Arby's Sign
The Arby's sign shone in the distance. The light was beckoning me; calling for me. I resisted the urge for curly fries and a delicious chocolate milkshake. The straws there were not bendy, but I could make do. The bendy straws would make it perfect, just the right tilt that the other straw could slide in perfectly and both the drinkers of the milkshake wouldn't have to take turns because the straw angle allowed them the freedom to slurp independently. However, the couple could look into each other's eyes and shake with laughter; the laughs would not emerge, as their mouths were on the straw. Then they would close their eyes and look down, shaking their head in disproval. Then I would look at them, how adorable they were. Their freckles were faint, but still existent.
But I drove past the Arby's, longing for them to be there. To be having the same thoughts I was. To be heartbroken. To have a rip in their soul that only I could stitch. Where were they now? If only I knew. They know I deleted their number, so they would have to apologize first; but they also know that I have their number memorized and could recite it in my sleep. They know everything about me, except where I am now. Where am I? Am I even sure myself? I was on the highway, driving probably over the speed limit. Past the Arby's I flew. I left the gas station in the dust. All that was around now was the darkness of the sky; the stars peeking out behind the clouds. The moon was new that night, nothing could be seen of it. The dark that enveloped me was like a cold hug. The kind that was unsettling, as if from the creepy uncle that smells of cigars and has freezing thin skin that wrinkles horribly on his arms. The feeling of a cold rain, at 33*F, as the school children pray for snow. The unsettling feeling where something is just off.
The road in the distance was narrowed to a point. I peered off into the darkness, where the trees laid out in an oblong triangle, but never reach the final point. The stretch of land was dark, the glow of the Arby's sign was far behind me by now, out of my sight. But it somehow comforted me knowing what that light held. It held the past light of my life, the past joy. The past love.