The night is cold and the cool crisp air cuts at his chest like tiny daggers. He gasps as the sudden pain takes his breath away. Despite the numbing temperature it's a beautiful night, among the first he has seen in many. The night sky is crystal clear, not a cloud in sight. The stars were incandescent, so alluring that he thought for a minute he must be in a dream. There was no way that something this beautiful could be so real in a world so full of anger and disappointment. It seemed surreal, all the different colors that were embedded into the night sky. It was as if someone had painted the view he was now trying to take in with big, bold beautiful brush strokes of violets and blues. Despite the hypnagogic atmosphere he found himself in, he had never felt more alive; he had never fully appreciated life until that moment. He wondered why it had taken him so long to witness such a sight. He was just too busy. He lived life like he was stuck in fast forward, always going, always doing, never stopping, never seeing.
And then there he was, alone on some dusty old back road stranded in time. For the first time in the last ten years, his life was actually on pause. Bored out of his mind and waiting on the repairman he climbed onto the hood of his car, stretched out, put his hands behind his head, and looked up into the night sky. As inconvenienced as he was, he actually enjoyed the time alone. The country was quiet, peaceful; time actually seemed to stand still. All that could be heard was well, nothing. Laying there and taking in the scenery around him, he began to relax; the tension in his shoulders started to ease and the wrinkle on his forhead started to slowly disappear. He began to recollect on his life, how he had gotten to where he is now. Up until that moment, he never realized how sad and lonely he really was.
He didn't use to be this way. He was happy once. It had been so long that he had forgotten what that feeling was even like. To be content with life and have that feeling of fulfillment, pride, and success. Sure he was successful, anyone who was anyone knew what a big deal he was. He was a big time business man bringing in millions and living in a home most people couldn't even dream of affording. He had everything he ever wanted: a big house, a nice yaht, a cabin in the woods, anything he could ever ask for. Yet he still was not satisfied, always going after the next big thing. And looking back on it now, he was beginning to see how stupid that was and how much he has wasted the past ten years of his life.
It hadn't always been this way though. Like I said before, he was happy at one time. Fresh out of high school he proposed to the girl of his dreams. He was from a back road, home grown, kind of town where everybody knew everybody and if you did something at noon the whole town would know by one and he couldn't wait to get out. The only thing holding him back was her. For awhile, she was more important; she meant the world to him. He had known her forever as the tomgirl next door, hanging out from sun up to sun down, fishing down at the waterhole, building forts out in the backwoods. It wasn't until their sophomore year that their relationship began to flourish into something more. They carved their initials in that old birch tree at the back of his parents property. He chuckles as he recollects on the past memory he had long forgotten about.
They were seventeen and both crazy in love. It was the night of the annual town bonfire and corn roast his parents hosted every year. The two of them snuck away shortly after the fire got started. He had something he wanted to show her so he took out back to the edge of their property. There was an old birch tree they use to carve into when they were younger, mainly tally marks from random games they use to play. She would also carve in the date, "So you always remember how many times I kicked your butt" she would say to him. It was on this tree that he carved their initals, inside a dated heart. He knew it was cheesy, but he knew she would love it. "Race you to the old tree out back" he said to her, "it'll be like old times; winner gets to date the tree". And with that the two of them took off running. He had this whole plan of getting their first and had this real smooth speech to give before he showed her what he did. However...
Flashing lights and a quick honk brought him back to reality as the repair man showed up in a rusty old Chevy pickup, not quite the AAA service he was use to. With a deep breath and a heavy sigh John got up off the hood of his car, brushing the dirt off his jacket and pants as he headed to man that would get him back on his way. "Nice night," the man said with a nod and grabbed his bag out of the bed of his truck.
