House on a Line - A Chapter

The rented car’s tires gripped the road. Gazing past the red flaked hood the ascent up this humble mountain was met with a view of a green verdant valley. My initial fear driving up this route was only barricaded in with a single guardrail that assured drivers they wouldn’t immediately plunge to their death at the right speed and angle of impact. Some of parts of this climb had no guard and instinctively drove safer around these. A gentle illusion of safety.

The pavement wrapped around the dirt and slate of this mountain. The dark blue slate was intermixed with vegetation and mounds of dirt that had not yet slid off into the valley below. “Time takes us all.” I muttered. I glanced at the plush and gray passenger seat at my phone. No calls yet from my agent. The seat had years of service. The velvety plush material was impacted right where dozens had sat. Evidence that there was once life there.

Finally the end point of regular society. Stretched into a thick unkempt wood was a dirt road. There was once an attempt to pack the dirt with gravel. A rusted shovel and a pile of the speckled stone with weed growth sat next to a gate with no surrounding fence. The pig iron gate once sat ornate in an attempt to add class to the height and magnitude of the mountain. Now it sat rusted and slightly twisted.

The Fluer de lis was crafted well even though the paint was well beyond it. The symmetric flower arrangement curved into itself on the outer most petals while the center stalk pointed in a harrowing spike.  In the center there was an iron-casted face of a lion or humanoid looking creature. It’s hollow eyes narrowed in a seemingly wrathful visage leering over the valley behind me. The gate was an easy push and after wiping the deep red rust off my hands on my blue jeans I re-entered the idling red car. This road was too rough for a fancy car, my agent warned. The tires crushed the gravel and beige clay dirt as I retreated to the cabin my agent rented for me.

It was supposed to be a holiday.

#Fiction #Odd