As they approached the compound where the wrecks were first dropped off for initial inspection, they could see a new wreck on the back of the flatbed recovery vehicle. Neither of them could tell the make or model; the cars were all so different now.

     The car was white, and the roof had been crushed inward, exploding out the windshield and forming what appeared to be a sinister grin. A pungent smell of gas and burnt rubber wafted over to where they lurked behind a grove of trees. They strained to hear the wreckers talking.

     "Nasty business over on Dawson," said the one with a cap on his head and a name tag Jimmy couldn't make out.

     "Nasty," said the second one there. "They took him to Mason General, but it doesn't look good."

     "Wilson boy?" asked the one with the cap.

     "Yeah, Tom and Brenda's boy – what's his name – Mark, I think. He's maybe twenty."

     "Damn," said the one with the cap while shaking his head. "Damn shame."

     The two kids remained stoic as they took in the news. "Do you see anything, Jimmy? I sure don't. Maybe he made it."

     "Maybe he did," said Jimmy. "We'll have to come back later to know for sure."

     Jimmy and Beth left the compound and snaked their way back to the old Chevrolet.

     "Let's go explore the east side, Jimmy. We haven't been there for days – or weeks even."

     The days did seem to blend into some sort of long season of nothingness. But neither of them seemed to absorb this little detail. It was like the dream you had that was so alive inside your slumber, yet upon waking, was just beyond your grasp.

     "Good idea Beth. Lead the way," said Jimmy. The graveyard of cars was a fascinating place with so many stories untold. As they walked past an old '69 Mustang, they noticed a long-haired boy within. His blank stare never wavered; he just sat there holding the broken steering wheel and drinking his beer.

     The weeds and vines that blanketed the fields were like a creeping, ghoulish arterial system feeding an unknown, unseen fiend. They held the boy firm in his place like a harrowing harness from Hell.

     As they walked, Jimmy thought of their combined fate and tried to grasp just what the hell they were supposed to do – but just like the name of a song you can't quite remember, it was beyond his understanding. So for now, all Jimmy understood was that he somehow felt sad, pained anguish for the long-haired boy in the Mustang who never moved but for that one arm attached to a bottle endlessly feeding his broken face.

     Their walk around the fields came to an end at the 1982 Buick Regal. This was Bethany's stop. "I'll come to see you in a few hours," said Beth. "We'll go back to the compound and check the white wreck, okay, Jimmy?"

     "Okay, Beth," said Jimmy. And he watched her climb into the Buick through the passenger door and disappear into the back. In the driver's seat sat the Shadow.

     Jimmy left the Buick to return to the Chevrolet. On his way, he reached the crest of the hill that overlooked the entire junkyard. Here he could see countless wrecks over the acres that comprised the yard. In these wrecks were countless souls with dead-eye stares that could never move beyond their steel cage. The Shadows- the Shadows that inhabited the wrecks held a sinister resolve that haunted Jimmy to his core. The Shadows were all draped in silence, but Jimmy could feel a stirring that he could not explain. Demented entreaties were emanating from deep within them: pleas for absolution, forgiveness, release, all unheard.

     ###

     A few hours later, the two kids made their way back to the wrecker's compound. The white wreck had been moved to the west side of the compound, awaiting its forever home in the fields beyond. Beth and Jimmy crept up silently and looked inside. There they saw a young man in the driver's seat looking down and fiddling with something in his hands, moving his fingers with seeming abandon.

     "What's he doing, Jimmy?" asked Beth. "What's that in his hands?"

     "I don't..know," said Jimmy haltingly. "A radio?"

     "No! It's too small for a radio. Don't you think, Jimmy?

     "Beth, I don't know what it is. But it's sure got his attention."

     "So he didn't make it," Beth said solemnly. She and Jimmy both put their heads down in a silent gesture of respect.

     Both kids looked at each other with an almost desperate need for the other to explain the unexplainable. What are we doing here? Why are we here? How did we get here? Desperate questions, all unspoken but clearly understood. In each other, they could see the answer was near, the answer, just off the path where the light was shining.

     Beth looked from Jimmy to the boy in the car, who never looked up, and then back to Jimmy. Finally, she turned and began walking back toward the fields. Jimmy followed. As they walked back to the fields in silence, they passed the Mustang with the boy endlessly feeding his broken face. Only now the boy was gone, and in his place was only a Shadow.

     Now at the '82, Buick, Beth looked Jimmy in the eye and boldly asked, "Jimmy. Why are we here?"

     "Beth," Jimmy said. "It's not a question I can answer, at least not alone. I think the answer is in the dream."

     "I don't like the dream."

     "I know, Beth. It's not easy. But I think we both know that we need to remember."

     "I don't want to remember," Beth sighed. "I just want this to end, whatever this is."

