Love On The Road
written by: Sharon O’Neil
Shadows danced through the trees,
like unseen nightmares,
as the car passed with its unknowing guests.
The young couple inside with their new bands of gold.
Unaware of the dread that awaits them.
He watches them.
He’s always watched them.
He waits.
Exchanging stories and romantic glances,
the car is scarcely large enough to contain their joy.
Static on the radio displaces the mellow harmonies.
Clunk
Was that a stone?
“Don’t worry,” he reassures his startled bride,
“just loose chips off the road.”
The lights seem to dim,
their heartbeats race, as if in competition.
“Just the electrics.”
Yes, calm yourself.
Prey should be calm.
A shadow at the roadside,
barely noticed in the gloom.
The once warm car, buried by chill.
Yet outside the moths play happily
in the warmth.
Those butterflies of the night;
Such sweet nectar they find.
Food.
The hunger controls.
The familiar road becomes dangerous stranger.
A shadow flickers – a man?
No, a shape but only seen by her.
She yearns to scream but chokes out silence.
He whispers in her head,
“Come to me, my Bride.”
Thump
“What was that,” she screams now,
no illusion of calm.
He tries to steer as he hears
The screeching.
The tearing.
The claws at the roof.
That’s not possible.
And yet, it’s happening.
Fighting with the boney hand that emerges through the hole,
like a corpse breaking free from grave.
It slices at him.
He tries to dodge and drive,
must get away.
He feels the warmth raining down his neck,
on this dry night.
“So tired.”
“So very tired.”
The helpless glance at his Love,
watching her rise up out of her seat.
Out into the night,
hands outstretched to him.
Too late – too far away.
“My Bride” – a thought they shared –
One with sadness
The other with victory.
She dreams now –
flying with a stranger,
watching a car below as it leaves the road.
“My Bride,”
The hero’s trophy.
“My Husband,” she sighs.
- Love On The Road - November 13, 2023
