Writing to music is a new experience for me, but this piece is directly inspired by a song. I honestly haven’t listened to the lyrics closely, but the emotions I felt while listening were so captivating that I stopped everything I was doing to write the following words down. 

I highly encourage you to read this piece after or while listening to this song:

“Souvenir” by Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus 

My pen pal shared the song with me so thank you so much to her for unintentionally leading to this piece’s creation. 

The Neon Glow

It’s night— sky starless, streetlights absent, roads barn of human life except for the neon sign illuminating in the distance. There is a sensational pull of light mimicking the insect attractions to all that glows as we grown closer to its source. It’s 8:43 pm. Seems early for the world to be asleep beyond the sign that welcomes us. And welcome we are to a place none other than Burger King, home of the Impossible Whopper.

Our SUV, on the other hand, is not asleep. Warm laughter is so plentiful the vents practically blow it out like ribbons curling around us. Each of us, connected by this moment. My perception of existence unwinds as my thoughts grow louder than the laughs. This moment directs me towards the endless reminisce of my life thus far. 

We enter the Burger King. The scent of grease and fries consumes me, despite me never having set foot on these grounds before. A scent so strong, it essentially defines the American road trip experience. And with that same whiff, this road trip is marked all the same. My childhood was defined in part Burger King toys. Now, Burger King holds my ticket into adulthood, a final stop before this high school adventure rolls to an end. Friendships that began in childhood must effortfully try to survive a new chapter of uncertainty. I worry about losing connection. I worry about losing time. I worry about a future that is no longer a straight line. 

I walk around this shadow of a memory, ever-present and ever past, understanding that this Burger King visit signifies a last. Our last return to our only home, before home, is no longer a shared place.

I warp back into the laughter and revel in the savory taste of both my Impossible Whopper and friendship. We won’t be together much longer, but at least Burger King’s neon glow brightens the infinitely dark sky and draws us into together, a swarm of beautiful flies. 

***

The piece above retells a memory from a road trip I went on this summer with some of my closest friends to Virginia Beach. Burger King was the last stop on our way home.