Long Road Ahead

Cold

Cold was all that preceded my lucidity. I didn't know who I was, or where I was, all I knew is that I was cold. I opened my eyes and winced, the ephemeral flashes of the car's flickering lights felt like daggers stabbing into my head. God- my head... I reached up, numb fingers grasping at my forehead only to return stained red, like a quill dipped in an inkwell of blood.

I stared at my hand wordlessly, letting out neither scream nor cry. My palm was clammy with sweat, why was I sweating? How badly was I hurt? The lights died with an electric pop, sealing me in absolute darkness. Unceremoniously, I realized my mouth was open, but as I tried to close it, I felt shards of glass scrape and grind against my teeth. I whimpered pathetically, leaning forward and praying for saliva and gravity to do the rest. While the latter freed a few fragments, I had no such luck with the former, my mouth was as dry as a desert, how long had I been out? The light returned as abruptly as it had left, I turned my head and nearly fell back at what I saw.

There was a dead body in the driver's seat.

She was barely recognizable as human, twisted and broken. The airbag had gone off, but it didn't matter; her skull had been staked to the headrest by a jagged tree branch. We had hit something, and we had hit it hard. Between the bouts of undiluted tenebrosity, the empyrean headlights illuminated the silhouette of a fallen trunk, its weight bowing both the roof and splintering windshield.

Both our windows were shattered, powdery snow blowing in from her side. She was already partly entombed by the frost, her frozen visage warped into a death mask bereft of both dignity and peace. There was so little blood... only a few streaks and pools bordering where the wood and shrapnel had burrowed into her. Something like water dripped from her nose in a slow, steady rhythm, like a leaking pipe.

I had to get out of here. My senses were returning and I was becoming increasingly aware of the metallic taste my mouth and the burning in the back of my throat. The car's dashboard was chirping some warning- but it was warped, like I was underwater. And the pain... It radiated from my core- feverishly hot inside yet... blisteringly cold outside. I felt the way a klein bottle looks, endlessly pouring into myself in a sensation equal parts nauseating and agonizing.

The door was broken, I had to crawl out what remained of my window. The night air was sharp, thick with snow. No moon, no stars, the blizzard made sure of that. Shakily, I stumbled back looking forward at the wreckage.

The sight of the blue hatchback jogged no memories, yet somehow the forest around me seemed even less familiar. In fairness I could make out neither in great detail; my sole source of illumination was flashing more erratically with each passing second. There was no telling how long the headlights would last, I hurriedly oriented myself.

My eyes traced from the smashed, smoking hood back to the hectic, swerving tracks that had ferried us here. I didn't know what happened, but I knew I needed help. Clumsily I made my way forward, the world spinning with each step.

I attempted to ease myself into a lethargic pattern. When the light was at my back, I would align myself with the path; and when the darkness returned, I would walk. The cold gnawed at my skin, its stinging teeth biting down to the bone.

Light, dark, light, dark, light, dark; I had become so engrossed in the cadence, I nearly leapt out of my skin when I heard something break it. Something rustled in the trees beyond my sight, twigs snapping underfoot and bent branches creaking. Whatever it was, it was too big to be human.

My thoughts went to a bear or moose- a fear swiftly reinforced when I saw a flash of brown at the edges of my vision. But- I was safe, I had to be. I was upwind, I was silent, and- after ducking against the nearest tree, I was hidden.

If it noticed me, it wasn't interested. Of course not- why would it be? Just a few dozen yards behind was a much more attention-grabbing sight. The car must have been radiating heat- not to mention the light, fleeting as it was.

So, why wasn't I moving? I was stunned- petrified with irrational fear, wasting time I didn't have. It took every ounce of willpower in my damaged skull to take a single step back. I couldn't stop, I couldn't rest, I couldn't-

...I couldn't look away when it began emerging from the treeline; moving in metronomic rhythm with the flickering lucency

Light

A hand, a long twisted hand with horrible, spiderlike fingers. Each digit sported an erratic number of knuckles, ending in blackened, glossy tips that appeared more bone than flesh

Dark

A branch snapped, a tree creaked, a rattling breath reached my ears, the sound clear as day.

