Life on the Road

         Hi, people call me Dave, those who don’t don’t know my name. I’m a driver, but not just an ordinary driver, I drive for google. Now let me tell you how much I hate this job. All I do is drive. Drive, drive, drive, that’s it. The car cameras do all the work. I’m stuck here in my own thoughts. I like to consider myself an intelligent human being because I’m alone with my thoughts so much. People ask me, “Dave, is it cool going to all the places?” And to that I would have to respond with, “NO!” My section of driving isn’t even the cool driving, I got the basic houses, neighborhoods, run down stores, that’s it. 

           I want more, yet I get even less every day. Soon my time will be up and my driving will be done. I can’t wait for that day to come. I only took this job to support my family but I don’t even see my family anymore. I miss them. I miss my old life of no driving. I don’t do anything, the car cameras do it all. My loving wife, oh how I miss her dearly. At least this job pays well for what it is. I know my family is grateful for what I’m doing but I haven’t seen them in 10 months. I am forced to live my life on the road until my job is done. I have back pain from sleeping in the car. I shouldn’t complain, some people have it worse than me. I want to see my kids. I want to go home. I want to have a family again. But I am forced to drive. I am forced by google. I must finish my job for google. I am important but I am depressed.

              I guess I should tell you what I see on the daily. Once I saw this old couple arguing outside in their robes. I sped up to get it on camera. I almost caught a robbery on camera, but to my surprise it wasn’t a robbery it was a party. I know those are weird to get mixed up but I haven’t interacted with people in so long. The car doesn’t stop. I drove past this river once and saw a ghost! Sadly I don’t think it was caught on camera. I’m glad it wasn’t caught on camera. The river was beautiful though, too bad I couldn’t get out to look at it. I’m on a tight time schedule. It’s always nice driving during Christmas. The lights are beautiful and there’s always this cheerful feeling inside me. Too bad I’m not with my family. Oh how I miss my life. The lights make good pictures for google maps. The people are so happy during the holidays. They’re so happy and free. I haven’t experienced a sense of freedom ever since I took this job. I've been trapped inside this prison of a car, driving endlessly. My favorite holiday to drive through is Halloween. Seeing the costumes is my favorite. Too bad the faces are blurred. 

            The sad part about driving alone is being trapped in my thoughts. That could get dangerous. I control my emotions just with my thoughts. Lately it’s been getting harder for me to find happiness. All I can think about is getting home to my family. I like to think about the past. My childhood. It all started when I was 5. My pops bought me a little toy car. I’ve been fascinated with cars ever since. So naturally when I got offered this job I was excited. I was exploding with happiness. I have soon come to understand why so many people warned me about this job. “You cannot go home until the job is done”, they said. I did not know what they meant. Now I know what they meant. Sometimes I think about astral projecting out of this car. “Is it possible?” I ask myself. Oh how I miss walking. I think about the times I took for granted, the times I regret, the times I love, now I don’t have a sense of time. The only time I know is from the clock inside this car. 

          I’m coming to my last street. Filled with unbridled joy, I speed up the car just so I can finish. The car stops but I can’t get out. Why are the doors locked? I finished my job. I can go home now. I want to go home now. The car starts up again and the gps reroutes me to a new town. Is my job not finished? Will it ever be finished? I continue to drive. I finally understand what people meant when they warned me that the job will never be finished. My once joyous appreciation for google turns into rage. Do people not know how much of a prison google is? I’m forcefully imprisoned by google while others are willingly imprisoned behind their screens. Nobody goes outside anymore. I’m part of the problem. I help google trap people in their homes. I wish I never took this job as a google street driver. 

             I must accept my fate. My job is never done. I’m sorry I am contributing to the imprisonment of the people at home. All I can do now is look ahead. People waste their whole lives stuck in one job thinking they can’t get out. People see my job as cool but in reality it’s a curse. Google is huge. Google owns everything. Without google this world would go crazy. But I don’t want google anymore. I want freedom. I want to be happy again. How can I be happy if all I see in front of me is road. I have no hope anymore. I see no future in front of me. All there is is road. Road in front, road in back, road everywhere. All I know is the road now. My future is the road. The road is my life. This is my life on the road.