Coasting along the grayed asphalt, the car wheels churned over traffic lines that were blurred with speed. The desert expanse flew past, ignited to gold by the midday sun. Shrubs and cacti lining the road were greeted with the whipping wind of the only car on the entire scene. Large clouds were still in time, casting down shadows over dunes and rocky outcrops. And within it all, a lone, orange Chevy convertible glided over the markings of an otherwise abandoned highway.
Wind whipping through her hair, the driver flashed a smile at her side mirrors and turned on the radio. It tuned and screeched, and she was the greeted with static. She frowned for a moment before turning it off. The wonderfully monotonous backdrop soared all around her, while the bright, solar peak sent rays dancing across her face. A bubbly ecstasy rose inside of her as she took it all in, and increased her speed. She gazed at the gauges behind the wheel quizzically, to which the gas indicator began to move. It twitched and sprang, from number to number, popping up to full and falling dangerously close to empty. Reaching through the wheel, she gave it a light tap, to which it bounced up straight in between, failing to even rattle with the car's motion.
Her eyes returned to the highway's scene, which to her pleasure, had not changed. Feeling excited, she had an idea. Slowly, surely, and steadily, she took her arms away from the wheel and extended them above her head. She whooped to the wind, her holler carried back with the gust. She let out a sigh and a little giggle of enjoyment, and sat back down. Running fingers through flying hair, she relaxed at the view from the rear view mirror; miles of empty, highway desert.
YOU ARE READING
Phantom Of Lonely Roads
Short StoryA young woman takes a drive down a solitary desert road, where she realizes she is not alone.
