Mile Markers

I fell in love with you between the mile markers.

Hope and dreams blared on the radio,

Air filled my tires,

And the lovely sound of my car galloping across the highway

Thumped in my chest.

.

The states bled away.

College was a thought, zooming past like construction barrels,

Plastered in orange on black signs.

Turn around to forget,

Drive on to remember.

.

It was a poor choice.

I slid underneath the glass oasis,

Shot like a flaming area past the rest stop,

And galloped alongside the fields

Toward black forests and shadowed dreams.

.

Fireworks exploded over my destination

Or maybe it was gunfire warning me away

But I missed the signs and crossed the threshold anyway.

Oblivious to the renegade heart in my heart

Betraying its allegiance to my sanity.

.

The car ride home was silent.

Rain crouched on the horizon ahead

But lightning had already scorched my insides,

Turning the flowers in my chest to a pretty pile of ash

That would never bloom again.

.

The mile markers flashed.

Thunder rumbled the wheel in my hand as the cars sat still.

Maybe I should have known that a man who fell asleep

To the dulcet sounds of violent TV shows would dream

Of ripping me apart.

.