Faster Route Available
My phone rerouted me off my exit tonight. I wasn't even using the GPS.
This one goes to a heavy place. If you’d rather not read it tonight, that’s a fine choice — support resources are here.
I take the same road home from the late shift every night. twenty minutes, two lights, one long stretch with no streetlamps. i could drive it asleep. some nights i basically do.
Tonight the GPS rerouted me. i wasn't even using it. it just lit up on its own, "faster route available," and pulled me off my exit. i followed it because at 2am you don't think, you just do what the blue line says.
The new road i didn't know. narrower. the kind with no shoulder and trees that lean in. no other cars. my phone said eight minutes. then twelve. then it stopped updating, the little car frozen on a road that didn't have a name.
I told myself it's just bad signal out here. turned around at the next wide spot and drove back the way i knew, heart going stupid-fast for no reason i could point to.
I'm in my driveway now. engine off. i just opened my location history, the thing that quietly tracks everywhere you go.
There's no record of the last half hour. the map shows me parked right here since 2:04. it's 2:39.
Did this one stay with you?
Keep reading
More like this
Stories in the same key
Picked for the feeling they share with the one you just read.
The Door That's Always Warm
A storage unit that shouldn't have power runs warm every night on my rounds, and the renter tips me not to log it.
Aisle Twelve Still Checks In
Overnight stock alone in the warehouse, a deactivated badge checks in from the freezer aisle at the same minute twice, and no one else is back there.
The Hall Light Keeps Clicking On
The motion sensor in my hallway should only trigger when something moves. After 2am, it won't stop.