StoryLink #0

        I swear that 'Danger : Drive Carefully' sign wasn't there before. I've driven down this road hundreds of times, and I've never seen it. Why'd they put that up? And why now? I proceeded cautiously looking left and right for whatever "Danger" might be lurking outside. I'm actually annoyed with myself for being scared. C'mon seriously, I know these roads and trees like the back of my hand. To prove my bravery, I decide to pull over to the right. I parked my gray BMW, opened the doors and took in the fresh air. Except, the air wasn't fresh. At first, I did not notice anything wrong. It wasn't until I took my first breath that I realized the air was moist. A breeze of cold air hit my face, and it startled something in me. I looked around, perturbed, my mind sculpting shadows into grotesque eldritch sights.
       The twisted creatures of my own imagination seemed to lunge at me from all angles. My head spun, and so did my body. Oh my god, I'm not schizophrenic, am I?! I fell to the ground, stomach churning. The humidity in the air didn't help me, throat tightening as my hands clawed at my own chest. I started to gnash my teeth, a habit signaling a full-blown panic attack.
        My thoughts started spiraling, was I getting a panic attack? If so, why was I getting a panic attack when I had never gotten one before? It was hard to think when my heart was basically throbbing out of my chest. Eventually, I passed out. I don’t know how long I was out for but seeing as though the sun was rising, it must have been a while. I got up and gathered my confused self. Maybe I was hallucinating but the air started to force itself down my throat. I began to gag and reached my hand out towards the shadowy silhouettes that towered above me. Why won’t you help? The often lonesome road, that used to be a solitary and silent place, was full of noise from all directions. I need out. Out. Before I drown on this air. I need to get back to the car. But I can’t think. 
        I turned around and started to run, but my foot caught on something big. The ground slammed into me, and a sharp crack rang from my ankle. I reached to push myself up- but somthing grabbed onto my leg, fingers like ice tightening round my calf. I looked down, and through the dim light, I saw a hand- grey and rotted. I screamed, but the sound barely left my throat before it started pulling me down. 
          And like a splash of cold water, it was over. Mud covered the palms of my hands, red scratches making crosses on my bare chest: fully exposed to the elements. The moisture from the mud was beginning to freeze over on my clothes- the white polo I had washed and ironed this morning was shredded. Very slowly, I picked myself up, making sure I didn’t stand on my clearly broken ankle. 
          I need to reassess. I’ve been on this road many times, but never out of my car. Where am I? I look back and can no longer see the hint of my grey car glistening from the street. I start limping in the direction I came. I pass the greying body once again. But why does she look so familiar? A scream gets stuck in the back of my throat when I remember. I used to see her on this route every morning. 
        I never spoke to her, but she walked this road every morning. Bright vest, hair in a bun, always smiling with that little dog trotting beside her. Now her body lay still, twisted, face half-buried in the mud. No dog. Just silence. I tried not to look, but something in me knew that this wasn’t the first time she’d died here.
        Then, all of a sudden my head falls straight back down in the mud as if it was as heavy as a cinder block. I look back up from the mud and see myself back on the road and driving. I see the same road and sign, almost like Deja Vu or groundhogs day. It dawned on me that I was stuck in a time loop.
        I gripped the steering wheel tighter. The sign screamed at me Danger: Drive Carefully. I slammed the brakes, my tires squealing loudly. This time, I stayed inside the car. I didn’t pull over, I didn’t even step out but it didn’t matter. Even inside the car, the temperature began to drop. Frost began to spread along the outside of the windshield.
       I shifted the car in reverse and backed up out of there before anything bad could happen. It was too late though and a giant monster dripping with mud popped out from the side. It was terrifying and my instincts kicked in as I slammed my foot on the pedal. It started chasing me as I was reversing out of there. Then I heard a loud horn behind me and two lights approaching. I then woke up in bed.
