Montana Gothic
lifelong Montanans never drive long distances at night. you think this is odd. when you ask, their eyes shift warily to the closed windows, and they do not answer.
it is three in the morning in the middle of may. snow pours down in sheets and one of your windshield wipers is broken. your numb grip leads you up, up, up. you don't know how close you are to the edge of the mountain. a semi flashes its' hazards as you pass. everything is white. you should stop, wait it out, but you don't. you don't know better. you keep going.
you're crouched in a clearing, holding your head. it is quiet. so quiet. as you are led slowly from the woods, something creeps silently through the shadows behind you.
you're walking up the path to the top of the mountain, and when you turn to catch the view, time stops. you don't hear the sound around you stop, too. before your eyes the earth undulates endlessly into the horizon. later, when you are scolded for wandering off after a mountain lion was sighted, your ears are still rushing.
they call it the big sky. they don't tell you that if you stand too close to it for too long, you forget what you're made of, but it does not, and it will devour you whole.
you take the long, winding path down the mountain to the river. at sunset, when you race away from the feeling of being watched, every rock and root is desperate to ensnare you.
deep in the wilderness, you hear footsteps in your house. you're supposed to be alone tonight, so you sneak a peek underneath the door; boots you've never seen before thump slowly down the hallway towards your parents' bedroom. you do not hear them leave. when your uncle brings his gun to check, he finds nothing, but tells you to keep the lights off after sundown.
when you drive through the plains, do so with caution. do not go alone and do not stop unless you absolutely have to. darkness finds ample breeding ground in those quietly rustling fields.
if you see someone on the side of the road at night, their fate has already been decided. for your own sake keep your eyes to yourself.