Eyes on the Road, Dear

As Meredith drove through the icy and slick forest road, snow dotted the roadway. The setting sun cast the tall old growth in a fading, dusty red light like that of a warning sign. The headlights turn the falling flakes into luminescent orbs as they dance their way to the cold ground. Shaking hands turned up the stereo in the car, and it struggled out a garbled screech of half-formed words before falling into silence. Twice more, she tried various stations, each failing like the first, sputtering out static in response. Slamming her cold unsteady hands on the dashboard, she grumbled out a curse. Anger clouded her mind like disturbed silt in still water. Her frustration rose as the snow grew from a flurry of white dots into a wall of white, and the memories from the argument with her mother came rushing back. Once again, the two fell into the age-old argument of her not falling into her mother’s perfect standards. 

“No husband, no kids, and a worthless job. What are you doing with your life Meredith?” cried her mother in her annoyance. 

“I love my job, and I don’t need others to take care of me and waste my time,” Meredith shot back voice filled with venom. 

“Caring for dirty flea-ridden animals is not a job for a woman of our family,” her mother screeched back as Meredith stormed out of the old wooden house in a rage, snow growing heavy in the bellies of the gray clouds above. 

 Her gaze drifted from the slick, ever-whitening road towards her broken radio. Her hand shook with frustration as she messed with the nobs, trying to get a signal. Amongst the static, a shrill ringing of bells erupted from her passenger side. Yet again, her gaze moved from the road without hesitation. She swiftly rummaged through her haphazardly discarded backpack, only to discover her phone screen read her mother’s name. A bright green answer button mocked her as the phone continued to sing its tune. A frustrated huff escaped her throat as she glared at the bright screen. Of course, it doesn’t have a decline button this time, a grimace marring her face. Meredith tossed the phone back onto the passenger seat, it hitting her bag with a soft thud, and focused back on the road. Meredith’s eyes dragged themselves back to the still-silent radio.

Her eyes were off the road when the young buck ran into her lane. With a loud, meaty thunk, the small buck sprawled across the road as her car came to a sudden, shuddering halt. A dark red streak connected her car to the deer lying on its side, legs splayed wide across the road at odd angles. Sides heaving with every breath, its legs twitched as it attempted to draw in air to its bruised lungs. Its neck extended unnaturally long and broken at an angle, sightless eyes staring at its own bloodied back. Meredith shook from adrenaline and shock as she could only stare at the gore before her. 

The deer jolted, staggered upwards, and continued until it was on his hind legs distended belly exposed to the cold evening air. For such a young animal, reaching its full height took far longer than it should have. Its head hung limp near its side at an angle, its eyes oddly gleeful as it gazed through the windshield. In one horrifying second, Meredith realized that its eyes were wolf-like in their shape and intensity. Frozen in place, her knuckles turning a ghoulish white from her grip on the wheel, she stared at the face of the creature. Her traitorous eyes gazed downwards. Its abdomen, or at least what she thought it was, was a mess of twisted teeth intermingling, creating a thin line along the length of its stomach. Frozen in fright, the girl struggled to breathe. The thing tilted its wolf eyes upon its head as its stomach mouth slowly opened into a gaping cavern, and it started to laugh with her voice as it staggered and stumbled forward. Her phone continued to scream its song into the endless night long after her screams and laughter stuttered to a stop.