SERENITY

Moonlight pours over the road like the silken sheets of a long forgotten lover. He stares straight ahead, eyes taking in every detail of the night spread before his unblinking eyes. The engine of his car purrs softly, propelling rider and machine farther from the suburbs, and deeper into the embrace of empty country roads. Every muscle in his being is perfectly attuned to the task at hand, the task of driving and forgetting. His mind is crystal clear; every nerve, every synapse devoted to the flawless union of man and machine. His hand and foot twitch slightly in total syncopation, the car slips softly into the next gear. Tires grip the smooth road, leaving the fading lights of the last gas station to dwindle in his rearview mirror.
She doesn’t exist right now. The only things that are real are the slow beat of his heart and the luminescent green glow of the dials on his dashboard. Wind whips through his hair, even though it’s a chilly night. He needs the wind to drive. Fields open before him as he shifts one last time, a lazy transition to fifth gear that drives the point of his speedometer past the crest and down into the digits that require perfect reflexes to control.
A plane flies through the lonely night ahead, and he doesn’t even pause to wonder if that’s the plane that she is on. He just breathes the bracing, healing, night air that rushes past his face. He is not sure how fast he is going at this point. It doesn’t matter. There is no rush of speed; just cool, calculated tugs on his steering wheel guiding him around the long languid curves that launch into straight-aways, never intended to be driven by those who try to run away from themselves. Hours pass. He never touches his brakes, letting the road take him where it will.
Eventually the night sky begins to lighten. He blinks and takes his foot off the gas. The needle separates itself from the peg that defied its perfect rotation, and falls back to the range of sanity. He gently rolls to a stop in the desolate morning fog of America’s heartland. Sighing, he flips on the radio, rolls up his window and begins to drive again. This time heading for a destination that is within his reach.