I entered abandoned residence hall, the heels of my boots snapping smartly against the linoleum. Stepping over the metal door plate on the floor that would normally announce my arrival with a loud, echoing clatter, I rounded the corner to face a white printout taped against the closed and locked double doors of a dark room.

"Friday, March 24th:
ESSC-450 has been cancelled.
If you have any questions or concerns
Please call Dr. Tamwood
1(406) 555 0916"

I leaned forward and let my forehead hit the glass with a sharp crack. I drove 30 freaking miles to get here, only to find the class had been cancelled. I really needed to invest in a computer, a laptop at the least, so my mother wouldn't inadvertently break it. Sighing, I hitched my bag further up my shoulder and turned heel to get out of this place. Guess I had a long drive ahead of me.

The unsympathetic wind blew my breath away as I pushed open the glass door and walked outside. I folded my arms, drawing my jacket closer to me as I walked in a hunched gait back to my gold colored late model Ford Ranger. I dug in my pockets and fumbled with the keys a moment outside of my truck, finally finding the right one and getting inside the cab, its warmth trickling out from the drive up here.

I sat back against the seat and sighed. Driving back home, to the house, that was painfully empty.
My father died three days ago. His pnemonia spread to his other lung, and with those complications, he just couldn't make it. My mother and I were the last people he seen, holding his hand as he took his last ragged breaths. My father, the man I treasured my entire life, was gone, I still couldn't believe it. My mother and I were working with a funeral home and making the needed arrangements.
In my anger and grief, I had given my wedding ring back to Vipin. I felt like all this crap was burdening me too much to have a relationship with anyone. I felt like crawling in a hole and dying. I still feel like doing that.
Hot unshed tears threatened to spill over, and I blinked them back. No use crying over anything, now that everything was said and done. The cab started to get chilly so I started the car, the loud sounds of alt rock on the radio startling me. I switched it off, not wanting to hear music. I pulled out of the parking lot to the country road that would take me home.

The drive back was a lonely one, and I was almost home when the overcast skies gave way to freezing rain. The roads were slick and wet, indicating the rain had been in this area a while. Twilight had fallen already, the stars twinkling through the gaps in the clouds. The road made its predictable path cut into the side of a mountain.
I remembered this road back when I was little, I'd look out the window at the trees below as static classic rock came out my dad's aged radio. I'd ask questions, so many questions, looking for answers from my dad who seemed to know everything when I was 70 pounds of long legs, knees and elbows, with a little white dirty tank top and a sweet smile.
And now he was gone, never coming back... my mother was taking it in the worst way. She was in complete denial, pretending we were preparing the funeral of a stranger rather than him. She asks me every now and then to ask my father to call her. I shake my head, and walk away. I don't know how to help her. She's losing it, and so am I. I was completely alone in this world.
My thoughts had me on autopilot but snapped me back to reality when a pair of headlights belonging to a hulking form of a semi truck started approaching my car head on. I reflexively jerked the steering wheel to the right, trying to get out of the bruisers way, who the driver was obviously too tired to be on the road. I cursed as the guardrail screeched against the side of my truck. That was going to leave a mark.
I slammed on the brakes, but the rain on the road was icy and my truck would have nothing of it. I knew that there was a gap in the guardrails coming up from an accident years ago... if my truck slid into it, I'd might as well kiss my ass goodbye.
I pumped my brakes for dear life. My truck slowed a little but I could see the ripped away section of the guardrails filling my vision. Adrenaline filled my body and I held my breath, and in a split second decision, grabbed my bag, undid my seatbelt, and threw open the door.
I tucked and rolled out of the truck now cruising at 35 miles per hour. My body was struck in all places with ice and asphalt and I stuck out my hands, trying to stop myself. I finally stopped when I knocked my head against a guardrail beam. In my dizzied vision I could see my truck ahead of me, screeching against the guardrail and then finally... it dissapeared into the darkness. Silence for what seemed like an eternity. And then, several explosive collisions of metal on rock.
Peering over the cliff, I could see it still sliding down the steep slope, its headlights going further and further down, until they flickered and went out. Woken birds flew from the treetops and then there was silence once again. The road was empty. The rain still fell.

I curled up, wrapping my bleeding arms over my middle, crying. First my father, and now this. I was alone, laying on an icy road in the middle of nowhere, without anyone mentally stable enough to help me. My cheek numbed against the cold asphalt, and I lay there, for what seemed like ages, utterly and completely alone. Rain started seeping into my clothes, and had creeped in where my clothes were ripped.
I stumbled to my feet, leaning against the guard rail. The forest below was back to being serene, the last of the birds getting back to their slumber. It was as if nothing happened. Nobody died. No truck went over the edge. The world kept turning.
Now what.
I had to walk the two miles I had left to go to my house, no problem. But my truck was lost in the valley, probably broken beyond repair. I would... probably use my father's truck now....
I choked back tears but they fought to go down my cheek, the warmth of them mixing with the cold rain running down my face. I drew in my soaked jacket around myself and kept walking, excending my left arm out in a hitchhiking gesture to nobody driving in the pouring rain.


((so... bland :U))