User:TracyBee99

The Intersection

I was sitting in my room, picking up. I heard my phone ring. “Where’s the phone” I asked myself. I sprinted to the kitchen and found a phone. I picked it up. “Hello?” Silence rang through the other side for a few seconds. Then, a voice came threw. “Hello.” I recognized this voice. It was my mother. “Listen..” She paused. “My...car won’t start.” Something sounded..off. “Could you...pick me up?” This was odd, as she got done work at six. “Sure, I’ll…” the phone went dead. “Do...It..” “Wow!” I thought. “What was that about”. I walked over to my stove. On it was a dish that contained the keys to my Chevy Impala. I grabbed them. Outside was pitch black. Living in Northern New England, it gets very dark in the winter. I stepped into my car and put the keys into the ignition. The engine roared as the engine started. Well, I wouldn’t say it “roared”, more like purred, if that makes any sense. I backed out of my driveway and pulled into Station Rd. I drove forward. After a few seconds, I reached a four way intersection connecting Station Rd to U.S. Route 1. I turned on my right blinker and looked for any traffic. Surprisingly, there was none. Except for a Red 18 wheeler heading north, the road was dead. I turned to the right onto Route 1 and began accelerating. However, that is when something...peculiar happened.

I found myself approaching the intersection. “What the hell?” I asked. I looked over at the radio. The time read 5:18. I could’ve sworn that I left around 5:05. Anyway, I pulled up to the intersection again. Now, there was no traffic. The red big rig was gone. I turned to the right again and began accelerating. Again, I ended back at the intersection. I turned on the radio. In hindsight, I’m not really sure why I did. The radio dialed to the default station of 96.9 fm. The music started to play. However, instead of playing normally, it only held the first note. It was like if you held down the key on a piano. The note just held. I changed the radio station to the next station of 96.1 fm. Again, only the first note played and held. Confused, I turned off the radio. The frequency of the radio was replaced by the time. It was 5:18. I thought maybe my car’s clock was broken. So, I pulled up my watch. It read 5:18 At this point I was startled. I just wanted to turn around and go back home. However, My mother’s work was over 15 miles away from our house. I couldn’t just force my mother to walk because I got the spooks. So, I mustered courage and turned right again. This time, I accelerated more slowly. However, creeping along only succeeded in bringing me to the intersection.

“What is this, A bad Twilight Zone Episode?” I jokingly remarked to myself. I wasn’t laughing,though. As a matter of fact, I was terrified. The Twilight Zone always scared me as a kid. Even as I grew older, the thought of being trapped in a desolate alternate dimension still unsettled me. I knew it was fake. I knew that someone sat down with a typewriter and wrote a script consisting of pure fiction. But even then, I still couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness that waved over me. I managed to get a hold of myself. “This can’t be real, Ok? You don’t need to be afraid of figments of your imagination.” My attempts at self-comforting were unsuccessful, to say the least. However, I pushed my foot on the gas petal and approached the stop sign. This time, I turned to the left. I was hoping to go anywhere. Anywhere away from this. Anywhere in the real world. My heart lifted as I didn’t see the stop sign. However, almost instantly, my heart dropped again.

I was still at the intersection. This time, I was on the opposite side. But, it didn’t matter. However, I saw something. The gas station on the intersection...was open. I know I didn’t mention a gas station earlier. However, It had been closed for years, so I didn’t think that it was important. I got out of my car and sprinted towards the gas station. I was hoping that someone would be there. As I approached the station, I noticed something. The price per gallon read $0.00. However, I didn’t care. I knew I must have been stuck in some wibbly-wobbly time loop or something. That was the only explanation for the music stations and the time being 5:18 for at least the past half-hour. I put my hand on the door and slowly pushed it open. As soon as I stepped in, I had to cover my eyes. The lights were so bright compared to the pitch black darkness outside. When my eyes adjust to the light, i could see that all the shelves were empty, as if they never restocked. I looked over to the analog clock hanging over the register. It read 5:18. At least I knew that my clock in my car wasn’t broken. It was kind of relieving. My car isn’t broken! It’s working perfectly! It’s time that’s broken, not my car. However it started to sink in. Time is broken. I could no longer dismiss these anomolies on my car.

But before I could let the reality of my situation sink in, I heard something. Coming from the south, I heard...Jake brakes. I’ve never been so happy to hear those annoyingly loud engine brakes in my life. I wasn’t alone. I sprinted over to the road and stood in the southbound lane. A red big rig emerged from the darkness. I waved and jumped in the road. I wanted him to stop. I wanted him to take me away from whatever the hell I found myself in. The truck passed me by. I expected him to start slowing down. He didn’t. It was like I wasn’t even there. Was I even there? I wasn’t sure of anything anymore. I began chasing the Big Rig. I knew I could never catch it. I didn’t care. As expected, i ended up back at the intersection.

But I was on Route 1. I wasn’t on Station Rd. I was on Route 1, and there were many cars. At first I was so excited. I was free. But I then began to notice why there were so many cars. They were emergency vehicles. I walked towards them and saw why they were there. Apparently a sedan was involved in a collision. The car was a broken mess. It looked like a lego car that a young child just tore apart. I walked over to the paramedics. I wanted to ask if I could help. However, They are professionals. They have it all under control. I walked over to the wreck. The driver was already removed from the vehicle. I found a watch. The time read 5:18. A cold chill ran down my spine. I began sweating. I slowly paced over to his wallet, which was close by. I didn’t want to open it, for I had a good idea what was inside. I slowly opened the wallet. As soon as I did, I fell to my knees and sobbed. Inside his wallet was my I.D.