“Life in the Backseat”

Leaning her head against the cool glass of the window, Hannah drifts in and out of a hazy, bored sleep as she sits in the backseat of her parents car, returning home after a long weekend at grandma’s.

Grandma wasn’t the same this time, and after catching the bits and pieces of her parents hushed whispers to each other, Hannah knew they noticed it too.  

Staring out at the mountains in the distance, Hannah wonders what it must feel like to have your brain slowly fade away… not being able to remember your family, friends, or even who you are… it could be what Hell feels like.

The mountains she was blankly staring at come into focus, as she realizes that settlers once had to cross those towering peaks on foot… a thought hard to fathom as Hannah and her family speed past these mountains without a second thought from the safety and comfort of a heated car.

She wonders if she would have survived that trip if she was alive back then… maybe she did die in those mountains, in some past life, since she simply wasn’t made for those times.

And maybe she isn’t made for these times, either.  Maybe it was some cosmic mistake, being born now… and if the world ends tomorrow, could this be the last life she gets?  Does everything start over?  Does time stop if there are no humans to notice it?

Ah, but there’s Aliens I guess… they’d prolly notice it.  Hmm…

Her grandma’s hugs even seemed different this time… as if it was just a reaction of her grandma’s muscle memory, with no feeling or affection behind it.

Hannah slips into a dream, standing in her grandma’s living room, searching for her toys that are apparently lost… and her grandma is coming down the hall.  Slowly.  

For whatever reason, Hannah feels like she must escape with her toys before her grandma catches her there.  She can’t see her, but Hannah can feel her presence looming, coming ever closer…  

It all seems so empty.

Hannah wakes up to her dad’s voice letting her know they’re home so she needs to put her shoes back on, and the thoughts from the drive fade away.

(Starring the awesome Hannah from Waitinginthewings.tumblr.com!)

(And thank you to the also-awesome Samantha of Other-side-of-the-universe.com for helping me gif this!)

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