night and the boy

Photo by Ali KarimiBoroujeni from Pexels

They say a dream can happen in the blink of an eye, the time it takes to change a life or lose one. Nightmares last longer.

Everything is upside down, suspended by a seat belt and a steering wheel pressed hard against broken ribs. The night is quiet except for a faint hissing from the mangled engine and the stitch…stitch…stitch of a wheel rotating in the cool air. The smells of pine needles and brake fluid waft in the breeze. The…