Light

I could see a face through the snow- an unmoving visage uncanny in all the ways that separates a corpse from a human. Tawny flesh wrapped around its skull- marred with wrinkles yet so tight that its skin peeled and cracked where bone met joint. Something was wrong

Dark

Snap crack snap, it was moving, moving too fast. The winds shifted and the scent of heady afterbirth hit my nostrils- but it was tinged with something foul, something rotten. It felt familiar but- I didn't know how, or why.

Light

It was standing now, looking down at the car. It hadn't been the cracking of twigs and groaning of branches, it had been the snapping of rigor mortis, and the creaking of limbs. With one hand on the roof, it leaned down to the driver's window, shriveled sockets staring sightlessly into the wreckage.

Dark

I turned to flee, finally realizing what had been so wrong about it.

It left no tracks, cast no shadow... and no snow clung to its mummified skin.

Every step away from the car drove the cold deeper into my flesh. It was to the point where even pain had lost its warmth. I felt eroded, sluggish- I had no way of discerning if the light was getting further, or if my eyes were getting weaker.

Step, step, step... 'One more, just- one more... please' I begged, eyes clenched shut as the burn settled in my chest, warming my core. By this point, I had gone far enough that the light was thoroughly diluted by countless trees. It looked less like distant headlights, and more like individual pillars of dying radiance- at least they had illuminated something worth seeing.

The road- finally... I had never thought asphalt to be so beautiful. A thin layer of snow dusted the mountain trail, we were headed at such a sharp decline and then... Yes- whatever that thing was, we had swerved to avoid it! Swerved... lost control- and the thing had come to claim its prey...

I heard creaking in the distance, and I knew it wasn't the trees.

I ran next to the road with newfound vigor, swinging my arms to catch anyone's attention. I opened my mouth to yell- but my tongue and throat was just as dry as when I had awoken. It didn't matter though- I could see headlights cresting the hill that had claimed us, proper headlights, steady and undamaged.

When the light reached my body, I redoubled my efforts, joy and elation surging in my mind. The semi-truck began to slow, gliding down the hill- and straight past me. I turned- hoping to run after it, but its passing trailed a spray of sleet and frost in its wake.

A descending wave of snow and slush that passed right through me.

I looked down, I looked back, I couldn't see my footprints. Dread mounting, I looked down at my blood-stained hands, no snow clung to my pallid flesh, I cast no shadow upon the desolate earth. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted to beg, I couldn't.

The smell... I knew it from the maternity ward. They called it 'missed miscarriage', told me it was an ‘antepartum stillbirth’. They didn't know the truth... but he did... and so did I.

The semi ahead of me came to a full stop, his hazards flicking on. Light, dark, light, dark, light... dark... I looked behind me.

Light

It stared at me from the treeline. Its eyes were closed, expression holding neither contempt or benevolence. Its nose had long-since rotted away, nasal cavity split down to the lip, revealing only skeletal grooves and yellowed teeth.

Dark

I couldn't stop, why didn't I stop? I promised I would- but I couldn't... It tore us apart, took everything from me-! ...Had I wanted this? Was it an accident? ...It wasn't worth contemplation- it didn't matter. Not anymore.

Light

In the corner of my eye, I saw the trucker approaching. He was wrapped in layers, running down the road, each breath steaming in the open air. I was so jealous-... what I wouldn't do for a sliver of his warmth... He ran right past me, and right through the thing, it which now stood only a few feet away.

Dark

Its scent returned, reeking of spoiled womb wax and embalming fluid. It was enough to make me vomit, but I didn't have the strength, nor the will. I felt its fingers curve just above my frostbitten eyelids. Its touch was... nothing- absence, a sensation of cessation... oblivion. I didn't care- anything was better than the cold... Somewhere, outside my body, I felt my heart beating... I felt it slow... I felt it stop.

Light

I stared into the creature's glistening face, lacquered by sebum, weathered by time immemorial. Something thin like water dripped from my nose and tears welled in my eyes; never before had I wanted to blink so badly... Like a brush across canvas, the thing drew its fingers downwards closing my eyes one last time.

My mind wandered, thinking back to my last words before pressing the bottle's lips against my own. "Long road ahead."

Dark