sara's grip tightened on the steering wheel as she squinted at each confusing intersection, silently pleading with herself not to make a wrong turn.

After a white-knuckled 30 minutes of snaking aimlessly down these maze-like rural byways, Sara was startled by an insistent ringing from the cup holder where she had haphazardly tossed her phone. It was the office calling - undoubtedly wondering where she was for her 6:30 meeting in the city. With a lump in her throat, Sara pulled over on the side of the desolate gravel road and put the vehicle in park.

"Hello?" she said weakly, rubbing her throbbing temples as she squinted at the cracked windshield trying to make out road signs offering any clue to her utterly hopeless location.

"Sara? It's Susan from the office. Just calling to make sure you're still planning on making that client meeting tonight?" Her boss's voice crackled over the small speaker.

"Uh...yes, about that," Sara said slowly, her throat tightening with panic and embarrassment. "I, um, I seemed to have taken a wrong turn somewhere after hitting that road construction. I'm not even sure where I am right now, to be honest." She paused, bracing herself for the tongue-lashing that was surely coming.

But Susan simply sighed in exasperation. "Oh Sara, you always were a terribly lost girl when it came to directions. Just send me your location and I'll try to reroute you on a map."

Sara's sweaty fingers shakily tapped out the text sharing her GPS coordinates before setting the phone down in the passenger seat with a weary exhale. After watching the spinning "locating" symbol twirl uselessly for several moments, she shook her head and started the engine again. With the light fading fast, she would have to trust her instincts and keep pressing on rather than waiting for help to arrive on these deserted country roads.

Gripping the wheel with resolve, Sara squinted at the hazy evening horizon and allowed her gut feeling to guide her towards what looked to be a faint smear of amber light - perhaps the glow of a town or the reflections of streetlights from a bypassing highway. With no other options and her phone battery starting to drain, it was as good a lead as any in this directionless void.

For the next half hour, Sara drove in silence while shadows lengthened across the tangled sea of grasslands surrounding her. Just as she was starting to second-guess her choice of heading towards those ambiguous lights, the gravel road beneath her tires finally began ascending to the crest of a gradual hill. 

When she crested the rise, her breath caught in her throat - there it was, just a few miles ahead! The unmistakable warm glow of city lights and the elevated concrete curves of highway entrance ramps. Sara whooped out loud in relief, the wild detour finally at an end.

It was nearly 8 pm by the time she pulled off the highway into the bustling city streets and located the office building where she was meant to have her meeting hours ago. On shaky legs, she hurried into the gleaming lobby clutching her briefcase, fumbling to smooth the wrinkles from her blazer and wipe away the streaks of grime on her face.

"Sara, there you are!" Susan called out as she strode forward to meet her flustered employee. The older woman's brow creased in concern at Sara's flustered appearance. "We were starting to get worried, you look like you've been through a war zone!"

"You have no idea," Sara replied with a weary chuckle, collapsing into the plush lobby sofa. She took a deep breath, finally feeling the anxious tension releasing its vice-like grip on her shoulders. "The client's already gone for the night, haven't they?"

Susan pursed her lips and nodded, sitting down beside her. "I'm afraid so...but listen, why don't you go home and freshen up? We can reschedule for tomorrow morning, and you can tell me all about your little off-road adventure over coffee." She winked and gave Sara's arm a reassuring squeeze.

Sara smiled gratefully at her boss, realizing that in spite of the absolute hellish evening of detours and wrong turns, she still had her steadfast job and trusted colleagues waiting for her. As infuriating as getting hopelessly lost had been, there was something freeing about surrendering to life's unexpected twists and turns. 

With renewed perspective, Sara gathered her things and headed for the parking lot with a spring in her step. She'd worry about prepping for her meeting in the morning - for now, the journey of finding her way back was more than enough adventure for one day.