"Whats the Deal With..."

Jacinda always seemed to be in a daydream, lost adrift in her mind, fantasising the day away, but about what? What did Jacinda think about? What did she waste countless hours on? Who knows?

Well, Jacinda knows.

Ever since she was old enough to have a thought, which was unusually early for a "normal" person she had only ever thought about one thing, some say it drove her to madness, some say it drove to resolution, but Jacinda will tell you herself, it drove her to the very literal end of the road.

Growing up in a claustrophobic city, barely being able to take a breath of any benefit, without the smog and pollution clouding your nasal passage, Jacinda knew she wanted to complete one task, Jacinda wanted to drive to the very edge of the world.

No, not some metaphorical edge, the physical, tangible end of the road, she didn't quite understand at the time why she craved it so, but almost every cell in her body vibrated pushing her closer and closer to the inevitable.

Throughout her school years, teachers would comment on her aloofness, her aurora of disinterest in almost everything taught, her almost distain for her fellow classmates who would chat excitedly about the latest reality show, or the most recent party.

Jacinda let the world go past her, wishing she could put it in fast forward, the only thing exciting to her, were her weekly driving lessons, when she got to age 17, whilst driving she was able to stop the cosmic pull of her day dreams, her worries and restlessness evaporated up into the ether and calm washed over her.

At 18 Jacinda had finished school with some qualifications and most importantly a driver’s licence. The next task would be getting a car, she set to work, looking for any job, she ended up working at a restaurant, accumulating as many hours as possible, saving every penny.

Within 6 months she had done, she had raised the funds for her dream car, off she went to the car dealership, eager and inpatient to get the process over with, so she could continue her quest.

Jacinda stopped off at her home with her brand new vehicle, quickly scrawling a letter of goodbyes for her family, whom she had not paid much thought to over the last couple of years, packed a small bag, gathered the remainder of her savings, jumped in the car; speeding off without a glance back to her dingy pebble-dashed house.

Navigating through the crowded city proved to be a challenge at first but once she had resided with the idea that most of the drivers were either clueless, or idiots she could weave in and out without too many disgruntled honks or indistinct slurs.

Finally just as the day turned to dusk, she was on the open road, the heavy flow of traffic replaced with a slow trickle of lorries and the odd boy-racer driving as if they had a death wish, or a tiny penis.

The golden hues of the evening were soon replaced with the shroud of darkness of the night, which for some reason, made Jacinda even more comfortable, her jitters of anticipation settling down, continuing to drive not wanting to stop anywhere that night, she started to daydream again, the daydream that always constant, playing on a loop in her mind.

The further she drove the more vivid it became, the symptomatic daydream that came with her utter outrage of not being able to find the answer to the only question she had ever asked, the only question she could never truly have answered.

Driving through sleepy villages, long stretches of motorways, the occasional red light, Jacinda ploughed onward in silence, nothing but the low hum of the engine, and occasional gust of wind as a larger vehicle sped by.

However, although she heard almost nothing, visually things started to become strange, for lack of a better word. Constantly in her peripherals she noticed that the world behind her was almost vanishing being replaced by an empty void, the road and scenery she passed, gently dripping into it, as the view ahead of her was morphing into a Picasso-esque reality, only the road staying rigid, a tarmac spirit, keeping her on "track."

Unrelenting in her pace, charged with her quest Jacinda continued, the Picasso-esque vision was starting to soften as dawn ushered in, relieving her bloodshot eyes, from the harshness of the night.

Instead the dawn bought its own element and idea for Jacinda to tackle, it started as hushed murmurs, nearly indistinguishable to her ear, enough for it to be tuned out; driving further, it got louder and louder, almost deafening, a strange otherworldly choral chant, this combined with the extending void behind her, would have most people in a state of pure panic, but Jacinda, couldn't comprehend how at peace she felt.

It all just seemed to make perfect sense, she had also managed to drive past the point of civilisation, there seemed to be no evidence suggesting another person would be on these, small and twisted country lanes.

A new sensation accompanied Jacinda at this point her nostrils filled with a fresh bright smell, the closest smell she could pinpoint to would be as if she were standing along the coast, with a ferocious wind on her back, whilst simultaneously standing in a meadow of wildflowers. That was quickly followed by the taste of something in her mouth, it was like nothing she had ever tasted before, not overly sweet, sour or salty, but eerily unfamiliar yet not unpleasant.

Jacinda realised that her daydreaming had stopped now, she was no longer just thinking about her daydream; living it instead, however the increasing feeling of comfort, came to an abrupt end as she knew, the end to that daydream. She knew that soon her sense of feeling would leave her, she always pondered how that would feel, and more often than not concluded it would not feel good in the slightest. Jacinda never really allowed herself to get that far in the daydream, fearing that it would actually provide her with the answer she always sought after, the answer we all kind of know, but are far too terrified to allow to be the truth.

Four of her five sense were screaming with activity, Jacinda's gut was telling her that she was reaching the end of drive, the end of the road, as everything was now dripping into the void at a rapid pace, her range of vision becoming smaller and smaller, the choral chants mutating into elongated notes, the smell more pungent and the taste stronger.

Then she saw it, the coast, she veered over violently to a patch of land, and exited the car, doing so- stepping out onto the marsh like land, setting her eyes on the distant seemingly endless sea, the sensations all came to a halt.

No noise, no smell. no taste, nothing obstructing her vision.

No void.

As Jacinda took in the entirety and enormity of the view, and larger so the world, she felt like she had clarity, she knew that she would never know the answer she so desperately wanted.

Maybe it is what is best for all of us, to have some of the bigger truths to remain a mystery.

Religious truths, personal truths, universal truths, all of them.

There was one thing Jacinda was certain, her life's driving force, one thing she would never truly know.

Jacinda would never find out-

"What's the deal with airplane food?"