He wasn't at the coast. He wasn't on the road. He had arrived at a point he never intended to reach, a place devoid of anything that once held significance. He had finally arrived—somewhere, but definitely not here.
The rain was a low hum against the windshield, a sound Elias had been taught never to trust. He kept driving, the road stretching ahead into a dark void that felt more like an absence than a path. arriving_somewhere_but_not_here
Suddenly, the red mist of taillights ahead blocked his path. A sound, sharp and sudden—was it the finality of a gun or the shattering of a windscreen?. The world tilted. In that fading moment, he didn't hear the roar of the river or the screech of tires. He heard a song. He wasn't at the coast
He thought of his mother, the way she used to look at him with eyes that held no easy truths. He remembered the feeling of being caught in a cycle he couldn't break, drinking down the same poisons he’d been taught were medicine. He had finally arrived—somewhere, but definitely not here