Victor Black - And the Garden of the Gods

Chapter 5: A Long Drive up the Pass

"Where's Victor going?"

The fun ended as Victor dashed out of the restaurant, holding his head with his hands cupped like earmuffs. He ran around the corner to Bijou Street yelling, "No, no, please! Who are you...."

Kane ran after him, pole vaulting over the outside metal banister to cut him off. Victor ran too fast. Kane rounded the corner just in time to see his friend's Jeep lurching out into traffic, just missing a black Focus swerving to avoid a collision. The Jeep cut a sharp turn and jetted forward, speeding west on Bijou toward the mountain range.

Kane smashed his fists against his forehead in disbelief the night had taken such a dramatic turn. Grimacing, he turned on the heel of his slip-on's and headed back to the restaurant. When he returned, Willow had already left, leaving him with Josh and Darius who were both severely stoned. The remaining teens munched on the remainder of their cake, also looking stoned but visibly shaken. Not one of them uttered a word. The restaurant's cook stood at the counter, stunned with an unclaimed hamburger in his hand.

Kane turned back toward the entrance hoping to see Victor, or even Willow, returning with an 'I'm so dumb' expression on their face, but neither one did. He opened the door, walked out onto the sidewalk, and looked up, hoping to see the sky, but the air had thickened.

"Seems things are changing; thought we had more time to play —"

The evening air was unusually still. No one answered Kane back as he talked to the sky. He didn't expect an answer, though, he did expect more people to be out walking and dining before the new week began. The parking meters all had cars parked in front. The glow in the fog signaled the many red-bricked stores and restaurants were still open and buzzing.

Kane chose to take a walk down Tejon Street, and around the corner to where he had last seen Victor. The Jeep's parking spot was taken by a large Ford truck with disabled veteran license plates and a large Army window cling in its window. Beyond it, in the direction of the eerie mountain range, past the interstate, he saw what looked like three large white lights.

"Strange street lights," Kane muttered to himself. "A bit high off the ground...."

He walked toward them, worried about Victor, and concerned for Willow, but focused on how bright the lights were beyond the fog.

Kane kept walking and disappeared.

∞ ∞ ∞

Twilight faded into night as Victor sped up the pass, tunneling through the fog-cloaked, yellowing aspens and towering pines of the Pike forest. He took full control of the red Jeep, shifting in and out of gear, and grinding the clutch, his eyes transfixed on the centerline. His body trembled with anticipation. Victor's head throbbed, his fingers twitched, and his eyes fluctuated in and out of clarity, but he kept onward.

Victor embraced his task with both dread and curiosity.

Will it be so terrible if I drive off the road and into the rain-choked ravine, he thought? It would mean bodily harm, yes, but what if it doesn't kill me? I could end up trapped in a hospital bed and fed through a tube for the rest of my life—no guarantees there.

"Bad idea," he muttered through the tears, his head spinning. "But tempting, damn it."

He thought about jerking the stitched leather wheel left, and over the edge, he would go. No one would see. "Would anyone even care?" he shouted to the windshield.

To the Jeep's right, the steep, jagged edge of the rock-cut rose overhead, covered in a sheer mesh that kept rocks from hitting the cars below. It didn't look sturdy, more like lace from an ugly doll he once saw at the Pioneers museum below in the city—old, weak, and used up.

"A boulder could fall, crushing me, it's happened before," he muttered. "Fast, but still, too many variables."

He swerved into the left lane, reducing the risk.

The road twisted and turned, winding its way upward, hugging the red rocks to the right and steep drop-off to the left. The first stars made themselves known above the haze, and the nearly-full moon danced in and out of view, glimmering on the hood of the Jeep and aiding Victor's ascent up the pass. No street lights assisted his journey as darkness descended. The voice in his head vanished for a time. Silence from being so far from town engulfed his ascent up the pass. The sun's remaining rays were no match for the mountain.

He remained the sole occupant of Route 24, heading to the best overlook in the area where, for the last time, he would view Colorado Springs far below.

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and came out of the pass, rushing the tight intersection of Cascade. As the dangling street lights overhead turned green, he barreled on through with no intention of stopping. He sped forward at a frightening speed, upward into the ever-darkening, pine-covered hills making up the Front Range, with its back roads and secret spaces. He continued to drive up the 24 with no clue how he had gotten so far so fast.

Victor sighed, still ruminating on all the goings-on around him.

He could see so clearly now. Each mile brought more thoughts of people and events, all hurting him deeply. Each additional mile brought a sense of resolution and release from reality.

Victor approached the hole-laden, dusty, unpaved turnoff where, if he continued straight, he'd head into the next town, Woodland Park. If the Jeep turned right, he'd drive up a steep hill on a thin and narrow, private dirt road dotted with potholes, and lined with rusty fences. At the top, the rarely-occupied overlook spread out, exactly where he wanted to be.

His face felt numb from the pot. He stopped crying over memories a few miles back, and exhaustion overtook him. His eyes were heavy from the emotional wreck he had become in such a short period.

Victor pulled over at the fork in the road and placed the Jeep in first gear. It dipped in and out of the first of many potholes while heading up the dusty road.