Moment in Time - The Signs Point the Way Home

The sight of the city lights his face as he pulls the car over to the shoulder of the dark road near a sign that says "Welcome to..". He turns the key and the engines rumble ceases and the sounds of the night engulf him. The darkness runs away for a moment as the flame of his lighter licks the tip of his cigarette and reflects off his eyes as he watches the lights flicker off the water in the harbor. He has been gone a long time, too many things have changed in the world that he needed to see. Finally, ten years later, he decided he had seen what the world wanted to show him, now it was the time to return. He takes a deep breath, velvet smoke, tinged with mint and menthol, slides out from between his lips as he drinks in the night.

He turns the ignition, the car roaring as the fuel charges through the engine. Pulling back on the road, he takes the first exit, "Home St.", and laughs to himself. The sounds of the city get louder as his car soars over the dark pavement, the yellow lines shooting by him like lasers. Suddenly, he is surrounded by brick and mortar, buildings rising up around him like zombies breaking free from the grave. The dead returning to warn the future to be wary of the past. He flies through empty streets, empty save the homeless, the drunk, or the homeless drunks. Flashing yellow, the lights above him shine down a welcome home in morse code, but that could just be his imagination.

He turns down a residential side street, trees darkening even darker houses. He slows the car until it is nothing more than a crawl. He stops and flicks the butt of his cigarette out the window and turns the radio down, the voice of a radio dj he listened to a decade ago as his tail lights lit the back of the "Now Leaving.." sign. He stares at the house a little bit down the road, remembering the last time he was there, the day he left the note on the kitchen table, between a half-eaten sandwich and an ashtray with a still burning cigarette. The sign on the front lawn tonight confirms what he expected, but what he feared the most. Pulling a three-point turn, he heads back towards the city, wishing he could erase some of the choices he made when he was younger. Unfortunately, two words abolished that chance forever... "For Sale".