Ten Miles to Hurley

Jasonriexinger
5 min readJan 15, 2021

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“Tell me about Earth’s missile defense system,” is what Gaylin said to Hamilton on their first date. Hamilton thought it was cute.

They now sat quietly in a rusty two door sedan rumbling gently down an empty road towards the home Graylin grew up in. Little snowflakes were falling in the late December afternoon, and Hamilton was working through an oncoming headache, forming just behind his left eye.

Graylin hadn’t spoken much since the trip started, but she didn’t typically say much at all. The windshield wipers struggled against the front window, making a terrible sound like old tape continuously being ripped off. It bugged Hamilton, but not Graylin. She remained stoic with her hands at ten and two, her eyes glued to the road.

Hurley, Wisconsin was known for its snow around these parts — so the looming storm clouds in the distance implied they would be waking up in Graylin’s birth home to a beautiful white Christmas.

They had been on this road for ages — so long that Hamilton could barely remember when they started. In times like this, when his mind wandered, he would look to Graylin and think about their first date, always their first date.

He remembered the brevity of it. When she led with such a cute question, he responded with something. He just couldn’t remember what.

But that was a year ago now, but it always felt like yesterday.

Colorado Springs, Exit 10 miles,” is what the green and white sign said, as it whipped past his face, and Hamilton felt the small ping of the headache growing and spreading to his right eye. Nevertheless, he smiled.

“Hey, we’re getting close to Hurley. Getting excited to see your parents?”

But Graylin remained stoic and her hands remained at ten and two, and she kept her eyes glued to the road.

So responsible, he thought.

The sky was darker now, and the snow was falling more aggressively. So much so that the wipers weren’t managing to keep up with the onslaught. But Graylin was dutifully focused, and kept the old rust bucket steady.

The silence hung out in the open, and Hamilton felt the need to break it once again.

“I hope your folks like me, wish I knew more about them though.”

Another ping of pain echoed through his left eye, to his right eye, then to the back of his skull.

So he fidgeted in his seat and stared out the window, at the snow falling faster and harder. With the darkness setting in above, he couldn’t say what time it was, so he glanced down to look at the fancy wristwatch on his arm.

But, it was dead. The hands were stuck in place and the little window that displayed the date showed both the previous and current date. He must have forgotten to wind the thing before he left, but he couldn’t quite find that memory.

He felt around, but his pockets were empty, and the front dash of the rust bucket blinked 12:00 at him accusingly.

Colorado Springs, Exit 1 mile.

Food: McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Cracker Barrel

Attractions: Colorado Zoo, Colorado Museum, NORAD”

Hamilton’s stomach ached.

“I know we’re pretty close to Hurley, but can we stop somewhere and grab something small?”

But Graylin didn’t respond to this, she never responded to Hamilton. She only ever said one thing, that one time.

“Tell me about Earth’s missile defense system,” she had said.

Hamilton usually avoided online dating, but being stuck inside all day ad been killing his mental health. So he threw on his fancy wristwatch, and his fancy slacks, and his fancy shoes — the full ensemble he reserved for first dates, and went for it.

Something was pushing through Hamilton’s mind, like a little rosebud beginning to bloom. But he couldn’t quite grasp it.

He tried to think back to the start of this journey, when he didn’t know how to respond to such a weird question. When he blurted something out about a place in the Rocky Mountains to the south. When Graylin grabbed him by the arm. When the engine of this old rust bucket roared to life and he was snug in the passenger seat with the love of his life going to see her parents in Hurley, Wisconsin — where she grew up (no…) — where he(???) grew up.

Memories felt disjointed through the pain.

A lovely year with the person he loved, who loved him back. Love was the only word he was allowed to use to describe it. Love.

Behind the word was just utter pain, radiating throughout the stem of his neck up to the top of his head.

Suddenly, the rust bucket jerked to one side as it veered off the road towards an exit labeled “Colorado Springs.”

“Hurley!” Hamilton said with delight.

Snow was piling up along the embankments. So much of it, an indecent amount of it.

“How can you drive so well in this?!” he asked, and laughed in a steady but nervous way. He turned his head towards Graylin, but there was something different. He continued to laugh as he looked at her.

She’s beautiful, he was allowed to think.

The thought sat in his mind like a lone penny at the bottom of a fountain — small and pointless.

She turned her head (her neck, her body???) toward Hamilton and her beautiful black orbs twinkled despite the darkened sky.

And Hamilton found he was now yelling. Laughing and yelling at the same time.

Hamilton snapped awake and found himself freezing in the passenger seat of what appeared to be some kind of ancient sedan from the 90’s. The windows all around him were blocked by a sheen of white powder. Snow, he realized.

Everything from his neck down felt numb so he instinctively began rubbing his hands together for warmth. But it refused to do any good.

He noticed he was wearing the fancy wristwatch he reserved for first dates.

Opening the door, he felt a gust of cold air strike his body like a haymaker from an aging boxer with a point to make. The gust wretched the door from his grasp and he stepped out into the open.

What he saw was harshness, and a deep darkness pervading the sky. Towering hills of snow flanked him on all sides.

The bitter cold chilled him further and he looked down to find he was wearing his fancy slacks and shoes. The full ensemble he reserved for first dates, for that first date that happened only the previous day.

But he wasn’t allowed to think about this. Instead his thoughts were:

Replaced

Replaced with other things. New words now.

Prelude…

Beyond the snow, he could only barely make out a massive entrance with the words “Cheyenne Mountain Complex” etched into the archway.

Suddenly, a burning grip latched onto his arm and spun him around. In front of him was Graylin, his beautiful partner of one lovely year. Whom he loved and would share anything with. He realized they must have arrived to her (his???) hometown of Hurley, Wisconsin. Just in time for dinner, just in time for presents.

Her shining black orbs peered down at him from an unreasonable height.

“Tell me about Earth’s missile defense system,” she said in a loving voice.

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Jasonriexinger
Jasonriexinger

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