Interstate Love Song

A glow of rusted yellow settles on the dashboard as Atlanta readied for night. Southern rock pulses the truck’s cab, bluffing Nolan’s right foot into pressing the accelerator. Hitting eighty-five miles-per-hour motoring down Interstate 85, the tune’s melodic guitar becomes a companion to his new loneliness. He wonders if the song knows or cares who else is traveling along.

The only thing carrying her memory is his cell phone. Nolan deletes texts and calls, swerving in and out of the interstate’s painted lines. They’re all lies. He’s in trouble but he’s honest, he reasons. She’s lied, cheated, then lied again. Nolan’s courting an ominous end, but he tells the truth, he thinks, and that’s what he holds like a glistening sword.

A vial the same color as the commanding sunset rolls next to his hip. As the song crescendos into dramatic thunder, Nolan turns up the volume then scoops the pill bottle with his right hand and guides the steering wheel with his left. Only two capsules remain, but they’re stronger, more controlling than the music. He tosses them into his mouth, and gulps them, dry. The truck weaves to the right into another lane.

The rusty sun takes on a bluish tint in his rear view mirror as lights and a siren from a state trooper scream. Nolan stares at his phone, one more time. Her message is another falsehood but it’s short, simple, and final.

“I loved you even when I was with someone else. I’ll love you forever and ever.”

Nolan doesn’t stop. The siren and lights mean nothing. He doesn’t believe in anything but his passenger, who has taken over. Death shouts, GO! His heart races as the truck speedometer hits one-hundred. They take the southern train, together, all the way down.

****blogger’s note****

This is my response to one of my favorite songs, Interstate Love Song by Stone Temple Pilots, and the prompt this week’s from my friends at Trifecta Writing  http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/

On to this week’s challenge.  We usually try to choose prompts that don’t lead
the writer down an obvious path.  Indeed, some of our favorite posts require a
third or fourth reading to even find our one-word prompt.  This will almost
definitely not be the case with this week’s challenge.  I can’t help it.  I’m a
huge fan of Halloween, and the third definition of this word is just too clever
to pass up.

This week’s word is:

DEATH
1a : a permanent cessation of all vital functions :
the end of life
  b : an instance of dying disease causing many
deaths>
2a : the cause or occasion of loss of life
death of him>
  b : a cause of ruin <the slander that was death to my
character — Wilkie Collins>
3 capitalized : the destroyer of life represented usually as a
skeleton with a scythe

Mwahahaha.  Have fun.

This song means a lot to me. It’s too personal to say why. Here’s the greatest driving song ever, Interstate Love Song