You tend to get used to the highway when you travel alongside it for so long. It all becomes a blur of headlights and yellow and white lines on endless black pavement. Hardly anyone ever stops, and I think that’s the hardest thing to get used to.

But you can’t really blame them. They have a destination, they have a vehicle, they have a life. But me? Well, I could hardly even remember where I was anymore. I’d been walking for so long. So, so long. Just walking along and eagerly holding my thumb out whenever a vehicle approached, hoping against all probability that the driver would take pity on me and pull to the side.

So imagine my surprise when it finally happened. A dinged-up hatchback came by on a particularly desolate stretch of freeway- void of streetlights, surrounded only by unending pines and the twinkling stars above. As it passed by I saw the brake lights, and I felt a spark of hope ignite inside my chest. Sure enough, they put their turn signal on and pulled off to the side. I could scarcely believe my luck, in my excitement I hustled over. As I got nearer I saw that the passenger side window was already rolled down.

“Hey there,” a friendly voice called out. “Where you headed?”

It should have been a simple question, but it wasn’t. My mind drew a complete blank as I leaned in closer to answer.

“Oh my god, Simone, drive, drive!” the passenger was staring at me in terror, maybe revulsion, his eyes wide.

“Holy fuck, what the fuck is that?!” came her panicked reply once she caught a glimpse of me.

“Drive, drive, drive!” he screeched.

“What the fuck is that, Nate? It doesn’t have a face! Holy shit, holy shit! It doesn’t have a face! What the fuck?!”

“Go, Simone! Just fucking drive! Now! Now! Go!”

Tires screeched and the headlights once again illuminated the barren highway as the car accelerated away, leaving a lonely and confused hitchhiker looking on as it left him further and further behind. I watched him in the rearview, getting smaller and smaller, until he was just a tiny speck that disappeared behind the hill we had started descending. Simone’s knuckles were still white around the steering wheel as she accelerated far beyond the speed limit.

“What was that- that thing?” she asked, her voice wobbling uncontrollably, her eyes welling. I placed a hand over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“I don’t know, baby, I really don’t…” I replied, letting out a long held breath, “But it’s gone. It’s behind us now.”

We ventured on in silence, each of us still processing what had just happened. I kept my eyes out the side of the window, peering at my reflection amidst the twinkling stars and passing pines.

It will take time, but I know that eventually I’ll get used to my new face- the same way Nate will forget he ever had one.