Terminus Part One

The RX-7’s headlights flash across the tarmac in front of you. You’re driving the speed limit, being careful not to over drive your headlights, and of course with a cautious eye open for roadside wildlife. You know that even at low speeds, collisions with elk, or moose, or bears could be fatal for both the driver and the animal involved.

A glance at the clock on the dash tells you its approaching 10pm, which means you’ve been driving for about five hours. You stopped for gas once already in Revelstoke and were surprised to see so much cash in your wallet. Thinking about it now brings about an intensely sharp pain to the frontal lobe meats of your brain, much like (as far as you know) the feeling of someone poking a red-hot ice pick into your skull. You decide it’s best not to think about it now and just concentrate on the long, dark, winding, mountain highway stretching out before you.

A yawn catches you unawares so you decide it’s best if you find a place to pull over and rest for the night. You don’t know how much time passes before you find yourself lying utop the covers of a bed in a tiny motel on the outskirts of Kamloops. Your head is a glorious miasma of confusion again because you know that Kamloops is at least a couple of hours from your last position just outside of Salmon Arm, and you have no recollection of driving for so long, even though you must have done.

You switch off the lamp and turn the radio on. There is an old time radio production of The Shadow (who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?) playing as you close your eyes. Somewhere in the back of your mind as you drift off towards sleep you get the feeling you are forgetting something very important.