Late night drive

Is driving just a way to get from point A to B? Is it just a way of moving around and getting to where you want to? Or is it more, something so complex, so dangerous yet taken so lightly and simply. Jacob loved to drive. As soon as he turned sixteen and learned to drive, it was all he did any opportunity to get. He didn’t have a destination; he didn’t have a goal all he wanted was the experience of the ride.

Each night as his parents would fall asleep, he would quietly take the car keys and go for a long drive on his own. Without anyone with him. He would turn the music up to the loudest volume and listen to the songs his friends would clown him for listening to. At that time, he didn’t care, that was his escape his way of leaving everything else behind. He would go fast and sometimes he would go very, very slow.

No one knew that he used to go out at night, no one knew that he could drive so well without paying attention as well. No one knew that he had this mode of escape, only him. Yet every time he would go for a drive he would think that someone is watching him. Observing him from very nearby, as if they were almost watching over him for protection.

It was the 5th of January, he had not had the best day at school, he fought with a classmate, and he realised that he failed a test. He got home to angry restless parents. He opened his phone to 0 text messages, so he knew when it was his time to vent this time. That night he drove the car as fast as he could and realised once you reach the top speed, you stop feeling the seat, the steering moves on its own and everything in the window ahead seems like a never-ending road. Jacob loved that feeling of nothing yet everything. That’s what he craved every day.

A few weeks passed and he continued to chase that feeling every night, any opportunity he got. The days got worse, and the night would fix everything. He lived in constant wait for the night, almost fearing that eh day would ever come. He would get beat up at school, his grades dipped, and his attention was way below what was required. His entire time sleeping was 200 kilometres per hour.

It was the 29th of February, and he could not take it anymore. He left the house later that day because he could not find a way to get him off the ground. He got in the car with no will, to ever get out of it. He didn’t put his seat belt on, he didn’t turn on any safety lights. He went straight to the accelerator. He stomped it with all the life he had left in him. He accelerated and accelerated and accelerated. He did not stop. The car kept going faster, and his foot did not lift, his head was prepared to finish it today, and so was his heart.

But he felt that someone again, someone watching him. Someone looking out for him. Then he saw a shining man in front of his car and pressed the breaks immediately, with the most screechy drift he stopped right before the light man. He tried to open the door of the car to see how it was, but the look was jammed, he looked out and the man was gone. Then he felt an arm on his shoulder. Jacobs hear began preparing and pumping blood again. The glowing man was in his passenger seat.

Jacob didn’t understand what was happening and most of him did not want to understand what was happening. The glowing man looked into his eyes with a great amount of disappointment, as if he expected him to be better, more than he was currently. Jacob couldn’t place together why; he didn’t look familiar. He didn’t look like someone he knew he was just a man that radiated light and happened to be in his passenger seat.

Only one word came out of Jacob’s mouth “why?” and the glowing man said, “you must not fear the morning anymore.” And disappeared into thin air. Just at that moment, the sun rose. At that moment Jacob knew, that he had to change, not for anyone else but for himself. He couldn’t escape everything anymore.