Is he dead?

At a particular spot along the route I take to work everyday on the PA turnpike, there is a small nook tucked away into the shoulder of the highway. This nook is not easily visible from the highway. In fact, not many people would even bother to turn around and look back at this nook, especially since the turnpike also has a quite pronounced curve at this spot.

I, however, have been looking at this nook everyday for the past few months. Each time I look at it, I see a car, the same car parked in that same nook, everyday. Every day, I have tried to look at what is inside the car, and have failed. Mostly because I am always in a hurry, since I have made it a point of being chronically tardy for work, and so, I am always speeding at that point on the road. Plus there is that curve to contend with, and it is very difficult to negotiate a curve doing 80 mph and looking back inside the dark interior of a car parked on the side of the road.

But, then, after a few tries, narrowly escaping death, I managed to do it. And this is what I appeared to have seen. A human form sitting inside the car as if slumped over the steering wheel. Hmm, I said to myself, this bears closer investigation. The next day, again narrowly missing death, I looked back at the car. Again, I observed the car in the same spot, with the same human form slumped in it. Ghastly thoughts began to congregate within my mind. Was this guy ill, perhaps dead? Could he have been dead all these months? The car sure didnt appear to have moved since the first time I had seen it. And would it be that difficult for someone to die and just sit there inside the car and no one to discover the body? The car was somewhat inconspicuously situated inside the nook, so the possibility of that happening couldn't be discounted. I was wondering whether someday I should stop and check what the hell was happening in that car.

I pulled over into the shoulder with my tires grating on the shoulder notches. Fuck, those notches terrify me to death. I have a friend whose friend's friend apparently got killed because of them. Anyways. Getting out of my car, I walked over to the maroon sedan that was the target of my investigation. I could still see the human form slumped over the wheel. "Hello", I called out. No response. I walked over and tapped on the window. Nothing moved. I opened the door and then the stench hit me like a fist in my gut. As I tried to move the body away from the steering wheel, the decomposed flesh of his face started to become visible, and just as pieces of his face started falling off into his lap, it was then that I found myself waking up terrified and sweating in my bed. Damnit, I couldn't live like this. I decided then and there that I would find out what the fuck was it with that goddamned car.

So today, finally, I planned to actually pull over and check things out. I slowed down to where I knew the nook was, and I was just about to pull into the shoulder, but then I saw something else. The car had moved! It was not in the same place it had been all these months. And furthermore, I could clearly see someone inside the car. And the bastard was even drinking coffee. Fuck you, I muttered under my breath and accelerated. But at least I wouldn't have any more nightmares now.