     This back and forth with Beth and Jimmy was nothing new. They were always on the precipice of understanding but just off the path where the light was shining.

     "Beth... all you can do is try. And remember, you're not alone."

     With that, Beth turned and approached the Buick. She looked back at Jimmy for a moment, then disappeared into the back seat. Jimmy felt like he knew where he had to be. He made his way back to the Chevrolet and curled up in the spacious trunk. He pulled the hat down over his eyes and began to dream.

     ###

     "Now it's going to be dark by the time you reach Morrow," said Jimmy's dad. "I want you to give me a call as soon as you get to grandma's place."

     "I will, Dad. I've got it all mapped out. I'll gas up at Toppers Gas & Save and then take the Sanders Side Road to 11. After that, it's straight north to Morrow."

     "Good boy," said Jimmy's dad. "You know I bought this beauty ten years ago; brand new she was. It was just before your mother died." Jimmy's dad would always become wistful and reflective when he decided to journey to this corner of his world. "Your mother knew more about cars than I ever did. And this was her favourite - a '72 Chevrolet Caprice…"

     "Four-door hardtop," Jimmy finished. "A family car."

     Jimmy's dad laughed at this and came back from his bittersweet sojourn. "Okay, I've kept you here long enough. No speeding or passing – deal?"

     "Deal," replied Jimmy, excited to be off on his very first solo journey since getting his licence that summer. With that, they hugged, and Jimmy got behind the wheel. Jimmy was gone with a wave of his hand. The car rolled out of the driveway and onto Toppers Gas and Save.

     ###

     Beth settled into the back seat of the '82 Buick. She always felt wrong there, but she knew that this was where she had to be. She curled up into a fetal position adopting an emotional, defensive stance against the negative energy that engulfed this space.

     Her arms wrapped around her legs, pulling her knees close to her chest. In her awakened state, she closed her eyes and began to dream.

     ###

     "Beth, we are going to be late, sweetheart. Let's go," called out Beth's mom from the foyer. "I know you don't want to go to your uncle's, but I can't leave you alone."

     Beth appeared at the top of the stairs and proclaimed, "I'm eleven years old, Mom. I'll be alright for two nights."

     "I'm not leaving a child alone to mind herself; in the car – now." Beth made her way down the stairs like she was carrying a burden no child should bear. As she passed her mother, she weakly cried, "Uncle Rooney's…," but trailed off.

     "I do not want to go through this every time, Bethany. Uncle Rooney is the only family we've got worth knowing. You need to be respectful of him."

     Beth's tallish mother looked down from her high-heeled perch, eying Beth like a guard in a tower. Beth slowly strode by her and out the front door. She continued her halting progress into the night, climbed into the back seat of the Buick, and steeled herself for the unwanted journey.

     Beth's mom secured the house's front door and climbed into the driver's seat. She reversed out of the driveway and then drove on, leaving the suburban lights forever in the past.

     ###

     Jimmy awoke abruptly, flinging his hat aside and looking around frantically, desperately wanting anything at all to be different. But as he regained his senses and steadied his breathing, he realized that nothing had changed. He was propped up inside this rusty old trunk, surrounded by the fields that were filled with the broken souls of yesterday. But wait…Something had changed. He remembered.

     Jimmy flung himself out of the trunk and headed for the Buick. The memory wasn't conscious as much as it enveloped his entire being. Tears began to form in his eyes as the reality of the surrounding fields came into focus.

     Here, Jimmy stopped. He stood before the Buick. He watched silently; the Shadow was still. He was somehow drawn to it now, drawn to the evil in the Shadow. He moved ever closer with a measured gait. He was within ten feet of the Buick when he saw it. It stopped him cold. The Shadow had become something more, a grotesque, vulgar apparition.

     It knew that he knew, that he had remembered. But the Shadow didn't care. A foul, gut-wrenching sound whistled from this horrific mutation. Laughter? An ungodly, horrendous shrill leaking from this atrocity. Jimmy saw the Shadow. Not just the Shadow but the real menace that it was; the ugly, hateful, jealous, decaying thing that sat both bemused and stricken. Worse than all of this, as he saw the Shadow, the Shadow saw him…and the Shadow smiled.

     ###

     Beth sat quietly in the back seat as the Buick sped south on Highway eleven from Portsville. She was enduring her mother's furtive glances, awaiting the inevitable Uncle Rooney lecture. "You just have to spend a couple of nights. Just a couple more visits and I'll be back on my feet. I'll buy some nice makeup when we get home – get rid of those dark circles around your eyes," said mom to young Beth.

     With no protest from the back seat, her mom continued to defend herself against the silent cries and complaints only she could hear.

