Silent Horizons

The sound of the engine was the only noise besides the rain hitting the windshield. The road seemed endless, with the horizon covered in mist. The radio played a soft, almost imperceptible tune as she gazed out the window, the distant city lights reflecting in her eyes.

"Have you ever thought about how everything can end suddenly?" she asked, her voice cutting through the silence like a sharp knife.

I laughed, more to ease the discomfort than because I found it funny. "Here you go again with this? You like thinking of the worst, don't you?"

"It's not about liking it... I just think we're never really prepared, you know?" She turned to me, her face calm, but her eyes told a different story.

"Prepared for what?" I kept my eyes on the road, but I felt the weight of the conversation growing.

"For the end. For when everything falls apart, and you realize you have no control anymore." She sighed, looking back out the window. "What would you do if you knew this was the last time we'd be together like this?"

The question caught me off guard. "I... don't know. I think I'd try to make it last as long as possible." My answer came out more hesitant than I intended.

She smiled faintly. "I wouldn't do anything differently. I'd live exactly as we are now. I just wanted you to know... I'd never leave anything unsaid."

"Are you okay? This sounds like a goodbye..." I asked, now feeling the discomfort morph into something colder.

She chuckled softly. "It's not goodbye... yet. But if it were, I wouldn't change a thing."

Silence took over again. My hands were steady on the wheel, but my heart was racing. There was something in the air, a feeling I couldn't understand, but couldn't ignore.