Horror Short Stories - Chapter 23

Although the evening started really well, it came like it had to come. My wife’s stupid brother had to show up at the family reunion dinner. The food that was served, fantastically well cooked, my wife’s parents, for once on a table together without quarrelling with each other; even our new-born kid, Sherman was sleeping, like he was an angel and no parents-tyrannising devil in human clothing. I was truly grateful for such a tranquil dinner with enjoyable company. Well, both were ending, with the appearance of Karl. Karl was my wife’s older brother and god he is one hell of an annoying person. He thinks only because he is now a slightly above average attorney, that the world has to centre on him. That case this and this new friend who is a judge that. I felt like every single word, that comes out of his mouth has the sole purpose of making him look good. Oh, god now he starts talking about the new Mercedes he wants to buy, please kill me. The worst thing about his endless bragging is that his parents and my wife are clinging to his lips, like they are some teen girls fawning over Kylie Jenner. With the bad mood, that started to build up in me I start to focus on my steak, which doesn’t taste as good anymore, as it did five minutes ago. Slow, time is running to slow…

After around half an eternity we finally decided to go home, so our little one (and most importantly us) can have a good rest, before he wakes up tomorrow. I surprise myself with the smile I could muster up, while saying my farewell to her family. It was probably just me thinking about my bed to be honest, but nobody has to know that. We get into our car, that is by the way far from anything like a Mercedes and start to drive home. We had around a 2 hour drive ahead of us and because of that my wife started to sleep in the passenger seat. The quietness that followed was a blessing for my soul. I started to lose myself in the driving. Forgetting every worry I had, even the terrible evening today seemed as if it was long in the past and not relevant anymore. The total focus on the road ahead had me relaxing the same way, others relaxed while meditating. The movement of the car, a movement that I had absolute control over, gave me the feeling of becoming one with my car. At this point, I nearly completely forgot about my family driving along with me, it was just me and the road. Sometime later, we took a turn left and got on the highway. Usually I would go to the left lane and start driving around 200 kilometres per hour. This always gives me an indescribable feeling of speed, which makes me forget reality for a bit. Still now it was already late, I was way too relaxed, and I also had the responsibility for my family, so I just chilled on the right side. The lights illuminated the darkness in a beautiful way, like moving fireflies. One side red, the other white or slightly blue, it made me think about how different we seemed when we were all just driving cars.