The Road Knows — A Short Story

I wrote The Road Knows a good few years ago, when I began experimenting with creative writing. I’ve only slightly edited this, as I wanted to keep it as a reminder from when I first began writing fiction, but I wanted to share it with you as something that I’m still proud of.

The Road Knows is around 2,000 words, which is insane considering that I’m now 50,000+ words deep on the fiction novel I’m now writing, but I hope you enjoy a slice of Emma’s and her partner’s lives in this one-shot short story.

—

“Oh, fuck it!”

Exasperated, I slam the car hood down despite the smoke rising from it. I make my way back to the driver’s seat and tightly grip the wheel, despite knowing I’m not going to be going anywhere anytime soon.

“Um, are you sure it’s okay to leave the hood down like that? You know, with the smoke and stuff?”

“You know what, Emma? Be my guest. You can go open it.”

I don’t look at her as she leaves the car, although I catch the white, frilly hem of her navy skirt whipping around the edge of the car door. I watch her as she pops the bonnet and waves the smoke away, coughing. I feel bad. I feel awful. I squint as I pinch the bridge of my nose, and I take slow, deep breaths to steady myself. Emma makes her way back to the passenger seat, and she doesn’t say anything. Not a word. Just a slight cough from the aftereffects of the smoke she inhaled.

“Emma…” I exhale, frustrated, “Em, look, I’m sorry.” I let go of my nose and brush my fringe aside, and it’s then that I realise my forehead is covered in sweat. She makes a noise acknowledging my apology, but I can feel her disappointment. Instead of talking to her in my current mood, I step out, and gently close the door behind me, without a word.

It’s dry outside. The hot air is stifling, and breathing feels like an effort rather than something I’ve done all my life. I can’t believe out of all the roads we had to break down on, it had to be the colossally dreary road known as Route 66. Not only is there nothing for miles, but there’re very little vehicles coming through, and both of our mobile phones are dead.

I curse my bad luck and sit down against the driver’s seat door, not wanting to be seen by Emma. I play with my hair and wipe the sweat from my forehead more times than I’d care to admit, before leaning back and staring into the sky. It feels like we’ve been driving forever, and the sun has already begun its slow descent. Sunsets have always bothered me somewhat, but they’re not all bad. I mean, how can you hate something so beautiful, right? Beautiful… right.

—

I wouldn’t say I feel better about myself, but my anger, other than the frustration at myself, has dissipated, with only its regret weighing heavily on my chest. I get up and do some light stretches before grabbing the door handle, but I don’t pull it open. Emma’s asleep. I can easily tell because she’s pulled that eye mask out with the kittens on it.

It doesn’t look like the car is going to blow up on us, as the smoke has stopped, so I softly close the bonnet and lean against it. All we can really do is wait for somebody else to notice us, and to let us use their phone for a moment to call a car recovery service.

Night has fallen, and if anything is more beautiful than the sunset, it’s the vast expanse of stars that I could gaze at until the sun swallows them once more. I prefer this sight. Despite the earlier heat, it’s far colder now, and I left my leather jacket in the car. Is it worth waking up Emma for? I don’t really want to, not only because it would disturb her, but because then I’ll have to face my earlier outburst. Embarrassing.

I don’t have much time to think about it, though, because I hear Emma shuffling around. In the next minute she’s by my side, outside in the cold.

“C’mon, you’ll catch a cold if you stay outside.” She’s always been one for baggier clothes, so she doesn’t struggle when she drapes her coat across our shoulders. “So, how long have you been beating yourself up for, huh?”

I look at the ground where dust is lightly spiraling upwards due to my uncomfortable shuffling. “Long enough, I guess? I’m sorry, Em. I’m sorry.” I go to repeat myself again, but she places a finger to my lips.

“Enough, you, I’m not angry at you. We all get a little angry sometimes, and I can see that you feel bad about it. That’s enough. You’re forgiven, okay?”

I look Emma in the eyes for the first time since the sun set. “You know Em, you’re way too nice to me.” I snuggle into her for warmth, and we both slide down the hood of the car until we meet the ground.

She removes a thermos from one of the coat pockets, and pours us both some coffee. Unlike the car, the thermos has perfectly done its job, and has kept our drinks warm. It’s not very hot, but there’s some wispy steam rising from it, and the first sip heats me from within, helping me to relax.

Cradling the cup in my hands, I stare at the brown liquid, and for a few minutes, the only noises are our breathing and the sipping of coffee. Moments like this are nice, don’t you think? We didn’t want this situation to happen, but I’ll remember this. I’ll remember it.

This scene could seem frightening to an outsider. Two young adults, a broken-down car, and almost complete silence. It’s okay, though. We’re both exhausted and barely making conversation, but Emma hums the eerie silence away. It’s warm. It’s soft. It’s comforting. It makes our backdrop seem magical, and I’m almost glad that our car broke down.

