The Lights

I kept close to the taillights in front of me. A safe distance, but not enough to lose the car attached to the lights. Around 5AM the fog arrived. First, only appearing for a short while and then disappearing as I broke through its barrier, but now the fog seems never ending. When I first entered the fog again, my view of the road was almost entirely obstructed. I wanted to slow down or pull off, but I feared that a car might come up on me too fast and I'd risk a collision. Then these lights merged in front of me. They seemed to know where they were going even with their view obstructed, so I decided to stick behind them and let them guide me. 

I kept the radio off. I wanted my full focus on the road. Well, the lights. There really was no road to focus on. I couldn’t even plug my destination into Google Maps because my phone is in my backpack in the backseat. I never keep my phone on me when I drive because I become too tempted to use it. I decided the best option was that as long as the fog covered the road I would follow these lights and get off on whatever exit they get off on and then deal with it from there. Hopefully this fog will lighten up and that won’t have to happen. 

Once I start to become more comfortable driving, I realize that I'm shivering. I slowly reach to turn the heater on and crank it to the right. It doesn’t move. I look down and see it’s already on full heat. I place my hand in front of the vent and feel the lukewarm air. Piece of shit. I really hope this person isn’t visiting from out of town because I might die of hypothermia before we make it off this highway. 

My eyes start to feel heavy and I have to fight to keep my head from dipping. The brain gets bored staring at nothing but two bright circles for what feels like hours. I decided that the radio might be a better option than falling asleep at the wheel. I turn it on, but it only comes out as static. I spin the dial and every station is playing the same thing. Nothing. 

The lights in front of me start to fade so I speed up a little, but this time they continue to fade. I try to catch back up and make them return to their full brightness, but this guy is speeding like crazy. The lights disappear entirely and I'm alone again.

I turn on my high beams, but it doesn’t help me see at all. How fast was that car going? I can’t believe how dangerous that speed is in this fog. Were they afraid of me? Did they think I was following them? Well, I was, but only because I needed their help. I had no bad intentions. 

Something in the rearview mirror attracts my attention. Lights. They’re coming up on me from behind. Please pass me. I'm cautious to slow down just enough to encourage the car to go around, but not enough to elicit a hard slam on the brakes. They don’t go around me. They stay timed with me, like I did with the car before. Great. Follow the leader. Unfortunately the leader doesn’t know where the hell they're going.

I continued to drive well under the speed limit hoping the person behind me would get impatient, but they stayed where they were. I miss the safety of following the lights. Suddenly the lights behind me become brighter, much brighter. So bright that even the gray fog through my windshield almost entirely melts away. I don’t know what to do, so I honk my horn, but it doesn’t help. The yellow completely encompasses my vision and I fight to keep my eyelids open. I roll down the window a bit and scream, praying that they’ll hear me, but knowing it’s not likely. “Turn off your high beams!!”. Not being able to see anything at all, I panic and veer off of the road. I hear my brakes squeal.

“And what happened next, Kimberly?”

I open my eyes to a flickering beam of light on the ceiling. The man across from me holds a pen and scribbles on a yellow legal pad on the table in front of us. 

“I don’t know. I don’t know what happened after that.”

The man sighed and placed the pen down on the table. He leaned towards me slightly. “She died, Kimberly. The woman in that car died.”

The car had been following me closely for miles. Too closely. I was just coming off of a 12 hour shift and was so tired and so cold. My heater wasn't working, my phone was in my backpack so I couldn't play music. Nobody listens to the radio anymore. All of this made me incredibly irritable, so it really pissed me off having their LED headlights in my rearview mirror. The lights were shining so bright that I started to feel a headache coming on, so I slowed down and let them pass. I was annoyed and angry, so after they passed me I flashed my high beams at them multiple times. I wanted to see how they liked being blinded when they’re trying to drive. They must have panicked and lost control. The lights in front of me started to swerve from side to side and then they veered off into the endless fog.

I close my eyes and I'm driving again. A car enters the highway, so I keep close to it and let it guide me through the fog until it will no longer let me. When it returns it blinds me until I lose control and veer off into the cold gray clouds. The ending never changes. I relive the same sequence over and over in my head every day.