The saturated road reflected the headlights of a car into the trees that lay directly ahead of it. Mist and light rain hid the almost metallic glare that reverberated off the pavement. For more than a minute the car was sitting there, the brake lights on, just staring into the wall of woodland that ended its path. The radio slowly dimmed out as two cold fingers struggled to find the knob in the dark innards of the car. Forehead met the steering wheel, introduced by a scream of frustration from the cracking voice of the driver.

Slowly, the car was shifted into park by its obviously lost controller. Still it stared into the line of trees that marked the end of the road. Mist gradually grew to fog, almost as if it were trying to end the fruitless staring contest between the headlights and the shadows among the trees. The steady hum of the engine calmly continued amongst this unending rivalry. There was no other sound, nothing to disturb the tension that grew thicker with the fog. Just as the condensing shroud started to embrace the car, a light from within turned on.

The hand that turned this light on glowed as it pushed itself up against its bright discovery. Begging for whatever warmth the light could offer, the hand smuggled it leaving only small leftovers to illuminate parts of the car’s interior. Eventually, after some coaxing, the hand receded from the light allowing all the previous secrets of the car’s other half revealed, but only for fog to see. It let its hold on the car loosen as it watched the inside. With the glove box opening, more light was freed. The hand fingered its way through this one of many compartments, searching for answers. The car hummed a bit louder as the glove compartment’s door was slammed shut, rising dust from the dashboard. Rattles from beneath the seats hissed at the hand as it ravenously searched the car, leaving nothing sacred.

The light from the inside of the car diminished back into darkness. The fog returned to its tight grip around the car, but now with unremorseful hands. The engine snarled as the car was shifted into reverse. The hand quivered as it tried to read its sense of newfound direction to the car. Backing from the woods into unseen road, the car slowly traveled, reluctant to trust the fog. Shifting to drive, the car began to move forward so it could turn and go back where it came from. Fog, not letting go, unknowingly misleads the car to a place where it’s too late to stop. Swelling up inside, the car sat broken, panting for life, off the road and in the woods. The driver sat still like the car’s headlights, no expression. The head beams dimmed out and the fog faded away, back into the flow of things.