The End

Fiction

Jean was late, it was dark so she knew no matter how late...she had to respect this stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway.  The winding hair pin turns going through Big Sur were notoriously dangerous and it wasn’t unusual for someone to crash into a deer or take a turn a little too fast, go careening off the road and over the famous cliffs.  The steepest in the world some said. 

Jean was late to see her lover. He had a little cabin hidden up one of the canyons, down the road from Henry Millers old place.  She hadn’t seen him for over a month and as she crawled along the highway she had to smile when she remembered what she'd said when he’d asked her to marry him.  “Think man. THINK!”  She left it at that. 

As she chuckled she saw lights throw the curve ahead into silhouette. “Going too fast!!" Jean thought as the car suddenly appeared, slid across the center divide, smashed into her and pushed her car over the side of the highway.

 “So this is how it ends.” she thought as the car took off into the air. She was experiencing a cocktail of complete calm and utter terror.  Her mind was calm, in acceptance, but her body registered sheer terror as it realized it’s usefulness had come to an end, too soon.  A body never wants to give up even though it becomes old and torn and weak and useless. It really thinks it should live forever.  But it is definitely not supposed to end this early.  Rage and terror shot through it.  But her mind, practiced at adjusting to life's constant change of circumstance, was alert, attentive, curious and knew a huge change of circumstance was coming her way. 

As the car floated silently through the air she saw the rocky shoreline get closer and heard the crashing waves grow louder when suddenly everything froze. Time and space stopped. She sat in the car hovering in the space between life ruled by time and space, and death free from time and space. 

Jean was reliving an early experience. She was 4 years old, had been outside playing and came into the enclosed porch of the house. She shut the outside door behind her, walked across the porch and reached up to grab and turn the knob of the inside door. It was locked. She noticed a bee angrily buzzing around in the space, knocking against the windows. Terrified, she began crying and banging on the door shouting for help.  Suddenly the door opened and someone reached down and lifted her up to safety... just as her car hit the rocks.