the truck driver
The sun had yet to dawn but the overall sweat and thirst all over the old man’s body had awakened him again. He tries to make himself sleep again, leaning his body unto the steering wheel, arms tucked around, just like every night before. But this time he couldn’t get himself back to sleep, he simply had gone too far from the world of dreams. A dim light nearby the parking lot only makes the man sorrowful. He checked his face from the side mirror, his skin was massively burnt, two of his eyes’ clearly got eye bags under his eyes, his hair was massively disheveled, and he reeked of a bad smell. He looked at the rows of trucks just next to him, many drivers were still asleep and some appeared dead. He gushes himself, trying to be all positive, in front of the side mirror as if the journey hadn’t taken a toll on him yet. The journey should end in just 2 hours if all things go right, he thinks. He grips the steering wheel, for a moment he looks up at the beaded wooden cross pendant hanging over the rearview mirror, then off the truck goes… The same long-winded road continues to meet his eyes. What was once a journey of ecstatic music has long evaporated to a dull silence. The AC was beginning to kick in just then, a breeze went on to his eyes, fixated to the rain of white strips of concrete, followed by the body. Everything seems to be going right for him, he thinks, nobody’s around, I should be there in no time, he thinks again, and the AC was making him cooler than ever. He grins at himself the simple joys of a truck driver travelling from warehouse to warehouse. He wipes the beads of sweat on his forehead, soon to dissipate any longer.
In under an hour, more sweat was dripping from his cheeks than ever before. He could feel a lukewarm heat coming under his seat. If he was going to be worried any sooner, he was still stuck in a driver’s stupor, staring at the concrete road. Just then, a large family SUV blew past the truck from his right, a heavily bearded man rolled down his window from the car, and shouted at the old man, “LOOK BACK”. It did little to wake up the old man however. He tries forming a small thought from his now lethargic mind, nothing. Look, road, back, road, fire, road. Sooner or later he hit his physical limit. It was becoming too hot then, he felt he couldn’t withstand the heat any longer for him to ignore. He steps his brakes and parks the truck over the side, quickly jumping from the door, searching for his breath, when he sees a huge fire burning all over the truck. A fire so huge so bright, he was left crawling. Either it was astonishment or fear, he could only stare at the great fire. The heavily bearded man rushes over to pick him up, bringing him along to the SUV, while he keeps asking him, “ARE YOU OKAY SON?”. The truck driver looks at him in horror as if his eyes could tell anything.