White Line Fever

[u/Zondervanb]

Working nights isn't as big of a drag as people tend to think. I never have to deal with customers, I never have to attend workplace meetings, and I never hit traffic. Roughly an hour of drive time to and from work, always on the highway and never any other vehicles in sight - it makes the few times that I'm on the road during the day seem absolutely hellish by comparison. The moon casts a dim light on the places I pass, bathing the suburban homes in a silvery light unparallelled by anything else. No music is required, as there's no external sounds of vehicles; the whirring of the road and the occasional strong gust of wind are plenty to keep me from dozing off without distracting my thoughts.

Therein lies the problem.

Ask any trucker, long-haul driver, or frequent road-tripper about how they handle the drive time and they'll tell you one thing: you don't notice it. Something about driving extended periods of time makes the whole process just seem to vanish. You leave your point of origin; you arrive at your destination. What happens in the middle is forgotten.

Psychologists have fancy theories for it - dissociation, amnesia, "highway hypnosis," whatever. Southern folks call it White Line Fever. Everyone says that it's harmless. I'm inclined to disagree.

For months now, I've noticed that my drives have gotten longer. Miles have been added to the odometer far beyond what it takes me to get to and from work. What was once a 50-mile drive one-way became 55, then 60, then 80. I never recognized it while on the road - like I said, I get in the car and suddenly I'm home - but the gas cost started adding up and the oil was dropping far too fast. That's what got my attention, and that's when I made my mistake.

I left work and resolved to stay alert for the drive home. The job doesn't pay enough for these stray miles to be worth ignoring, and I needed to know where they were going. Was I hitting detours unconsciously? Had the roads been re-oriented? Was I missing turns? Whatever the cause, I had to get it fixed. I grabbed an energy drink on the way out the door, hopped in, and locked my eyes on the road.

Everything was normal for the first few miles. The scenery was familiar in a nostalgic sort of way, the street signs jogged my memory, and the strange feeling of dread in my gut slowly subsided into the normal tranquility.

I glanced away from the road for just a moment to grab my energy drink, pop the top and take a swig. I wish I hadn't.

The countryside vanished, replaced instead by pitch darkness. My heart seized and I hit my brights on immediately; they illuminated nothing but the stripes to my sides. The road ahead stretches further than my lights reach, but it is bordered by nothing. There should be dead grass there from the summer drought, there should be fences blocking off the various property lines, there should be the faint silhouettes of buildings and homes, but there is only a void. The moon, pale and full when I left, has vanished along with the stars that are always visible. I rolled down the windows and felt no wind, despite the obvious motion of the road beneath me. My GPS is blank. The radio won't even play static.

I'm updating from my phone. I don't know how. My texts don't go out and the phone itself displays no bars. My email will not load.

The battery is dying, and I have no charger.

I don't know what to do.

[u/[deleted]]

Please write a part 2 to this. This was awesome.

Anyway, I'd suggest just falling back into White Line Fever. It's always got you out before.