A/N: I had the darkest nightmare last night from Aubrey's POV, and it hasn't left my mind all day - like, so dark I feel like I need to add a trigger warning even for people who actively read my writing and know what to expect. This is graphic and heavy. Have fun.
Time Made of Ice and Glass
You saw my pain, washed out in the rain,
Broken glass, saw the blood run from my veins.
But you saw no fault, no cracks in my heart,
And you knelt beside my hope torn apart.
- Mumford and Sons
"You must have missed the exit."
"I didn't miss the exit."
"Okay, well, this isn't where you work, Aubrey."
"I can see that."
"So, you must have missed the exit."
Aubrey sighs – the long, tired, heavy sigh of someone whose boss asked her to go pick up some last minute paperwork literally two minutes before she was about to head out the door with Chloe for dinner. "Chloe," she says slowly, controlled, "I drive this way every day – twice a day, actually. I drive to work, and then I come back, the exact same damn way. I have been on this road a thousand times. I didn't miss the exit."
"You don't actually take the exit on the way home. You-" Chloe stops herself when Aubrey's grip tightens on the wheel. "It looks like there's a gas station up there. Let's just turn around."
"Fine." It's not like they have any other choice. Because the town that they're approaching from some back ass road in the middle of Narnia is not where Aubrey's job is located. Her car crunches ice and gravel underneath its tires like it's as reluctant as Aubrey is to drive any farther down this road. But the trees on either side of them prevent her from doing a U-turn in the middle of the one, single lane. How the hell did she end up here?
Chloe fiddles with the radio – doing a good job at driving Aubrey even crazier by flipping from one staticy station to the next. "You know, none of this would be happening right now if you had just said no to your boss."
Like Aubrey doesn't feel guilty enough that they're both starving, and she somehow just added an extra twenty minutes to their trip. "You can't say no to your boss."
"I do."
"You're your own boss," Aubrey reminds her.
"That's weird," Chloe says, "Because you act like it's you."
Aubrey stops her car once she turns into the gas station parking lot and gives Chloe a look. "Do you want to walk?"
"No, but I would like something to eat," Chloe replies with a roguish smile, leaning in closer to Aubrey's face.
Aubrey puts the car in park. "Get out."
Chloe kisses her cheek. "Thank you." She unbuckles herself and gets out of the car – then stops to stand by the hood.
Aubrey realizes Chloe is waiting for her to follow – and also she needs their debit card. She groans then unbuckles and follows Chloe inside the tiny store – wrinkling her nose at the sour, metallic smell that wafts through her nostrils the moment they step inside. "Are you sure you want to buy something here?"
"Yeah, why?" Chloe asks.
"You don't smell that?" Aubrey asks.
"Smell what? It smells like a gas station." Chloe leads her down the snack aisle, looking at her options.
"Well, this gas station is making me sick to my stomach," Aubrey informs her, "So, hurry up." She wraps her arms around her stomach and glances around at the food. The place is practically empty – like everything has been picked off the shelves in preparation for another snow storm to hit. Only, there are no other customers. Maybe the delivery trucks just couldn't get in with new deliveries after the last storm… Her stomach starts to roll like an off-kilter washing machine due to the smell. "Seriously, Chloe, before I throw up."
"Does it really smell that awful in here to you?" Chloe picks a granola bar off the shelf.
"Yes."Aubrey is literally going to puke if they do not walk out the door in the next sixty seconds.
"Maybe you're pregnant," Chloe suggests.
"I'm serious, Chloe."
Chloe looks at her face, and nods. "Okay, come on." She reaches for her arm and pulls her toward the cashier desk.
Aubrey looks around for the cashier. The store appears to be empty. "Hello?" she calls, already impatient.
"Relax. Maybe they're in the back," Chloe says, "Do you want to go wait in the car?"
Aubrey didn't even want to get out to begin with. She nods and pulls out her wallet to hand it to Chloe for her to pay, then turns and nearly jumps out of her skin to see the cashier standing a few feet away. "You shouldn't do that to people." She dodges Chloe's hand about to smack a kinder tone into her.
