One Night Under the Stars in Mexico
One-minute fiction
Rain and hail and memories thrash against the windshield, rattling me to my core in more ways than one. It’s three in the morning, and lightning streaks across this endless black canopy. Thunder thrums in the distance. I’ve already crossed four state lines with only two to go. I’m counting miles, white-knuckling the steering wheel.
Something tells me to turn around, pull over, think this through. But then I remember the night we sat under the stars in Mexico, drunk on tequila, listening to the waves that whispered stories to the shoreline, reporting in from the deep, dark ocean. You and I only caught murmurs of these tales, these mysteries, but we managed to fill in the blank spaces.
The scent of seaweed and saltwater seeps in through the car. I can smell the lavender in your hair. Mostly, I remember your voice and what you told me.
It forces me forward into the storm, into this endless night.
Lightning flashes, illuminating the landscape before me. Silhouettes of trees and the empty, open road beckon me onward.
I hope we can watch the sunrise together and begin a new day. Turn the page on our mistakes and watch the storm wash away.
It’s out of my hands. If you say no, I’ll understand; I’ll move on.
But my life will morph into one long road, one long night, with memories replaying on repeat—especially of that time in Mexico.
Thank you so much for being here and reading my work. I pulled “One Night Under the Stars in Mexico” from July of 2022. Since we’re on the cusp of summer, this felt like a fitting love story to share.
If you enjoyed it, please feel free to share with a fellow fiction reader.
Have a wonderful week!
Our next Fifties by the Fire prompt will go live on Friday, June 13, at 3:00 PM EST. If you are interested in reading and writing some fifty-word stories, please stop by!
Prompt: Write a fifty-word story (fiction, CNF, or poetry) about a nighttime excursion.
Thank you, as always, to
for providing his inspiring photography for our prompts.Have a wonderful week!
-Justin
"Rain and hail and memories ..." Beautiful opener, Justin. I feel this man's urgency, his hope battling with reality. "The scent of seaweed and saltwater seeps in..." a sweet, unforced alliteration. The insertion of the two unexpected rhyming lines with "new day" and "wash away". Sweet! See you Friday!
As much a poem as prose. I think we all have similar memories. At least, we should have.