Into the Sunset

I always kind of liked sunsets. Something about the fading of the day into night soothed me. It's as if the sun was pattering out and taking all the day's worries and hardships with it.

I sat in the driver seat of my sedan waiting at a stop sign. The sun just began touching the horizon. A slight hue of orange enveloped everything.

"Where to?" I said to my passenger.

The pale woman sitting beside me slowly raised her slender hand and pointed straight ahead, in the direction of the sun. Her face was completely expressionless. The clothes she wore and her long straight hair were as black as a moonless night.

"Sounds good to me." I responded.

It was a bit strange, I was having the toughest time remembering anything that occurred between when I left the bar last night and now. My head felt like it was stuck in a fog. My ears for some reason had a ringing noise in them. It was subtle, but slightly annoying.

I continued driving onward for a fair distance until I eventually approached a red light. Something suddenly dawned on me as I brought my vehicle to a stop. I turned to the woman beside me.

"Do I know you?" I asked

"..."

She remained silent and completely expressionless. Her body was still, other than her arm, which she lifted. Once again she pointed straight forward toward the setting sun. The light turned green. I put my foot on the gas and accelerated forward.

The ringing in my ears was getting louder. The noise was starting to give me a headache. I popped a cassette tape into my car's player to try and drown it out with some music.

Nothing made sense. Why have I been aimlessly driving around for hours? Who was this woman? When did I pick her up? The last thing I remembered was drinking a bit more than I should have last night and then leaving the bar.

Once again I approached another red light. I tapped my brake and brought us to a stop.

"Where exactly are you guiding me?"

I attempted to get her to respond to me again, but it was still to no avail. For the third time, she silently pointed ahead in the direction of the setting sun. If I didn't just see her lift her arm, I would have thought she was a corpse. She was so still, that I couldn't even tell if she was breathing.

The light changed green and I continued driving. The ringing in my ears had changed. It was no longer a ringing noise, but now it almost sounded like a voice.

"Help me! Help me!" It cried.

The voice was quite eerie. It wasn't coming from the woman beside me and it obviously wasn't coming from me. I felt a bit unsettled, so I cranked up the volume on my radio even louder, hoping that it would muffle out the sound.

I drove for a while longer until I finally reached a long bridge that stretched over the ocean. Something dawned on me. My stomach sank as I finally was able to recall last night... After I left the bar, I foolishly decided to drive home drunk. At some point, as I drove impaired, I accidentally swerved onto the sidewalk and hit a pedestrian. The victim of my negligence laid out on the pavement grasping for life, as they cried out for help. No one else was around. I panicked as I floored it and sped off leaving that person for dead.

The feeling of guilt overcame me. My irresponsible behavior cost somebody their life. I broke out into a cold sweat, as something else dawned on me... The woman sitting beside me was the person I killed last night...

I slowly turned my head to the side. To my surprise the passenger seat of my car was empty. That didn't matter though, I had intended to come to this bridge all along. I was a guilty man and there was only one way I could think of to atone for what I had done...

*Bump*

I managed to get one of my tires over the guard railing of the bridge, but I instantly slammed on my brakes, bringing my car to a halt. Standing in front of me, balancing on the guard railing, was the woman. She was different this time though. Her outfit was white instead of black and her face had a warm expression on it.

She shook her head as she mouthed,

"Don't!"

I blinked for a moment and she was gone. I took a deep breath and paused. Perhaps rather than taking the easy way out, it would be better to own up to what I had done. I may go to prison, but at least I would have a clean conscie-.

*Hooooonkkkkk*

*Screeeeech*

*Smash*

A truck slammed into the back of my car, sending it over the bridge’s guardrail along with me in it.

The setting sun cast a reflection into the water below. It's unfortunate that no matter how hard you try, you can't stop the sun from setting, bringing in the night. All I could do was smile as I fell into the sunset.