𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 【short story】

f a i r y l i g h t s

A step out of the garage engulfs the girl in darkness. Coldness. Her breath forms clouds around her that float up to the heavens. Bruised hands get shoved in pockets as the keys in her hand jingle.

Another waste of another night and she's finally had enough. The boredom. The loneliness. The dark. She's tired of all of it. Her breaking point has been met.

Her father's truck, an old beater from the 80s, roars beneath her as she pulls out of the driveway with a destination in mind. Her cell phone remains on the bed in her room, but she won't be needing it.

Headlights illuminate the roads around her, leading her down a familiar winding path of narrow roads and night-soaked streets. The truck beneath her roars, its broken window whistling in the wind and its brakes given out far too often to be safe, but she doesn't mind. The sound is like music to her ears.

The radio is blasting when she finally arrives in the driveway. 12:30 AM yet the lights of the familiar house are on. Old music plays from old speakers as she climbs out and walks around to the back of the house, to the familiar bedroom with an open window and a girl inside that's just waiting for another adventure.

"Hey, are you ready?"

"Of course I am. Let me guess, we're going on a surprise trip this time..." Her girlfriend is out the back window, blanket and pillow in hand, faster than she can answer the question and the two are back in the car and speeding through the darkness once again.

The broken window is rolled down as the two sit in the cramped space at the front of the truck, grinning at each other and singing along to 80s tunes that stream through the air in soft succession. Hands overlap on the dashboard and don't let go.

The city is left behind them. The darkness. The cold. They all stay with it and the two girls are brought to a warmer part of the countryside. A place clear from clouds and the terrible memories of the day. A place for the two to forget.

The moon shines down now, illuminating the corn fields around them and the fork in the dead-end road. The girls select the road to the right and park the truck in the center of it, stopping and noting the comfortable silence that follows when the engine stops; the interior lights go out. The two are left in a different kind of darkness, one that's full instead of empty.

Soon, the two are in the trunk of the vehicle, staring up at the sky from the comfort of a pile of blankets. The sparkling of the stars above acts as personal fairy lights to illuminate two girls in love. A simple scene with a perfect ending as one curls into the chest of the other and the two fall asleep in each others' embrace.