84.

I wake to find Tess fast asleep, my heart battling my ribs. I’m up and dressed and in the truck as if by command. Ten minutes later I’m running the Spine with all the windows down, impervious to the cold, unmoved by the icy air. As the road breaks right and descends toward the prison, I get the truck up to ninety and flick the lights off. That’s when the high frenzy truly begins, a pitch-black rhapsody. Mom, I am coming to free you. It is faster to skip the road entirely, I think, to veer off and sail out into the sky instead. I’ll need more speed. If I can get it to a hundred and ten, I’m certain I’ll make it fine. Land easy in the soft wheat. I drop the accelerator. Pedal to the metal, Dad, I’m coming for her. Don’t you worry. I’m coming to bust her out. Somewhere very far away the truck is shaking and moaning, the tires whispering to me. I’ve got my eyes on the red needle. It won’t go past ninety-seven. I tighten my grip on the wheel and pull myself up to stand on the gas. I put my head out the window and send my war cry into the night, but the road is flattening, dissolving into the prison plane.

The needle falls.

My command is gone.

The orange lights are too bright and the walls rise up too tall.

I drive off the road and nearly flip the truck

Then it’s all gone.

I walk out into the field with a blanket, stretch out onto my back and wait with my mother and the receding tide.