"marooned"

I needed time away. Vacation. I wanted
to do something different so I went on a road trip. Alone. I didn't
know where I was going. I just drove by instinct. I would drive a
bit, see some sights, visit some small towns, and then stay in a
motel for the night then start the whole process again the following
day.

By this point, it was my fourth day on
the road. As I glanced at the GPS it indicated that I was on Highway
16. It was a rural area. Lots of farms. Farm after farm after farm
and nothing but an empty road ahead.

The GPOS didn't indicate any sign of
civilization, just Highway 16 forever. No upcoming town or settlement
of any kind.

I was hoping to pick up some kind of
life so I turned on the radio. I began to scan through the FM and it
found one station at 100.3. At least it found something. They were
playing music and it took a while for me to clue it to what they were
playing, but I realized it was “Marooned” by Pink Floyd. I found
that to be very unusual because it is an instrument piece and is not
something that is generally played on the radio.

The song was about halfway through
when I suddenly lost the signal. No warning, it just went to static
as if someone had switched off the transmitter.

I tried to find another station but
there was nothing. Then I noticed that the GPS navigator blanked out
and just displayed a “NO SIGNAL” message.

This was concerning me so I pulled over
and tried my smartphone. It too was displaying a “NO SIGNAL”.

Although I thought the situation was a
bit odd, I decided to keep driving but that is when I noticed the
compass on my dashboard was spinning albeit slowly. That could really
only mean one thing. There was some kind of a magnet field coming
from above or below that was causing this. I figured that it was some
kind of oddity just in the area so I kept driving on what I assumed
was still Highway 16.

I eventually arrived at an
intersection. There was a traffic light but it was not working. There
was also no other traffic. Not a sign of any other vehicle anywhere.
I proceeded slowly through and as I looked to the right I noticed in
the distance a tall radio or TV tower without lights. Tall towers
like that are required to have strobe lights but that one didn't or
likely they were not working.

As I continued on the road I rounded a
curve and I crossed a small river which turned into a waterfall that
spilled ino a gorge. A bit farther I crossed another small river and
into what looked like a small city. There were rows of houses on both
sides of the road. It all looked perfectly normal but one thing was
very odd and creepy. There was no sign of life. There were no people
around, no pets, not even any birds. There were also no vehicles in
any of the driveways or sharing the road with me. It was as if
everyone had just got up and left and somehow took all the wildlife
with them.

After a few blocks, the houses ended and
I was inb a commercial area. There was a small plaza on the right and
on the left were a large grocery store and a McDonald's. All of which
looked normal but all appeared to be closed, It was early afternoon
so you would have thought this area would be bustling, but there was
no one.

Another couple of blocks later I
discovered a shopping mall. It was a very large one. It spanned three
or four city blocks and appeared to have two floors. It had a huge
parking lot and a bus terminal. All of it was completely empty.

The mall itself did not look abandoned.
It just looked closed.

I pulled into the mall parking lot near
the bus terminal. I got out of my vehicle to look around.

The bus terminal had some route markers
for the buses. Route 25, Route 26, Route 41. A normal bus terminal
that should have had some people waiting for buses, but it was empty.
Just like everything else in this crazy place.

There was a flag for an auto dealership
that was flapping away in the wind but looking above it, the clouds
were moving quite quickly, in the opposite direction.

Okay, well, two opposing jet streams at
different levels. Unusual but not impossible.

I then noticed that behind me the sky
became very dark and there was lightning. The lightning was red. Red
lightning. Unusual weather phenomena but not impossible. I have
heard of red lighting before. However, with everything else that was
going on at the time it made this situation that much more creepy.

I wanted to look around some more and I
especially wanted to check out the mall but then without warning, it
stared to pour down rain. I mean some serious heavy-duty rain. With
some many oddities here I wasn't sure what was in that “Rain” so
I booted it back to my vehicle.

Once inside that is when I noticed that
the rain was coming straight down. It was not affected by the strong
wind that was flapping the flag. Okay. I think it is time to find my
way out of here.

I navigated the best I could through
the pouring rain back to what I believed was Highway 16.

I went as fast I could pass the grocery
store, past the houses, past the waterfall, past the radio tower, and
back to the farm area.

The rain had stopped by that point, but
things were still far from normal. I still had no GPS or any other
service of any kind.

I continued to drive. I had to get away
from that crazy place but it seemed to have expanded or was following
me.

I didn't realize in all the confusion
that the radio was still on and suddenly the low static went away and
the music came back on. It was back on 100.3 and the same song was
playing. “Marooned” and it started playing from where it had left
off.

Okay. That's just too much. I had to
report this to someone.

I glanced at my smartphone and noticed
that it now had a signal.

I pulled to the side of the road and
pressed “EMERGENCY”.

Someone answered but before I could say
anything, the voice calmly said, “It is happening. You can't escape
it.”, and then abruptly hung up.

My phone dropped to the floor and then
stared making a loud beeping noise.

The beeping continued until I realized
that it was the clock radio in the motel room. I smacked to stop bar
and then realized that I was in a motel room and that it had all be
just a dream.

It was 7:30 and I wanted to get back on
the road as soon as possible so I got up shaved and showered,
Then I checked out and left the motel.

I drove for a while but since I left
the motel so quickly that I didn't have a chance to eat and was beginning
to get hungry.

There wasn't much as I was driving
through a rural area. There were just farms and grazing cattle. Lots
of food but none that I could eat right now.

The road remained mostly empty for
quite a while but I began to notice it getting busier. It seemed as
if I was getting close to a town.

After a few more minutes of driving
traffic was stopping. We were at an intersection with a traffic light
and we were waiting for it to turn green. Traffic on the adjacent
road was quite heavy.

Once we started moving through the
intersection, I turned to look to the right. A series of strobe
lights caught my attention. There was a tall broadcast tower.

That tower juggled my mind. This was
the same place that was in my dream, but I had never been here
before. If the dream was accurate I would cross two small rivers and
then into a small community.

That is exactly what happened. How odd.
I knew this place so well but I had never been here. That means that
in a few blocks, there would be a large grocery store and a
McDonald's. I will stop in there for a coffee and a snack.

As I was checking traffic to get into
the left lane for my left turn into the McDonald's, I found myself
stuck behind a bus that was picking up passengers. A bright orange
“41” was glowing at me from the rear destination sign.

When there was a break in traffic I was
able to pass the bus and prepare my turn into the McDonald's.

Just as I was about to turn in,
“Learning To Fly” by Pink Floyd came on the radio.

I found a parking spot, and quickly
headed into the restaurant.

While doing so, I failed to notice the
compass on my dashboard slowly beginning to spin.