A Prologue to an Epilogue

This heart of mine craves adventure that only she can bring me. It’s been too long since we’ve found those endless miles to nowhere, those silent stars glittering in the night sky. Maybe I cursed us with such a name, maybe it was karma for so easily abandoning my past; or perhaps it was just the luck of being handed a giant lemon. No matter, she seems better now. I named her Verona, and only the death of love has followed.

What a great year this could have been, regardless of everything, had I been able to enjoy the empty roads to vistas unseen. Instead it was spent paying off debts to keep her running, so I could get to work, to pay off the debts. What a horrible circle. It’s been eight months since her last breakdown, far less for me, but we both keep on moving, her pedal under foot. The road is calling us, as is the ocean, and the forested mountains that lie in-between.

I ditched Aether like an unwanted toy. That Element deserved a far better funeral than it was given. But what else could I do? There was no telling when it would die, and disposing of a car that doesn’t run was not something I wanted to deal with. I kept its shield and warrior beads though, carrying its spirit with me into Verona. Four times she failed me on the open road. What else could I think other than Aether’s spirit is either dead or pissed?

The first failure happened just after I bought her, right after my return from a short trip abroad. Could it have been the souls of the dead that followed me back? Several quiet months past with no performance issues, even driving the west coast down and back up. Then came the spring, and with it, subtle noise from her. Subtle to the point that I couldn’t be certain of what I was hearing. And just like that, another set back.

Two more months of servitude to her. A vessel for adventure being used only to commute. Then came the mountain climb. How I made it home I have no idea, but she limped on, sputtering and stalling for fifty or so miles. A trip intended to celebrate our freedom, once again indentured me to the simple comings and goings of a worker bee dreaming of grander things.

A rendezvous in the Emerald City was to follow. Though there was no tryst, Verona made it there and back, only to cease functioning two days later. I knew some empty months were to follow. I didn’t know where to go at that point anyway, so it wasn’t really all so bad. I found temporary antidotes in local wanderings, unsure of every noise I heard.

People question me as to why I’ve invested so much into something that keeps failing. And that answer is fairly simple, she’s what I want, just as Aether was for thirteen years and nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand miles. She’s got a new suspension, and has been running clean since August. Now I sit here, the weather warming, the days lengthening, unsure which direction to go. I have an idea, it’s a place of deception, and beyond that pass of the past, a treasure waiting to be unearthed. Of course there’s the south, to places I’ve only sped by, where the ocean is hidden by a maze of cliffs. Regardless of the compass rose, I hope she can make it to where I want to go. It was always a risk I would have to take again...