Next Time, Fly

I drove many miles to meet him. I took an unfamiliar route and five miles off the highway I knew that that decision had been a mistake. Scenic routes are beautiful in the daylight, but this mountain road was dark, narrow, winding and worse of all desolate. I should have identified this scenario for the foreshadowing that it was and anticipated what I might be driving into.
With the exception of my headlights there were no lights at all.
And several hours later it was there -- like a phoenix rising from the ashes, or maybe just a motel around the bend in the road, that eerily serene mountain chalet should have been the perfect relief to a not-so-perfect evening.
I drove many miles to get there.
Brisk mountain air; clear, black sky; utter silence. Holed up for the night in a spacious suite with a daytime view...and an unwanted guest.