"Hi, I'm going to buy this," Chloe says cheerily, and places the granola bar on the counter.
The guy – dressed in a blue uniform, with greasy brown hair doesn't say anything. He merely steps behind the counter and stares at them, and it makes Aubrey question how long a human can go without blinking.
Chloe pulls their debit card out of Aubrey's wallet, and offers it to him.
He moves in an almost robotic manner as he picks up the granola bar and scans it, never once taking his eyes off of Aubrey and Chloe. He swipes the card then hands it back.
Aubrey takes the card from him and her wallet from Chloe, quickly stuffing it into the pocket of her jeans. As much as she wants a receipt, because she doesn't trust this place at all, she pulls Chloe and her granola bar away from the counter and back out the door – because she doesn't trust this place at all.
"That was weird," Chloe comments as she walks back to the car.
Aubrey inhales a deep breath of the cold, crisp winter air – finally free of whatever that was. "I can't believe you wanted to go in there." She opens her door and climbs back into the car.
"How was I supposed to know the cashier was just going to stare at us?" Chloe asks, "Maybe he has a disorder or something?"
"That prevents him from blinking? Maybe it's also him that smells like that." Aubrey shuts her door and pulls on her seat belt. It refuses to latch. She jams it into the buckle roughly twenty times as Chloe just watches, already bucked up. This entire evening is shit. She lets the seat belt fly back up and stares out the front window – wrinkling her forehead as the guy instead stares out at their car. What a creep.
"You okay?" Chloe asks.
"How am I supposed to drive?" Aubrey asks, and turns to face her.
"You put the key in the ignition and turn it," Chloe tells her.
"And if the police pull us over?" Aubrey asks.
"Just tell them you pulled over at a gas station, and when you went to get back in the car, your seat belt wouldn't buckle," Chloe says.
Aubrey tries to buckle it one more time, but to no avail.
"Do you want to just go home?" Chloe asks sympathetically, "We can cook dinner; you can get your files in the morning."
Tempting but, "No."
"Do you want me to drive?"
Also, "No."
"You seem like you've been in a bad mood since we got into the car." Chloe reaches over and rubs the back of Aubrey's neck.
Aubrey starts the car, and leaves it in park, dropping her hand back down to her lap. She has been in an irritable mood since they got in the car. Probably, because she skipped lunch at work, and she's hungry and exhausted – and now she's taking it out on Chloe, who has done nothing to her but suggest they go have a nice dinner, minutes before Aubrey's boss called and told her that he has more work for her. And that freaky guy in that putrid smelling gas station, who has finally stopped staring at them and is standing motionless with his back to the door, did not make things better.
She takes another deep breath. "I'm sorry."
"Are you sure you don't want me to drive us home?" Chloe asks.
Aubrey wants nothing more now than for Chloe to drive them home. "I'm sure." She takes the car out of park and backs out of the parking lot, taking the road back toward the highway. This time, she's going to take the correct exit, even though she can't imagine how she could have possibly taken the wrong one, and they'll pick up her files then go to dinner. "Where do you want to eat?"
"There's that Italian place near your office," Chloe suggests, "Let's go there. It's good, and close."
Aubrey nods. That sounds good. Anywhere sounds good at this point – minus that gas station. She drives them back to the highway, as Chloe stops rubbing her neck to eat her granola bar, and finds somewhere to make a U-turn. "Look," she says as they pull off onto their exit again, "This is the exit to my job."
"Mhm," Chloe agrees, "It's just not the exit you took last time."
"It is the exit I took last time. It's the same exit I take every day."
"It can't be the -"
The asphalt becomes gravel under Aubrey's tires, and the road merges into one lane surrounded by trees – and Aubrey feels sick again.
"What?" Chloe asks incredulously and turns to look out the back window, "That doesn't make any sense. Maybe they switched the exit number?"
"In the middle of the day without any warning to anyone?" Aubrey asks.
"Some kind of prank?" Chloe offers another explanation.
