Grey plumes of smoke filled the sky; the towering buildings were made of concrete that was now yellow and stained from years of neglect. Misty clouds encased these buildings revealing only general outlines of them. His car sat in a never ending snake of cars, all leading into the now faded city he once loved. He felt as though the universe was hammering him further and further into the ground with a sledge hammer. The windows were rolled up to keep the smoke outside away from the cabin of his car. With nowhere to escape, his crippling regret from an event he could not completely remember filled up the interior and suffocated him. He abruptly exerted all of his force on the car door to escape the thoughts cornering him. In the midst of his panicking, a tune began humming through the air. It’s melody made his ears tense up and tingle with warmth and he was now able to ease his grip on the door handle. The melody was strangely familiar, like hearing a recording of a passed relative’s voice or whiffing the aroma of your grandmother’s old house. He fell into a meditative state that distracted him from the world morphing around him. The sky, once covered in that thick sheet of smog, cleared to reveal a sun vibrant enough for a day in mid July. The buildings were now bathing in vibrant, vivid colors from all around the color wheel. The view in front of his vehicle that was formerly the backs of thousands of cars now revealed miles of open, winding highway. At this point the song was already halfway through. Although there was a bountiful amount of pleasing events happening to him, he was still so caught up with finding the name to this tune and why it evaporated the dark clouds from his mind. Suddenly he was not alone, a figure with golden locks brighter than the sun appeared at the far end of the highway. The tune was dancing around her presence and called him forward. Gazing at the distant entity for what felt like forever, he snapped out of his daze and slammed his foot on the gas. His car began hurtling towards the glowing figure at an alarming rate, he had to know who she was. As the numbers on the speedometer rose, the last minute of the tune was coming to a close. It seemed that the faster he drove the faster the song finished. 60 miles per hour, 40 minutes left in the song, 80 miles per hour, 20 seconds left in the song, 100 miles per hour, 10 seconds left in the song. He slammed on the brakes, which slightly lifted the tail end of his car up. At that point, there were more endorphins racing through his veins than blood. Hus car spun out from the abrupt braking but he was still approaching the figure, now just in a circular motion. When his car would hit the right part of the spin, he would get one more closer glimpse of the figure. Each spin brought him closer to her identity. After the last spin, he would finally be face to face with her. Coming around to the final inches of that final spin, the car stopped. His head slammed into the steering wheel and brought his attention to the speedometer which now read 0, then he glanced at the radio that had zero seconds left. When he jolted his head up for that anticipated gaze into her eyes, all that he saw were grey plumes of smoke, the stained concrete buildings, and a never ending snake of traffic leading to the city he once loved.