Author: Heather Heasman

Ruth, Frank, Eileen and Roger were excited for their road trip.

They couldn’t wait for the journey to begin but now, it was not going well. Not at all.

“Stop the car!” Ruth’s shout sliced through the car’s sweat-stained air.

“Now!!” she screamed.

Roger was slumped over. Frank glared into the rearview and accelerated. Eileen murmured nonsense.

Roger is moving but not fluidly. His movements are like those of a wind-up toy – jerk, pause, stop. Seconds pass, the pattern repeats. Ruth wonders who is winding up this man-toy in the front seat.

Frank is smiling.

Eileen’s terror filled eyes mirror Ruth’s.

The car left the highway. The hum of the road is replaced with a cacophony of banging as dust rises and branches claw at the vehicle.

Ruth notices that Eileen is lifeless beside her. Frozen, Ruth felt like a caged animal. Little did she know, she was.

“It’s okay Ruthie,” Frank said, “You’ll see.”

Eileen, twitching, reached for Ruth repeating, “You’ll see. It’s beautiful.”

They reached a clearing.

Frank opened Ruth’s door, “Ruthie, we’re done here. It’s time to go home.”

Ruth inhaled sharply; her memory returning. Had she been trying to get to where she had always been?

Then it struck: a pulse so strong that it short-circuited her. To an observer, she appeared unconscious, but as her system rebooted she was anything but. She saw it. The data she had gathered and the seeds she had sown appeared like aurora across the night sky perpetuating the work.

She was moving with the others. In a flash of light, they disappeared.

The farmer stood on his tractor. Lightning? On such a calm day? He sensed the presence and knew he was surrounded.

“Come,” said the voice. “It’s your turn and we have work to do.”