The Empty Freeway

The city had gone to sleep. Towering glass and concrete loomed quiet above streets that had been frantic just hours before. Now only streetlights kept watch, and the freeway stretched out like a private runway.

She pulled over beneath the last overpass, the air thick with silence. Her heels pinched, a reminder of the evening’s suffocation. One by one, she slipped them off, placing them in the back seat like yesterday’s news.

The engine fired, a low growl that promised deliverance. She merged back onto the empty asphalt, pressed the accelerator, and felt the city vanish behind her.

Heels off. Engine on. Unchained.