Weekly Prompts

Jan-Feb (29-4) (Part 2)

Prompt Theme: There was light at the end

By:  @studioDeathTrap 

Driver's Remorse

The light at the end of the tunnel never felt this cold.

It steered me awake, as I peered through the window beside me, raising my hat with a stray finger. The car had been parked facing said tunnel, under the shade of a gas station. It seemed as if the sun was shining through the narrow slit in the distance, and yet it did nothing to illuminate the dilapidated town I'd taken refuge in for a while now.

I could leave.

The sky was overcast, drearily so, and yet the air was dry. There was no rain, no hint of moisture. The only source of water could be found in underground tanks and cartons of stashed water bottles. The only source of fuel was the gas station and that was well on its way to being sucked dry. And the only source of food was emergency rations I could swear had turned stale.

The car feels much safer than the shambled town that awaits me once I step out. My breathing is calm, nearly languid.

I should leave. Follow the light out.

But my hands hesitate on the wheel. Instead of driving towards the light, I spin around and drive through the streets of the place I found myself whilst trying to find refuge during a terrible storm. Back then, it was safe.

It still is in a sense.

This town is trapped in a bubble. A time capsule of sorts. These started erupting at random, sometimes as small as an anthill, sometimes encompassing cities and states. Some say an entire country is still stuck in a single day.

This quaint little town seems to be stuck precisely at an hour before the calamity. Houses were still occupied, people were still moving through their hourly motions, seemingly unaware of their fate. All except the children. They would look up at the sky in confusion and wonder.

Because no matter the place, no matter how short the span of the time loop was, there was always one commonality between every bubble. There was no light in the sky.

I still don't understand why the tunnel seems open to the rest of the world. Heck, I'm pretty sure I'm one of the first people in the world to have entered a bubble from the outside. Usually, these loops are completely closed off- no one can enter, no one can leave.

But as I drove through the streets, staring at those faces - drowned in a sea of confusion, disbelief, wondrous anguish - and I could not bring myself to drive away.

Not again. If I'm ever going to drive though the light at the end of the tunnel, I'm not going to do it alone.

I stop outside a white, marble-walled house. Beautiful place to start, I thought. I shut down the engine, and stepped outside.