I’m not sure how long I stare at her, but it’s enough to make me fall in love with her all over again. She’s thin, and I can see the bones in her fingers moving around, all too clearly, as she lightly taps her coffee cup. Her deep-brown bangs meet her jawline, and her long eyelashes distract me from the ever-growing bags under her eyes. Of course, I only notice that because I’m unashamedly fixated, maybe more so than usual these days, always worried that, one day, I won’t be able to.

All I know is that Emma is sturdier than any car, than any mountain, and she’s certainly sturdier than me. I’m known to be the abrasive one, but I don’t think I’ve ever been angry without my throat and nose feeling hot as if I was about to cry. Gah, there I go again. I sigh to myself before placing the empty coffee cup down, and I see that Emma does the same. She looks at me as if she wants to say something, but she doesn’t. Despite our broken conversation, I wouldn’t mind if tonight wanted to go on for a little longer. But you know what they say — all good things come to an end.

I squint in the darkness to see if I can make out the hands on my watch, rotating my wrist to catch a sliver of moonlight, and it’s nearly 3AM. 3AM! “Em, it’s way past midnight, we should see if we can get some sleep. Nobody is going to help us now, and I’d rather be alert when someone does drive by.”

“Okay, well, we’ve done this a few times now. Wanna see if we can both fit on the back seat? You know, for warmth?”

I think about it, but not for long. “Sure, it’s a tight fit, but it beats the cold. My jacket can’t cover my body half as well as yours covers both of ours, anyway.”

She smiles. I can see the moon light up her face briefly, before she makes to get up. I follow suit and heave myself from the floor, and we both make our way onto the backseat of the car. It’s cold. I’m cold. But my heart feels so entirely warm. I watch as she shuffles around into position at the very back, so if anybody falls forward, it’ll be me. Woo. It’s happened before, and whilst it didn’t wake me up, I did wake up in the morning with all sorts of aches.

She lifts the coat up, inviting me in. “Come on.” I shuffle, a little longer than Emma had to, until I’m tightly pressed against her. “You okay? You seem… a bit out of sorts tonight.” Emma asks, sounding slightly unsure of herself. I’m not sure how much of this I can take.

“It’s just, I don’t know what I’d do without you, you know?” I make a noise of disgust. “Urgh, I just hate thinking about it. It damn well su — ” Emma makes a gentle shushing noise before intertwining her fingers with mine, holding me tight. “It’s going to be fine. You trust me, right?” I’m about to answer, but she gets there before me, “I know you well enough by now to know that you do, so just try not to worry about it, okay?”

I turn around, with difficulty, so that I’m facing her, before realising that I don’t actually have anything to say. “I’m sorry, Em, I’m sorry.”

“I know you are, but we just have to do our best! Whatever will be, will be. And maybe what we’ll be is happy, right?” I smile at her, wanting to believe in her words. “Yeah, you’re right.”

I move so that my head rests under hers, and she strokes my hair. In nothing more than a whisper, I tell her I love her. I’ve told her before, but I just want her to know that I love her, now more than ever.

“I know you love me, silly. I love you too. Try and get some sleep, okay?” She kisses my cheek again before making herself comfortable.

“Yeah, you too. Good night, Emma.”

“Good night, sleep tight!”

—

Before I know it, it’s morning. Emma has already moved to the passenger seat, leaving me to get my bearings on the back seat as I groggily sit up. She leans over with a small smile. “Did you sleep well?”

Yawning with a stretch, I reply, “Yeeeeah, I always do when you’re there.”

She smiles at me before turning forward again, saying nothing else.

I make my way out of the back-seat door and settle myself in the driver’s seat, rest my hands on the steering wheel, and take a deep breath. “So, sitting here might net us some luck, but maybe we should walk up and see if we can find a payphone, or a restaurant, or something?”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

“Well then…” I put one hand on the door handle, but I hesitate, mulling my next words over. “Emma, I’m here for you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, of course I know that.”

“Ha, of course you know that…” I reach over and pull her close. “Even so, I just wanted to make sure you know.” I kiss her on the cheek before pulling her close again. She giggles. “I know it’s rough, but I need to go. To get better.”

I lean back and sigh, knowing that we’d agreed to do this already. It’s why we’re driving so far. We exit the car, and we start walking forwards, towards wherever we’re going.

We’re in no rush, walking a natural pace as we joke and laugh around. It’s nice like this. It might not be like this for a while, but one day it will be like this again, I just know it. It might even be better! For now, I just want to go on like this. I don’t know where we’re going right now, but as long as I’m with Emma, then it’s okay. I’m okay.

I smile to myself, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the love of my life.

“What are you smilin’ about, huh?”

I turn to smile at her, and I look away after looking at her face for a little while. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” I tease her, and she pouts, but she already knows the answer to that question. I know she does.

There are many things that the road can tell us, and so many things that only the road knows. Maybe we broke down to have this moment together, or maybe it was just dumb luck. Whatever the reason, I’m glad that we had a moment that only we got to experience. I look to the vast sky, where a handful of stars are still managing to shine bright in the early dusk, and I relish this moment as if it’ll never end.

Whatever will be, will be, and maybe what we’ll be is happy.