'Dirty mouth,' he whispers in my ear as he slides into the seat behind me. I know him immediately, despite not having seen him in the last ten years. And I think he knows me. Still, I say nothing. 
'Pretty girl, though, and I suppose that saves you. Now drive,' he gestures forward and I start up the car. I ask him where he'd like to go.
'Anywhere but here, I don't really care, just drive.' 
I notice that he rounds out every word, making it...complete. He didn't use to, but then again, he didn't use to do a lot of things. It's of little matter, for tonight is mine, finally.
'Have you been doing this long?' he asks, and I feel his fingers crawling around the headrest to touch my shoulder. I keep myself steady, all in place. I wouldn't want to frighten him off now, not when I'm so close.
'What, driving?' I'm playing with him, I toy with the many answers in my head, the many variants my life could've taken. And yet, it did not. 'Pretty much all my life. My brother taught me, when I was seven.' 
A lie, but one he believes, because I hear him puff. 'Seven, huh?'
Maybe I was wrong, maybe he doesn't remember me, after all. That needn't matter, he will know me again, in a little while. Menawhile, I watch as the highway unwinds before me, and I see the life this little imaginary girl has had. I see her brother, Andreas, clearly. Perhaps I knew him once. When I was seven, maybe. Perhaps he could've even had a sister, for all I know.
'Why do you do it?' his fingers come down further, softly tickling the base of my exposed neck. I curse myself for not having worn my high-collar shirt. I should've known it would come to this. R. was never the kind to pass up a chance to fuck, even if it was only in his head.
![woman-1696756_960_720.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPhzJYy1wSL8tXBFzAq2WZBUvikwdrBZB5DrhQWFjXpKx/woman-1696756_960_720.jpg)
Ah, but now, it so rarely was. Not many women would've dared to say no to such a powerful man.
'Pretty girl like you,' he said, echoing my thoughts, 'you could be doing something much better with your life.'
Yeah, screwing you, right? Not a chance. Not again.
'Where we going?' he asks, looking around and I can feel the sudden alertness in his voice. Not enough to take his hand off my neck, though.
'You said drive.'
He nods and sits back, letting go of me entirely.
'You know, I never thought it would come to this,' he whispers, looking out the window. I watch him in the mirror and he meets the reflection of my eye.
'No? Really, you disappoint me.'
'Did I hurt you that badly?' 
It's the glint in his eye that does it, the realization that if he could do it all again, he would. 
It's what makes me drive on. I might've let him out otherwise.
'Worse,' I tell him and push the pedal down into the floor, 'you left me to die. I loved you and you left me like I was garbage.'
He tries to shrug it off, but I can sense his unease. Call it sixth sense, but I've been much better at noticing fear ever since that night.
'Come on, Stace, it wasn't like that. There was nothing I could do, and besides, you're alright.'
'Yeah, I'm alright now.' I shrug it off. 'Doesn't matter now. Can't change the state of things.'
'So where we going, Stace?' he asks and his hand slithers around my neck. 
'I'm taking you there. To the place where you left me to die.'
There is silence in the car for a while after R. tries the doors only to find them locked. I've been driving this car for a good ten years now, ever since that night, and if there's one thing I know, it's that once you get in, you only get out on the other side. It's just the state of things.

And R. watches in horror as in the rear-view mirror, the face of the woman who once loved him with all her heart melts away, into ash, into nothing, to reveal a marble-white skull. And the skull grins wide, as the terror sinks in R.'s eyes. It's judgment time. 

#### Today's prompt word was 'state' and this is the best I could come up with. Check out @mariannewest to join our freewriting challenge! 

<center>
## Thank you for reading,
![photojoiner_photo(16).jpeg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYbuu6L9G2cTzP5LTJF2yUkuH7fVmNZhhxRQQCXnN5Q1X/photojoiner_photo(16).jpeg)
</center>
*[Image](https://pixabay.com/en/woman-girl-portrait-face-beauty-1696756/)*