** Keys. **

"Hey, babe…" Static. "…babe…" Sound. What? The radio. Weather? No. Not the weather. What then… a DJ. was the Rolling Stones with Can’t Get No… Sat-isssss-faction… yes. A DJ. Back to sleep. Lets the darkness pass through. "Hey, babe…" louder. DJ? No. Bright light intrudes like slivers of electricity – shocks her awake and her eyes snap open from the jolt of it. Answer him.

"Yeah… I’m awake. Huh?"

Driving. Still. Checks the clock. 1:03pm. They’ve been running for… six hours and… thirty somethin minutes. Fuck I have to pee. She rubs her arms – sweat sticky and sunburnt. Fuckin figures I’d forget the damn sunblock. Runs her hand through her hair – a damp mass of wild fuckitall – no air conditioner. Of course this happens in the middle of summer. Looks out the window – nothing. Field – cows – field – cows – field – nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Cows. Rolls down her window. Burnt air hits damp skin – raises it like boiling water. Her spine shivers and she braces herself against the wiplash of her tangles. Face toward the sun. Closes her eyes against the weight of it – electric darkness… opens – blinding light… electric darkness… light… daaarrrkkknessss….

"Babe!"

She inhales a deep breath, eyes wide – "I’m not asleep I swear!" Oh god – oh my fuckin god what the fuck is that smell? It hits her – iron fist to her gut so hard she can’t breathe. Suffocating. Oh god. Her lungs burn – close off – cannibalize. Fuckin breathe. Eternity – she holds her breath for eternity. Fuck. Wide awake – she grips the door handle and shoots forward, choking, clutches her stomach – gasps. Air. 

"Babe!" he chuckles. "you smell that?"

Gasps again but her lungs are working now. God what the fuck is that smell? She steadies herself – in… out… in… out – pulls her tank top up and over her chin – mouth – nose.

"What the fuck is that!" she yells – all eyes and frantic – what? Shock?

He laughs again. Sucks in a lungfull of the stench. Makes a show of letting it out – both hands on the wheel – 10 and 2.

"Meth." He delcares. Meth?

She stares at him. The cotton a false sense of a fight against – what – burnt rice and stale sugar cloaked in sweat and cow shit.

On her skin – she feels it. It’s on my fuckin skin holy fuck I ca- she wipes her arms – bites down on the cloth for fear she’ll choke on the thick mass without it – slime oozing off and onto her hands. She wipes them on her skirt – baby blue with ruffles. Contaminated lace.

"Where the fuck are we?"

He smiles. "Keys Baby – smells like home."

Home. She sits back into the worn seat. This isn’t home. Out the window – field. Cows. Field. Can’t go home. An offramp. Buildings – dead. Delapitated. A town – the color of burnt rice and stale sugar. Just passing through.

Sighs.

"Hey, babe?" She doesn’t look at him. Can’t look at him. Warehouse. Brick buildng. Boarded windows. An offramp. A billboard. Gas station. Dead lands. She fingers the key held hostage by the chain around her neck. Silver. He knew she had a thing for skeleton keys. She loved it. Keys Baby – smells like home.

"Yeah?" she feels his eyes on her. Can’t look at him.

"What happened – back there… I didn’t mean for…" she trails off. Building. House. Wal-Mart. Cinder blocks. Factory. Death. "I mean – you didn’t have to-"

"It’s okay." He cuts in. Tone sharp. Hands tense. 

She pulls the tanktop down. Drops the necklace. Looks at him. He softens.

"It’s gonna be okay. " He looks at her. Smiles.

They don’t speak.

DJ fills the silence… Roses reminding you – watch your step… it’s a Jungle out there…

She shivers against the heat. Fingers the necklace. Thank you. Say it. Fuckin say it. Thank you. But she can’t. She won’t. Not here. Not in a junkie town and death on their heels. A key that can’t open doors. An old honda that reeks of cigarette smoke and cow shit. A baby blue skirt with ruffles and contaminated lace.

She sighs. Closes her eyes. Drifts.

"And you’re a very sexy girl
That’s very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights
But you won’t get them for free
In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle…"

Maybe the next town.