It has to be, but, "I know what my exit looks like, Chloe." Aubrey pulls back into the gas station, remaining as far from the building as possible. The man from before is standing outside, a cigarette that he doesn't appear to be smoking clutched between his fingers – his arms at his sides. He watches them – still staring at record length. "Am I asleep on the couch right now?"
"What?" Chloe asks again.
God damn it. Aubrey probably sat down to wait for Chloe to get ready, and now she's passed out in a nightmare. "Wake me up. Pinch me."
"I'm not going to pinch you."
Aubrey pinches her instead.
"Ow, Aubrey! What even?!" Chloe back hands her across the chest.
It hurts.
Okay, Aubrey definitely does want to go home now. Her papers can wait. They can make spaghetti; that's Italian enough. She pulls back out and turns around, driving back toward the highway again. They can go home, cook dinner together, engage in a little stress relief, and then go to bed – and Aubrey can worry about work and dick heads who like to somehow switch exit signs tomorrow. She feels better until the road remains gravel for a little too long.
"Why did you go in a circle?" Chloe asks.
Aubrey states at the gas station up ahead. "I-" She pulls in and looks up and down the road. She didn't go in a circle. The man is still looking at them. "I drove back toward the highway, Chloe."
"Then why are we back here?"
Aubrey doesn't have anything to say. Nervous beads of sweat starting to form on her neck, and she looks around again, starting to feel dizzy with confusion.
Chloe stares at her along with the man – her face becoming tight with concern. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Aubrey nods and puts the car into gear one more time.
"Why don't you let me drive?" Chloe asks and brushes the granola from her hands before she reaches over and squeezes Aubrey's arm. "You're tired."
Tired, sure, but not that tired.
"You can put your seat back," Chloe tempts her, sounding worried, "Relax…?"
No. Aubrey somehow got them in this place, and now she's going to take them home. She drives back down the road – the only road there, back toward the highway, the way they came in.
"I think we're going the wrong way," Chloe mentions as the trees begin to choke the car – bare branches scraping the roof and doors.
"Well, it's the way we came." There are only two ways to go, and it's hard to choose the wrong way when Aubrey had to physically turn the car around to choose the right one.
"This is weird, Bree, I don't like this." Chloe plays with the granola bar wrapper, twisting it between her hands.
"It's fine," Aubrey tries to reassure her, "I'll just…" Just what? "Find somewhere to turn around again." She glances at the clock. 8:35. It's too late to be dealing with this – and it's dark. Her headlights are the only light she has on this fucking road. She turns on the high beams – illuminating the road, and a deer that freezes midway across it in front of her car, alarmed by the sudden blast of light.
"Aubrey!"
Aubrey slams her brakes – one hand flying out to protect Chloe, the other spinning the wheel in a sharp turn before Aubrey has a chance to even think. Her wheels skid across the gravel and the ice, and, along with Chloe shrieking, don't stop until her front end makes contact with a tree. Her airbags don't go off. Aubrey jolts forward without her seat belt on to keep her in place, and slams her forehead against the steering wheel with a loud cracking sound that ignites her entire body in pain. Everything, except the beating of Aubrey's heart, slows to an immediate standstill – and the engine sputters out.
There is a ringing in Aubrey's ears that feels like it lasts forever – only dissipating when the sound of Chloe crying breaks through. Chloe. Aubrey slowly slides her hands between her face and the steering wheel until she's holding her head. She expects to feel blood, but everything is dry. That means it's fine. Aubrey is fine. It just hurts. She lifts her head, temporarily blinded by a flash of light, then permanently only kind of blinded by tears that blur her vision. "Chloe, are you okay?" she panics.
Chloe nods from where she's still hiding behind her arms.
Aubrey gets the immediate urge to call 911, even if they both seem to be fine. She grabs her phone from the center console and hits the home button. No service. She crawls over Chloe's lap, grabbing her's from the floor where it fell. No service. Of course there's no service, they're surrounded by thick, heavy trees in god knows where. No, somewhere between home and Aubrey's job, that's where.
