Desert Lights

My mother lives in the desert.  When I visit her, I like to drive instead of flying.  Last year, I made the ten hour drive to see my mother.  I drove in the day time and, other than a few careless drivers, the drive was uneventful.

Four days later, I was getting ready to leave, when my mother asked if I would drive her to Best Buy which is about  a forty-five minute drive from her house.  She doesn't drive.  I took her to run her errands.  We were both hungry on the way back and we stopped at Denny's for lunch.  We lost track of time over lunch and by the time I got her home and got  on the road, it was getting dark.  I knew I wouldn't be getting home until midnight but I left anyway.

Once I got out of town, away from the lights, the darkness enveloped me and somehow I ended up on a road that I had not been on before.  I usually drive with my GPS but it wasn't hooked up on this drive because I had made the drive hundreds of times.  I kept driving.  There was no place to stop and there was no signal on my cell phone.  Suddenly the air inside my car got cold.  It was at least 98 degrees outside, yet inside my car I was shivering.  I'm an old hand at driving alone through the deserts.  Yet , I felt unsettled.  There was something eerie in the air.  I glanced at my cell phone again and there was still no signal.  No choice.  I had to go on.  There were no cars coming or going in either direction.  There were no markings on the highway.  Where was I?

Finally, I decided I was going to stop and get out. Maybe if I moved around I could get a signal on my cell.  I pulled off the road and turned off my headlights.   Reaching for my cell phone,  I felt my skin break out in goose bumps.  I opened the car door and as I stepped out, I felt a chilling electricity in the atmosphere.  I froze.  The ground began to shake.  Was this an earthquake?  I started to get back into my car.  Behind the mountains, I saw a glow.  As I stared at it, the turquoise glow slowly rose above the mountains.  What was it?  I remained transfixed, staring into the darkness.  The atmosphere felt electric and there was a buzzing sound.  Not loud.  Just a constant buzz.  That's all it was.  The glow rose above the mountains and into the sky.  I couldn't see beyond the lights because of the glow that was hiding whatever craft or vessel was causing the disruption in the atmosphere.

I watched the glow until the ringing of my cell phone startled me.  I looked at it and there was no call coming through, yet it was ringing.  I lifted the flip top to talk but there was no one there.   Finally, the glow was gone and there was silence.  The air in my car was hot again and I left as quickly as I could.  Soon I was back in my mother's town.  I don't know how I got back there because I kept driving straight, which should have been away from town. 

I looked for reports on the news, anything that would explain what I had seen but there was nothing.  It hadn't happened, or so it seemed.   I know I didn't imagine it.  It happened.

©2008 by Corina Carrasco