Is Something Wrong, Sweetie?

A Story by Sandr

A tale of getting lost.

I’ve been driving for a good three hours now. My legs have begun to feel swollen with blood and my eyes sting from the constant strain of watching the road, lit only with my headlights.

“We’re lost,” my wife says for the fourth time from the passenger seat.

“We aren’t lost,” I deny. “I’m pretty sure I just need to turn left this time.”

I hear a sigh, which I can imagine is followed by a roll of the eyes. “Just stop for directions. At this rate we’ll miss the wedding.”

“Fine!” I say with aggravation even though I know she is right. At this rate we’d be getting there tomorrow evening. “But there isn’t even anyone out that I can ask for directions from,” I say stating the obvious.

“Well going in circles won’t help,” she snipes, annoyed.

“Then, what would you have me do!” I yell a little too loudly, earning a ‘shush’ from my wife.

“You’re going to wake the kids,” she says looking at the two children asleep in the backseat.

“What do you want me to do?” I ask, this time wearily. I already feel worn from the driving and the argument is taking too much energy.

“Pull over here,” she says suddenly.

I look out the window and see what she sees, a woman with long auburn hair that comes to her shoulders, wearing a bright yellow spring dress.

I pull over and roll down the window.

“Is something wrong, sweetie?” the woman asks.

“Yeah, would you know how to get to the highway from here?”

The woman smiles, a fake smile that shows off unnaturally white teeth. “Sure thing, sweetie. Just go straight up ahead and take a left. Once you go down that road about two miles there’s a big gate, turn into there-"

“I think you’re confused, I said I needed to get to the highway.”

“I know,” she says with a big smile. “This part of town is weird, you have to go through that street and then you’ll get to the main road and from there it’s a straight shot to the highway.”

I‘m not sure about the directions, but since they were all I had, I thank the woman and pull back out onto the road.

“Are you sure we should follow those directions?” my wife asks as I turn the first left.

I turn to her with annoyance. “You’re the one that said we should ask for directions. So, yes, I’m going to follow them.”

She gave me a reproachful look, but then fell silent.

When I reach the gate that the woman described I turn and pull through it. Upon entering I see that I am in what looks like a very well to do neighborhood. Each house is large and from what I can see each has a pool.

“That’s odd,” my wife said quietly. “They all look the same.”

I notice that she is right, each house is completely identical. Even the paint is the same. Each a yellow that looks almost as if it is glowing in the dark.

After driving for about twenty minutes I sigh. “This is ridiculous; it looks like we haven’t made any progress,” I say glancing at the identical houses that still surround us. “I’m turning around,” I say, making a three point turn and going back in the opposite direction.

About half an hour later and I’m starting to feel panicky. By now I should have reached the gate, but all I see are the wretched yellow houses lining the streets.

“This is weird,” my wife whispers.

“We should have already reached the gate,” I agree.

She looks nervously at the clock. “It’s already midnight,” she says.

“Maybe I took a wrong turn,” I say grudgingly. “All these houses look the same; I can’t even tell where I am.”

“I think we’re going to have to stop and ask someone,” she says. “How horrible though, it’s so late. I hate to think that we have to wake someone.”

I sigh and pull into a random driveway, more than willing to leave this neighborhood. I turn the key and get out of the car. When I reach the front door to the house I push the doorbell and hear a musical sounding chime from inside. The door then opens.

It surprises me that they got to the door so fast considering the late hour. Then I gape. Before me stands a woman with auburn hair down to her shoulders, wearing a bright yellow spring dress. She smiles showing unnaturally white teeth.