Chloe unbuckles her seat belt, and draws her feet up onto the seat, wrapping her arms around her chest – and Aubrey no longer believes she's okay.
"What's wrong?" Aubrey turns to kneel on her seat and uses her phone as a flashlight. At least it's good for that.
Chloe shakes her head and slowly lowers her legs back down, wiping her face with her palms. "I'm okay," she assures Aubrey, even though she sounds out of breath, "The seat belt crushed my chest for a second."
Aubrey pulls up the front of Chloe's shirt, without asking for permission, and shines the light at her ribs. The skin is red, but it doesn't look too bad. There doesn't appear to be any immediate swelling, and no bones look out of place.
"I'm okay," Chloe tells her again, and pulls her shirt back down, "It just scared me. Are you okay?"
Aubrey turns and pulls her mirror down, using the light to look at her forehead. It's also just red, but it sure fucking hurts to touch. She hisses as she presses against her own skin, a fresh wave of tears welling up in her eyes. She turns off the light before she wastes too much battery, and so she doesn't have to see Chloe looking at her like she might be dying from a little head bump.
"Aubrey, I smell smoke," Chloe states all of a sudden.
It's a little hard to smell anything over the stench of the gas station that seems to cling to the inside of Aubrey's nose, but Aubrey realizes she's right when she sees a tiny light flickering underneath the smashed in hood of her car. "Shit. Chloe, get your stuff." She gathers her things in a matter of seconds – jacket, phone, wallet, hat, gloves, scarf, keys – then practically falls out of the car when she tries to get up. Her car is done for. She stumbles away from it, collapsing sideways into a tree, where Chloe meets her on the other side.
"What do we do right now?" Chloe voices the dreaded question.
Aubrey shakes her head, then immediately regrets the harsh movement. "Put your jacket on; it's cold." A person could freeze in this weather. She wrestles her own winter clothes on, running purely on adrenaline. The hood of her car bursts into flames, and Aubrey does her best not to burst into more tears. The fire illuminates the horror on Chloe's face, and Aubrey can't even look at her. She can only watch her car burn – and hope it doesn't explode while they're standing there next to it in shock.
There is only one thing to do.
Aubrey knows it.
And she's sure Chloe knows it too.
They're going to have to walk back to the gas station.
She checks her phone for service again – noticing the time too.
8:35.
All of that in under one minute. That doesn't seem possible, but neither does Aubrey's car burning in front of her eyes. She hit a tree. Aubrey Posen and her perfect driving record smashed into a tree, and nearly killed them both. She smacks the tree beside her like it's that tree's fault, then grabs it suddenly again to brace herself under an abrupt rush of nausea. It's not the tree's fault; it's hers. No, it's that stupid exit sign and that stupid gas station and that fucking deer. No, it's definitely hers.
"Whoa, Aubrey, Honey." Chloe has Aubrey's hair away from her face just in time as her stomach heaves up the absolute nothing she's had to eat all day – as she spits mostly just saliva onto the tree roots. Chloe waits it out with her and tries to calm her down. "It's going to be okay."
Aubrey shivers under an ice cold gust of wind, and wraps her arms around herself, hugging her stomach once it settles. She stands up straight and looks at Chloe. "I'm sorry." That seems to be her mantra tonight. She should have let her drive. But how was she supposed to know this was going to happen? She isn't even sure she really understands what just happened – at least not up until smashing her head against the wheel. Maybe that's why she feels so disoriented. Maybe everything was normal, but now she has a concussion and that muddled her thinking.
Chloe pulls her into a hug and rubs her back. "You didn't make a deer jump out in front of us, Aubrey, it's okay." She pulls back and cups Aubrey's face. "You were just trying not to hit it."
"I almost killed us," Aubrey whispers – the terror of it starting to catch up with her. She shivers again, and her teeth start to chatter.
Chloe wipes her tears with her thumbs. "Come on," she says, and gives the car one last terrified look, "This wasn't your fault. Let's get out of here before you freeze."