Dating : Keep Going

“Come on, come on, come on!” Lionel yelled as he turned the key.

The car was struggling. Spluttering and grinding itself in response, but no satisfactory answer as given. Eventually, it was fortune that favoured Lionel as he smashed his fist against the dashboard, forcing a wire into the right place. The car roared to life.

​Lionel wasted no time in thanking anyone, he lowered the parking break and drove down his driveway straight into oncoming traffic. It was thanks to the alertness of both him and the drive that they were able to avoid the collision. With that, the two cars went their separate ways, but it wouldn’t be the last car that Lionel nearly hits.

He shook the agitation off and made for the highway. Unlike the few who thought better, Lionel decided to join the majority and race down a long road towards someplace ‘safe’.

With safety crossing his mind, Lionel glanced over at his wife in the backseat. She lay there as still as a stone, tied down with rope and seat belts. Of course, that moment soon passed as his attention returned just before a turn-off the side road onto the highway.

“Jason, I hope you found someplace safe,” Lionel murmured, thinking of his son now.

Thoughts on his son seemed to slip his mind quickly the more he thought of his wife. Tears rolled from his eyes, but were swept away almost instantly as his vision blurred. With emotions clouding him so heavily, endangering him on the busy highway. Lionel grit his teeth and focused.

With the noises in his head silenced, the night turned from panicked to sinister. Glancing back at his deceased wife in the rear-view mirror, Lionel didn’t notice that his wife shifting wasn’t entirely thanks to his reckless driving.

Lionel continued to stare at the from before his eyes drifted to the road. Every car was moving at break-neck speeds, which seemed to improve the traffic. Despite there being so many cars, everyone wanted to get there alive as well as quickly.

“Honey?” a voice whispered, barely audible above the engines of the car. However, it only grew louder. “Honey, where are we going?”

Lionel looked up at the rear-view mirror to see his wife sitting up in her seat. The bonds which kept her down were rotted, falling apart like wet tissue. The chair on which she sat was festering at her touch.

“Please, what happened?” the monster asked. “Why are you driving so fast?”

Lionel drew his revolver and pointed it at his wife. Multi-tasking turned difficult as his stress hit its peak/

“Wh-what are you doing?” the creature asked, cowering. “Stop…I…please, don’t…”

Lionel pulled the trigger, firing bullet after bullet into the creature until it crumbled with the bonds. Despite having done so already, Lionel felt that the second time should keep it down for good. However, with fear clouding his mind once more and with the powerful distraction, as Lionel fired the last shot a collision occurred.

The car spun and slid across the lanes, only to collide with more cars. Each and every shock shook Lionel to the point of injury until at last his car rolled off the road amongst the trees. However, it didn’t change the fact that Lionel was damaged now, physically traumatised to go with his mental trauma.

Keep going.

The door of Lionel’s car burst open and he stumbled out, grasping wounds, as if holding them would fix the bones or lessen the pain. However, as Lionel stumbled, there was a strange crackling behind him. Taking his eyes off the highway, Lionel looked back at his car.

Slowly, a black moss seemed to creep and take the car over. The door did not open, but the creature crept out of the window, her skin already starting to grow a fungus.

“Lionel? Lionel, are you there?” the creature asked as it writhed. It fell out of the car, hitting the ground at an awkward angle. The neck snapped.

Lionel’s heart sank and his skin colour shifted towards deathly pale. Seeing his wife die so many times, yet she kept going…it was breaking him slowly. However, the creature kept going. The neck bobbed on its shoulders, disconnected from the spine in some sense, but held on by the meat and flesh.

“Honey, where are we going?” the creature asked.

“Please, no,” Lionel begged, limping towards the highway.

Lionel was on his way, followed slowly by the creature, the space between the two growing. He had fear creeping inside again. How did it get back up so quickly? How does it keep going? However, that didn’t now, what mattered was defending himself.

Lionel neared a branch on the ground, old and light, but better than nothing. Grabbing it in his strong hand. Lionel swung wildly behind him as he heard the approaching steps speed up. The branch connected, but the force wasn’t enough. Turning around, Lionel struck the creature again and again in quick succession. Once it stumbled enough, he took his time with a powerful swing downwards.

The head was caved in, bursting open, spilling black grunge, not blood. The creature, once more, fell to the ground and for good. The body seemed to deflate like a balloon, the blackened grunge spilling out every pore. The skin lay there for a moment longer before dissolving into the dirt.

There was a hiss of heat that soon shifted to a cracking noise as the grunge hardened, then crumbled. His wife, the creature or whatever was before Lionel, became blackened dirt which seemed to rot the living grass around it. Turning from the grisly sight, Lionel walked along the road.

Keep going.

Lionel marched onwards, thumbing for a ride from the many cars until one would stop and take him with them towards the next city. However, no matter how far he journeys, the creature will follow him everywhere, wearing his wife’s skin.

All that Lionel could do when all seemed hopeless and terrifying, was to keep going.