before we get started. Thank you to my new patrons, Jarrett, Megan and Rachel. Now back to the story.

My head ached as I awoke in my unwilling slumber. I rested on the car's shattered dashboard

with a dying fire blazing just a few feet away. I coughed from the fumes, dazed, but otherwise unharmed.

Once I could gather enough air in my lungs, I attempted to push myself up, checking my surroundings

for clues as to what had happened. Only then did I realize that my car was lying in a ditch,

partially wrapped around a tree. My last intact memory was my departure for work. I checked myself

for injuries, trying to decide whether or not I should call an ambulance. But apart from a

throbbing pain within my head, I felt more or less fine. I peered out the window, looking around for

another involved party. But I appeared to be the only victim of the crash. How long had I been out?

Brilliant sunshine glistened through the shards of broken glass. It was a sunset I would have

appreciated any other day of the week. But on that day, its presence alone unnerved me.

It lit up the insides of my broken car, including my broken phone in the seat next to me.

Even had I wanted to, calling for help was not an option.

Help! I let out an apathetic whimper. My voice hoarse from the smoke inhalation.

But it was no use. The road I had crashed on was abandoned, lying miles away from civilization.

It wasn't a path I traveled often. But due to ongoing construction taking place on the

main roads, it remained as my only intact route home from work. I had been in a rush. I remembered

that much. But for what reason remained a mystery? I only had a faint memory of speeding down the

road towards an intersection, followed by little more than a blank void in my mind. By the minute,

the sun grew closer to the mountain range in the distance, consumed as the horizon aided,

bite or bite. It was an uneasy reminder of something terrible to come.

Something my fractured mind was unable to bring forth to attention.

...