It’s late, I’m alone in the car, driving down the highway. A road I’ve travelled countless times before. I could probably close my eyes and know where all the bumps and the few curves are. Just me and my thoughts, tonite. My brain whirs with dozens of thoughts and feelings, then for a while it is totally quiet, just listening to the radio or the hum of the wheels. Whir. Quiet. Whir. Quiet.It starts to rain. A line of cars passes me, the other direction. There is no median. Just a slick yellow stripe between us. They are passing me at 150 miles an hour.

My hands tighten on the steering wheel, for a moment. This stretch of road is known for head on accidents, especially on rainy days. People hydroplane. Happens all the time, nobody would wonder about it.

No. Those cars whizzing past? They have people in them. People with families, jobs, kids, mortgages. Forget that train of thought. At least for now.

I turn off, onto a side road. I’ve been down this road before, too. Not quite as often, but enough. Enough to know there is a huge oak tree about two miles down. On the right. This tree is easily a hundred years old, and could probably stop a train. It wouldn’t even be scratched by my little car, were it to accidentally slide into it on a rainy night.

My foot has a mind of it’s own, the car accelerates. A mile to go. Half a mile. My mind is blank, nothing is decided, but my hands and feet seem to do what they want at this point.

Headlights, in my rear view mirror. I’m snapped awake. Must’ve been a dream I was having. I think of kids, and mortgages. I slow to a reasonable speed, continue down the road.

Eventually I wind up back at an intersection. There’s a burger place here, open late. I drive-thru and get a burger and a shake. Extra large. It’ll fill me up. It’ll calm me down.

By the time I finish the shake, I’m home, again.