Looking back over ten years ago, back when I was still in college, my friends and I would get in one of our cars and drive wherever we wanted to go that night. Pick any turn and we went, purposely get lost for the fun of finding our way back to some familiarity. Those drives to us were an excuse to just blast music, talk whatever was on our minds, and find some new areas to explore. Those were some great road trips back then.
One time, and I have no clue where this area is anymore, we ended up getting lost down a deserted road. We pull up to what looked to be a driveway but found no mailbox or any indication that someone lived down it. To our great idea of fun by getting lost, we were looking down a path of nothing but a pitch-black gravel road surrounded by trees. Young enough to feel invincible, our initial thought was to drive down to see what’s beyond the darkness because horror movies weren’t real, and it probably was nothing anyway. So down we went, only to not get too far at all.
The pathway ended up having bigger rocks than it should for a driveway, and my friend’s early 2000’s Volkswagen Jetta would have ended up getting stuck. We contemplated the idea of getting out of the car and walk down it. A few college-aged boys versus whatever it was down there, we believed our chances were good. But…we never got out of that car. Instead, we decided that we just weren’t prepared for it, so we put the car in reverse and pulled right out of there. All that talk and adrenaline of wanting to be scared was us getting out of that driveway and making our way back home.
We promised to go there again with a bigger vehicle this time, but we never did go back. I don’t remember where that spot even was and how to get there, all I remember from that moment was the car lights shining down the path and still seeing pitch black further down. Back then, I would’ve loved to feel that horror movie thrill. Now I’m content just hanging around at home with Yessica and Chance, watching horror movies and think of the characters as dumbasses, forgetting that could’ve been us that one night when we were sitting in front of that entrance.
Whatever it was down there that my friend’s Jetta couldn’t reach, I’ll never know. It was probably nothing anyway. That mystery will always make it a great story to think about whenever I think about the night my friends and I would get lost in a car somewhere. All of the times we did these road trips were memorable, but that one sticks out the most.
Brad Michael, Writer 
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