     "Now, Beth, you have to help your mama this one last time. Help me get back on my feet again. Okay, sweetie?" Mom was eying the rearview mirror. "Now, where's that pretty smile, honey? Hmm…? You know Uncle Rooney doesn't like a grumpy girl."

     Grumpy girl, Beth thought. A rage began to grow. Beth found fortitude in her spirit, and her eyes locked onto the rearview mirror. When her mom checked the rearview, she was unnerved by what she saw. This little girl had found her strength, her will. With that, Beth said," I'm telling."

     "You take that back, young lady," said her mom with little conviction. "You do not talk to me like that."

     "I'm telling everyone. I'm telling everyone about you and Uncle Rooney. What you made me do." Beth began to cry but tried mightily to hide the fact.

     "Beth," said her mom, her voice raised near panic. "I'm not fooling around. You will stop this right now..!"

     "I'm telling everyone, and you can go straight to hell!" Somehow, the universe had altered, and mom was unraveling. Beth had found her voice. "How could you do that to me?" She was sobbing uncontrollably now. "How could you do that to your little girl," screamed Beth defiantly. "You're finished now," Beth said quietly. "You're done."

     Beth's mom eyed car lights in the opposite lane about a half-mile out. What to do, she wondered. What to do?

     ###

     Jimmy pulled out of Toppers Gas and Save with a full tank of gas and some snacks for good measure. He wasn't going to speed or pass, but his dad never said anything about snacks. The road spread out before him, and he felt good. Clouds were forming in the twilight, and the first droplets of rain began to dance on the windshield. A distant rumble of thunder rolled across the darkening sky as the Caprice rolled along the empty highway. The wiper blades came to life and cleared away what had become a steady pattern of rainfall.

     It was full dark now, and this was the first time Jimmy had ever done any night driving of any consequence. It was a little spooky out on the highway all alone. But it was also kind of cool. The further he traveled, the better he felt. His thoughts eventually turned toward his grandma. He was only an hour out now, and he was excited to see her. Then, up ahead, there were headlights in the opposite lane. This was the first car he had seen since Toppers. He chuckled to himself. He knew his dad had sent him at this time of night so there would be no cars to meet him.

     As the cars moved toward each other, he thought to himself, well, almost no cars. Then his cabin filled with light, and everything stopped.

     ###

     The next thing Jimmy saw was Beth crawling out from the back seat of the Buick. For the last time. "Hey, Beth. You okay kid,?" asked Jimmy. Beth looked at Jimmy with sorrowful eyes, and he could feel her pain. She knew that he knew the truth.

     "I'm so sorry, Jimmy," Beth sobbed. "My fault."

     "No. It was never your fault. It was your sick mother's doing," said Jimmy. "None of this was your fault..." Her sobs turned to full-on tears. She cried and cried like she was never able to on the other plane. The sixteen-year-old boy who had died with Beth in a head-on collision was the closest thing to a father figure she had ever had.

     "The Shadow's gone," said Beth. It was as if her tears washed away the darkness.

     "That rotten car was new, Jimmy. She paid for it with me," cried Beth. More tears flowed.

     "I know, Beth. I know it. But it's over now. We can move on."

     "Jimmy. You go. I can't just now. I don't know why. I just need some time."

     Jimmy turned Beth toward him and said, "I'm not going to leave you here alone. I will wait for you."

     "But I don't know how long I need," said Beth. "What will you do?

     "I will do what I've done," said Jimmy awkwardly. "I'll just stay. You're not alone. Neither am I." Then it dawned on him, and he said, "We're not alone. I don't think we ever were."

     Both kids felt the truth in Jimmy's words. At long last, there was peace in the fields. They both sat down and leaned against a large tree stump. They dozed off as if exhausted from a long, arduous journey. Clouds filled the sky unbeknownst to the sleeping children, and the rain began to fall. The cool patter awoke both kids, and they found themselves on a dark highway in the middle of nowhere. Beth saw her mom's body protruding through the windshield of the Buick. Her head turned at an unnatural angle as if looking toward the back seat with the rest of her body facing forward. It was as if she was looking for Beth but could not find her. Her mouth was moving like a fish out of water trying to breathe. Beth knew her mother was calling her name, but she would not answer.

     Jimmy approached Beth and took her hand. Her arm was broken but then so was Jimmy's. The left side of her head was crushed, and her eye was missing. Both of Beth's legs were broken. Jimmy also suffered massive head trauma, and his spine was split in half. They looked at each other silently and turned away from Beth's mom. They both walked off the road like marionette puppets controlled by unseen strings. Here they came upon a path that was strangely familiar to them. A path that they had traversed many, many times before. But on this evening, they did not stay on the path for long. They stopped walking and looked at each other again, then veered off the path and carried on to where the light was shining.

The End