HEADLIGHTS copyright2011 m.s,

Sean rose from his bed, feeling the dampness of sweat on his arms. He rubbed the middle of his forehead with two fingers, yawned. Outside his bedroom window the sun was setting. In another three hours, he would make his way down Highway 20 to the warehouse and work another twelve hour shift boxing up assorted chocolates and placing them on a pallet. Cora was in the other room playing on the computer. He could see the light from the monitor flicker in the dark room across the hallway.

He threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater, clumsily staggered to the other bedroom. He saw Cora staring intently at the screen, her large framed glasses sitting at the end of her nose. He waited by the doorway, decided not to disturb her. She had just got off work at the dry cleaners an hour before, he was sure she needed some time to unwind.

Sean went to the kitchen, looked in the refrigerator, and grabbed a handful of ham and chucked the roll into his mouth. He reached for the gallon of milk, when some headlights coming down the lane caught his attention. It was blindingly bright, passing through the kitchen window. Sean squinted, raised his arm to block the light from his eyes.

He went to the backdoor, opened it slightly, peeked out. No one was there. The headlights were gone. No car out in his driveway. He and Cora lived a good two miles from the next neighbor, so it was a big deal when someone drove up to his house. In the past year, only Cora's dad had visited and maybe Jones from work. Since all ties were broken with Sean's family, and it would take more than an episode of Oprah to sort it all out, chances of a visitor out of the blue, was rare.

Sean shrugged closed the door. “Strange,” He said to himself. “Maybe I'm still dreaming.” He poured himself a glass of milk, took a long sip. Then he placed the glass on the table and went to the room where Cora was still watching YouTube on the computer.

Sean leaned against the doorway. “Hey,” He said, his voice booming.

It took a second before Cora realized he had said something. She removed the headphone from her tangled brown hair, smiled. “You said something?”

Sean nodded. “How was your day?”

“Okay. Didn't know you were up.” Cora swirled around in her swivel chair.

“Been up a few minutes. Did you see the headlights coming down the lane?”

Sean rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“No. Who's here?” Cora folded her arms, stretched her neck to see out the window.

“That's the weird thing. Nobody is here. I saw the headlights, almost blinded me. I poked my head out the backdoor, no car there.” Sean shrugged, laughed.

“I bet you were dreaming or something,” Cora stood. She walked up to Sean and kissed him.

“That's what I thought too. But....I don't know.”

Cora patted him on the stomach. “I'll go make you some eggs. How's that?”

“Yeah.. okay.” Sean said. He stepped aside and let her past him. He followed her to the kitchen.

Sean rose from his bed, feeling the dampness of sweat on his arms. He rubbed the middle of his forehead with two fingers, yawned. Outside his bedroom window the sun was setting. He saw the headlights coming down the lane. He slid on a pair of jeans and a shirt. He ran through the hall and into the kitchen. He opened the backdoor and stepped out on the cold ground. Cora put the Metro in park and turned off the engine. She quickly got out of the car, left the drivers door wide open. She was sobbing, trying to talk on her cell phone. She stumbled through the yard and walked through Sean, and into the house.

Sean heard her say, “Dad....Sean...Sean was killed this morning....another car.....”

Sean followed her in and became a memory.