A Game of Tag

There was barely any movement on the interstate as Zeke sat in the backseat flipping through his comics. It was late in the evening, and except for when they would occasionally pass beneath the lights, was too dark for him to read any of the pages. He closed it and let out a sigh. His mother was in the driving seat and as usual, was grumbling about the traffic.

“The cars aren’t even moving forward.” She motioned in front of her as she spoke in an annoyed voice. “I’ve never seen traffic this bad. We should have waited longer before heading out.”

But as she continued to complain, Zeke remained quiet, and his eyes wandered to the view outside his window. Beyond the rows of cars, the faraway buildings were brightly-lit, and the skyscrapers stood out to him like jewels sparkling against the night sky. This isn’t so bad. he thought as he marveled at the sight, for it was one reason that he loved the nightly car rides through downtown. With all of the lit-up squares shining down on them as they drove through the busy streets, it always felt as though they were navigating through a new town where everything was strange and exciting.

It’s not so bad. he repeated to himself. He placed his hand against the glass as he pretended to grab the shiny buildings. Not so bad at all. Then, as he noticed from his periphery a yawning man in a nearby car, his attention was brought once again from the beautiful buildings to all of the cars around him. They barely moved an inch, and the people inside looked miserable.

He frowned at the sight. The night was beautiful, but it was ruined by the never-ending lines of cars. If only, he thought as he let out a big yawn, the highway could be empty of cars. He stretched his arms and closed his eyes…

And when he opened them again, the highway was empty. Zeke rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. Like what he had wished for, the place was completely empty. There were no cars, not even the one that he was in just a moment ago. Instead, he was standing alone in the middle of the highway, and along both sides of the long path, there were buildings enumerable with lit-up windows scattered throughout.

Zeke looked down at his arms. In the dark, he could see the glow of the green light from the window right above him. And that wasn’t the only color. Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by specs of green, blue and yellow illuminating the dark night. He ran through the highway, laughing with too much excitement to contain, and despite being outside, his footsteps echoed loudly. He didn’t care or question it, for he was just too captivated by all that was around him to wonder about what was happening. He continued running for a long time, then after a while, he began to feel tired.

He stopped for a moment to rest, hunched over with his hands on his knees, before he straightened himself and turned to look at where he had come from. He had run a long way, more than he had ever run in his life, but now his legs were tired. If only… he thought as he breathed heavily. If only I had a bike that I could continue on.

And as soon as the desire had come to him, another wish was granted. Zeke looked down, and there it was, a brand-new bike that was ready for him to use. Like before, he was too excited to question anything about it, and so he got on it and rode away, continuing on his path with no destination in mind.

It wasn’t long, though, before he felt a sense of emptiness in the vast place. He slowly came to a halt, and as he looked around at the empty highway, he suddenly felt lonely. He sighed and slumped his shoulders. If only there were other people to play with me. he thought as he stood there. And no sooner did he think of that than his wish was granted once again.

In the distance he heard a strange sound, and he looked around, wondering what it could be. Whatever it was, there was more than one, and it came from different directions. Zeke concentrated to try to distinguish the sounds, but they all sounded like… like wheels? His eyebrows came together in confusion, and his eyes grew wide from the amusing thought. From the sound of it, there were different kinds of wheels of all sizes, making their way on the concrete towards him. He waited in anticipation, and as he expected, he eventually saw someone on a bicycle.

It was a boy around his age, riding his bike towards him at full speed from up ahead. He would disappear and come back into view as he passed over the slopes of the highway; but he kept a constant speed, and soon, there were more of them. Boys and girls, all faceless in the dark night, riding on their bikes, skateboards and rollerblades until they were all around him, circling him before breaking up into groups. Zeke watched with delight as the silhouettes moved across the glowing backdrop. On the ground below him, the green light from the buildings continued to shift and dance as the children rode through. He followed them as quickly as he could. The lit-up windows flashed by him in a blur of colors, and as the others passed by him, he rode faster to catch up.

The slopes of the highway grew more steep, more exaggerated, and as they all rode down together, he shouted with exhilaration. It was the best night he had ever had. They performed tricks on their skateboards as they reached large slopes, and they even played tag and raced each other as they went along further. He was glad there were others with him, and he was having so much fun. But like all wishes, it wasn’t long before he wanted something bigger. Something better.

They finished racing for the fifth time, and Zeke let out a big yawn after reaching the finish line that they had chosen. He hated to admit it, but he was beginning to feel bored. He loved that there was a group of children playing with him on that wonderful night, but it was beginning to feel too easy. And so, he yearned for a bit of a challenge to shake things up.

On their next race, he was in the lead once again, but this time he heard something loud coming from behind him. Zeke’s eyebrows came together in a look of confusion. The sound was familiar, but it was like something that shouldn’t have been there…

He shrugged and brushed off the uneasy feeling. There was no way that there were any around there; they were all gone. He continued riding his bike, certain that there would be nothing that would stop him from winning. But as soon as he saw the finish line in the distance, the familiar sound became really loud, and the space in front of him became bright. Light was being shined from behind. There was a honking sound, and as Zeke turned around, he was startled to see a large car coming at him. He swerved to the side and fell off of his bike, a hair’s length away from nearly getting hit by it, and as the faceless driver waved at him from inside of the dark car, he noticed the other children rushing past him. They were now beating him! He quickly got onto his bike and took off to catch up to them.

They were going much faster than before, being way ahead of him, and when Zeke glanced back to get a look behind him, he could see the headlights of more cars coming their way. They came rushing past him, and he swerved ungracefully to get out of their way. Where were these cars coming from? And why were they going so fast when there were children on the highway? Then as he thought about it, it suddenly occurred to him how odd of a scenario it really was. He shook his head to brush the distraction off from his mind, and with all of his power he tried to ride faster to the others. The wind blew through his hair as he went down a slope, and he kept going, moving his legs as fast as he could. The finish line was right there, he just needed to get a little bit closer…

But he couldn’t. There were just too many cars. He came to a stop, being too afraid to try to avoid them all. The other children were already far away, and he watched from where he stood with his bike until their dark shapes vanished in the distance. Once again, he was alone in the night, but unlike before, he wouldn’t to be able to explore anymore. There were just too many cars. They drove around him, and as he continued to stay there, the highway slowly became filled until they were barely moving because of how bad traffic had become.

Zeke stood there for a long time, not knowing what to do, and as the minutes passed by, the faceless people in the car began to look tired, bored, waiting to just get to their destination. He passed through the row of cars, and the only thing he felt was fear and panic. He didn’t know what to do. He was on a highway filled with cars in the middle of the night, and as his mind quickly became overwhelmed with fear, he realized that there was only one place in his heart that he wanted to be…

“Zeke, are you alright?”

He looked around him, startled by the sound of his mother’s voice. He was back inside the car, strapped down in backseat with his comic in his hand.

“Where are we?” he asked her.

“Why, we’re home.” she answered with a chuckle. And that was exactly where he wanted to be. He peeked out the window to see the dark shape of the trees in his yard, and as he noticed the garage that they were parked in front of, he let out a big sigh of relief. Although it was an amazing nighttime adventure, he had had enough excitement. At that moment, he was just glad to be in their car at his familiar, never-changing home. Where nothing, he thought, exciting ever happens.