The Car

He trudged wearily across the ice and slush covered parking lot. The yellow cone of light from the solitary light above was two hundred feet from his car. All the other lights were burned out. He trudged on.

The anti-hell of cold passed through his flannel jacket like a speeding car tire through a slow possum, and it felt about the same. His long, narrow sled-like feet would be frost bitten again if his car's engine wouldn't turn over.

Although his vision was fogged and blurred by the smear of snow on his glasses by his gloved hand, he could still make out a faint aura of crimson surrounding his auto. He also noticed that there was no snow on it, even though it had snowed continually since early last night.

"Weirder things have happened", he thought.

When he walked within ten feet of the car there was no evidence of anything strange or unusual..save the lack of snow on the vehicle.

He grumbled..."stupid car is probably still busted...$400 repair for nothing!"

He gave the driver's side front fender a hard kick. His near frozen foot connected with the elderly car's steel. In doing so he lost his footing and fell back onto the icy pavement. He swore as he lay on his back looking up at the low grey clouds that hung like a hangman's noose over the parking lot.

Then he saw the flames. Only a few flecks of red-orange fire fought violently to reach the hanging clouds. Then, he felt them. His half frozen foot, the one that struck the fender, was now engulfed with scorching, flesh-searing flames. He uttered a spine wrenching cry of terror.

Although the pain had not yet reached his brain, the fear that the flames produced caused him to lapse into shock. Seconds later he passed out, with the flames, starving for a source of energy to burn in the empty frozen parking lot, crept from his fiery shoe onto his tattered blue jeans and threatened to continue up to his shallow chest.

The fire thrived on his sallow flesh, ebbing his life out of his meager body. The slightly glowing car engine fired up and its massive form slowly drove out of the thick snow covered parking lot, leaving no tracks in the white innocent snow.