The Dark Path

The dark path I walk is illuminated by the brightness of your soul. The angelic features of your face inspire me to keep pushing on. I step forward with fear in my heart and hopes in my eyes. Your name will be my contract; I’ve sworn to uphold it. The callouses on my feet tingle as I trek on towards an uncertain fate. I can only see a few feet ahead of me, the darkness has sprawled over the open road in front of me.

A pair of headlights approach and the car slows to a crawl as it passes me by. I thought to myself that they had every intention of stopping to help a fellow person in need, but my appearance gave them other ideas. I continued on my journey and hummed a tune in my head to occupy my time. The wind swooshed around me, almost thrusting me into the roadside trees I walked alongside. The weight of the backpack I carried around my shoulders was beginning to become too much. If help didn’t arrive soon I’d have to dump it.

In the distance I could hear an engine rumbling. I stuck my hand out, thumb poking in their direction as I pleaded for them to pick to me up. As they sped past me, I witnessed their brake lights turn red and stop right beside me. As I stepped toward the car and bent down to get a look at the driver, I witnessed my reflection in the passenger side window. What I saw startled me, have I really been walking for this long? When I left the bar and decided that I needed to go on this journey of self-enlightenment I had nothing more but a bit of stubble on my mangled face.

The driver pressed down on the button to roll the window down and speak to me. He was clean cut, dressed to impress, donning a sports coat and a fedora over his seemingly balding scalp.

“Where ya headed?”

“Wherever you wanna take me, I’ve been walking since last night without rest.”

The cold breeze picked up its haste as I gripped the handle and pulled it back to enter the green Subaru. He offered me a cigarette, which I declined. He asked for my name and I responded by saying that it wasn’t necessary to exchange handles because we’d be on our way in a matter of minutes.

“So can I ask about that scar on your face?”

He was referring to the six inch laceration which had covered my entire right cheek. Talking about it made me uncomfortable but I couldn’t refuse both of this man’s questions. I took a deep breath and requested the cigarette he had previously offered me. As he fiddled his inner pocket in search of the pack, I realized this was the perfect opportunity to grab my blade from the backpack that rested in between my legs on the floor. Once finding the cigarette he asked me what I was looking for, to which I replied that I was looking for the lighter that didn’t exist.

“Don’t be silly, you don’t need to go through all of that. Here, use this.” He handed me a Zippo that has initials inscribed on it. It read SCBH. I flipped open the top and used the flame to light the stick.

“What’s SCBH mean?”

“Ha. Hell if I know. Found it a couple miles back at a gas station, picked it up because I really like Zippo’s.”

I nodded my head and said, “ah” before handing it back to him. I took a deep drag of the cigarette and opened the window a crack for the smoke to billow out. Before ashing the cigarette, a deer ran into the street and stopped to stare at the lights approaching it. Luckily, the unnamed driver was alert enough to see the deer and slowed down to a stop before we were both either killed or severely injured.

The deer scampered away and began to chew on vegetation on the side of the road. As the driver was about to put his foot on the gas once more, I reached into my open bag and slit his throat. Blood poured from the wound like a crimson waterfall. As he gasped for air, fighting for his final breath to not be a struggle, I unbuckled my safety belt and got out of the car. As I walked over to his side, I opened it and forced him onto the asphalt just outside of his door.

I bent down with my upper half of my body in the car, searching for the button that would pop the trunk. I found it, and pulled back on it. As I heard the lock release I slammed the door shut so hard the car rattled. Picking up his body and carrying him to the back of the car, I lifted the trunk open and saw two other dead bodies already residing within. They resembled drifters, long beards and unkempt hair. The smell of decomposition hit me like a slap in the face, causing me to stumble backwards with this man still in my arms.

I found a way to fight through and dump him inside with the other two men. Upon slamming the top closed, I noticed the deer staring at me from a distance. I walked towards and it drifted away, but stopped and stared at me again. I thought it may have been leading me to something, someone. I kept following the animal; he took me through the woods and to a house deep inside of it.

The deer ran off to continue on his own destiny after bringing me to mine. Mustering up the courage to walk up the steps was somewhat of a challenge. Fuck, I should have grabbed the pack of smokes off of the driver. Too late now, I had to do this without the help of nicotine. I walked up the wooden steps; they creaked at the prospect of holding my weight.

As I got to the door and pushed it open, I could hear a TV on in a nearby room. I shut the door and followed my instincts to the room with the sound echoing throughout. I entered the room and saw a woman lying on a couch, draped in a blanket. The light from the TV lit up the room and I motioned towards her.

Blood dripped from the cuts on her wrists and onto the hard wood floor beneath my feet. There was a note beside her that simply read, “I waited for you.”