Gone

Chapter 3

The Next Day.

Having everything ready and packed, Caroline grabbed her backpack that held everything and carried out to her car. It was early December and snow had freshly coated everything in sight. As the female walked out to her car in the cold blistery morning, the snow would crunch and munch under her feet with each step she took. The cold morning's air nipped at her face while white flakes fluttered down from the sky, she shivered as the cold air sent a shiver tingling through her.

Once she was next to her silvery grey Mazda 3 car, she would shuffle her hand through her jacket's pocket for the key fob. Caroline bounced around, lifting each leg back and forth as she searched for the black keys that would unlock her car. A puff of a tiny white cloud would be exhaled from the female as she gave a sigh of relief when she had finally found her keys. The smooth, black plastic fob and the smooth, black plastic capped silver metal key would clang together as she pulled them out by the metal key ring that connected them. Caroline ran her thumb along the tiny bumps on the fob as she searched for the unlock button on it. Upon finding it, she would apply pressure as she quickly pressed it twice so that the passenger door would be unlocked. Hearing the clicking sounds of the doors unlocking, the female would pull on the passenger's door handle to open the door before tossing her bag onto the passenger side's seat. Closing the door, she would take one more last look at the place she called home before making her way over to the driver's side. Her hand would reach for and grip the cold black handle on the door. With a small tug, the door would open and Caroline would slip onto the drives seat. Caroline closed the car door before putting her seatbelt on and starting the car.

The female with auburn hair would shiver with excitement and cold. She would be about to head out on one of her last journeys before becoming an employed adult. Gripping the wheel, she would apply pressure on the brake pedal as she changed from park to drive. She inhaled slowly as she slowly released the brake pedal and moved onto the gas pedal. With one gentle push of the gas, the car moved forward. As she applied more pressure to the gas pedal, the car would go faster, and then she would be off.

***
Caroline had her full G license and was able to travel on the 400 series highways alone. Following the directions given to her by her GPS, the female was successfully able to get onto the 407 highway.

She had been driving for awhile, the skies began to darken and it had began to snow a bit. Caroline was a bit tired but the GPS reassured her that she would arrive soon, so the female kept on her way. The more she drove, the farther she got from any civilization and from where she had called her home for 20+ years. The skies grew darker and the snow thickened, she would not give up hope yet.

A flickering of lights had caught her attention up ahead. There was a building, a car dealership of a car brand that Caroline was unfamiliar with. As she neared it, the lights of the building began to flicker on and off in a creepy suspicious way. Everything was dark, the falling snow formed a curtain around Caroline's car. It was so dreadfully bad that the female was barely able to see in front of her. There was about 2 feet of snow on the road and more kept coming. She crept along making sure not to go too fast and accidentally spin out in the middle of the highway.

To ease her nerves, the female turned on the radio. Christmas music rang from the speakers.

"Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!" The radio blared before the female turned the dial to decrease the volume. "Man it doesn't show signs of stoppin'" the radio continued at a softer volume.

The female looked out the window and laughed to herself silently. It was as if the song had been describing her drive at that moment. She would continue her drive through the night, hoping to arrive at her destination.

***

It was still dark, but the snow seemed to lighten up a bit. Caroline gave a sigh of relief, maybe now she would be able to see a bit more clearly.

"Blimp" "Clang" "Bump" "Curhunk"

Noises came from her car as it began to slowly come to a stop. Fearing that she would be stuck in the middle of the road, the female would try to maneuver the car to the side of the road before it completely stopped moving. Caroline groaned as the car came to a stop and began to hiss and sizzle.

Taking off her seatbelt, she would reach over to the compartment on the passenger side and search for a flare and a flashlight. She was almost always prepared and knew both items would be in there. Grabbing the two, the female would exit her vehicle and use the flashlight to see where she was going.

"Hmm... what's wrong with you?" She would mumble to herself as she investigated her car. Seeing nothing wrong on the outside, she knew it had to be an internal issue. So the female set the flare down in a dry place and then lit it. If anyone could help her, they could see the flare and be able to find her. Caroline went to the passenger side of the car and ruffled through her bag looking for her phone. Once found, she tried to turn it on, but unfortunately it had died and she didn't have a car charger. Feeling grief, she sighed and put the phone back into her bag before closing the car door.

She was about to head over to the driver's side door when she noticed some lights approaching in the distance. She was hesitant at first, but then she decided she'd rather get a stranger's help than be stranded for days. The female would then bounce up and down while flailing her arms around as she tried to get the oncoming driver's attention.