         But it felt so real, my heart was still pounding out of my chest. My eyes wandered around the room searching for something, anything that could prove it wasn't just a dream. Thats when I saw it. The puddles of mud by my bedroom door. I scrambled away from the mud- or tried to. My ankle protested, and on instinct, I managed to look down. Not only was my ankle joint swollen, but my white polo is currently shredded, scratches still reddened from brute force. But how- the woman. When she grabbed me, her hand was distinctly rotten. All logic abandoned me as I stared at the evidence. Evidence that I was not hallucinating at all. I panicked, swiftly moving and hiding under my bed. I wondered, “How is this both in my dreams and in real life?” Suddenly, I heard something creeping down the hallway towards my room. I made the decision that I’d lock the door and hide until someone or something shows up and save me.
        I ran back to my hiding spot, this was my safe space, a place that I went when I was scared or overwhelmed. I stayed there under the bed for a while it felt like hours that I laid in that spot. The noise finally went away but I was too scared to get out of my spot immediately. Once I felt comfortable to get out, the noise came back, it paced around the hallway. I thought “I’m gonna piss my pants”.
        But no one had come. No one to save me. Just me, alone with whatever’s waiting for me out there. My heart dropped to my stomach as I heard the lock being fiddled with from outside. I held my breath, careful to not make a sound in case it could hear me, and squeezed my eyes shut. Whatever happened, I was not going to witness it. It managed to unlock the door and the color drained from my face.
       I opened my eyes and cursed. There it was: "Danger: Drive Carefully". I was back in my chilly car, the smell of rotten flesh invading my nostrils. Enough. I knew what was coming and this time I would find a way to end this sinister time loop I'd found myself in. I stepped on the gas as a mud-covered limb crept out from the backseat. A fast, deliberate turn of the wheel and my car went flying. 
         The car skidded on the road, tired squealing loudly. Panic gripped me like a vise as my eyes tore around me, looking desperately for an escape. Two bloodshot, yellowed eyes bobbed outside my windshield as long and dirty nails pawed at the glass. I swallowed my scream and hit the accelerator, hoping to run the monster over. Then the glass shattered, and I suddenly had a very hostile passenger.
        It's weight slammed into me and knocked the wind from my lungs as icy mud caked fingers wrapped around my throat. The stench of rotting earth seeped into my pores and my vision tunneled as I clawed at its wrists. The car doors flew open and before my head hit the steering wheel I saw the sign through the cracked windshield: Danger Drive Carefully.
        The sign’s letters shifted: Danger: Do Not Stop. My grip tightened as the wheel twitched, dragging the BMW left, tires screaming. Headlights appeared behind me—always close, never passing. The engine growled like it breathed. In the mirror, the driver’s seat was empty, but the passenger wasn’t. Her muddy face smiled too wide as she lifted her hand—and waved. The radio hissed: “…don’t…look…away…”
        She slowly left the car, slowly closing the door. "Drive, please drive," I said to myself, but I was frozen. I tried to scream, but the girl slowly got closer to my window. As she came into the glow of the headlights, I could see her face closer. The mud was holding her face like tendrils, peeling back her lips into a wide smile, and holding her eyes open. I felt a drip of mud crawling up my neck, slowly taking me too.
        My hands shook on the wheel, but the car didn’t feel like mine anymore. It moved as if guided by something older, something buried deep beneath this road.

"You stopped.”

The radio shrieked with static, then went dead.

         I slammed the gas pedal and the BMW roared, tires screaming against the slick pavement, but the road just kept going. It twisted and bent, trees looming overhead like jagged ribs. The yellow sign flickered past again and again in the headlights.

 

DANGER: DRIVE CAREFULLY.

DANGER: DO NOT STOP.

DANGER: TOO LATE.

 

        My vision swam. My chest felt like it was caving in. The mud spread across my arms and chest, inching toward my throat. Her hand slid through the shattered windshield and brushed my cheek, ice cold, rotting, inevitable.

       I screamed, not out of fear but defiance, and yanked the wheel. The car spun, tires ripping at the earth, until everything went black. Glass shattered. Steel twisted. And the silence. I opened my eyes. No car. No sign. No woman. Just me, barefoot in the middle of the road. My ankle didn’t hurt anymore. My chest no longer hammered.

       Behind me, I heard footsteps. She was there. The little dog trotted at her side, tail wagging.

       She raised a hand and pointed forward. The road. And before I could even think, I started walking.

       Because maybe the danger wasn’t in stopping.

       Maybe the danger was knowing I’d never stop again.