026 - Anathema Road

Every day, Adam took his car to go to work. Preferring a more rural lifestyle, he didn't have a choice but to experience an hour long commute to get to work everyday. But to him, that wasn't really a problem. Except for one part of his trip, everyday.

About halfway through his commute, Adam always ended up in a small, rural road near the countryside. No matter what time of the day, whether it was in the morning or evening, Adam always felt a tense, unsettling atmosphere. He used to think that it was just him, and that creepiness was experienced through the lack of other cars and habitations, or even through the density of the small forests alongside the road. But no matter what, whenever Adam was driving on Anathema Road, he always forced himself to look straight ahead and forget everything else.

One time, Adam regretted letting his curiosity take control of his eyes for a second. Between two trees along the random, he noticed a silhuette. He didn't have the time nor the courage to give a clearer look, but that was sufficient to make him tense for the whole drive, and scared to even come back home in the evening.

One thing that didn't help was all the stories that Adam's wife told. They weren't settled in the countryside for a long time, but it seemed like she had done her research about the place. Many horrifying stories surrounded this place : car crashes, suicides, underground rings… Adam tried to avoid talking about it, but it would always come up, usually after she unearthed new juicy stories.

After only a couple months, Adam ended up on medication, under his doctor's advice. Apparently, his level of anxiety could be nocive to his general health. There was no doubt that this road was the major factor.

Throughout the days, Adam's anxiety issues didn't improve at all. He even started to doubt the medication. One evening, his eyes wandered again, and he saw something that could only exist in his worst nightmares. A plain white silhuette, in the middle of the road. Instinctively, Adam closed his eyes and slammed the brake as hard as he could. But when he opened his eyes, there was nothing.

At the psychologist's office, Adam was asked about what he thought was wrong in his life. He felt comfort while bringing up Anathema Road and its stories, but he could not name any other factor. Naturally, the psychologist concluded that Anathema Road was the sole problem. And so, he advised to try and use a different road. But Adam refused, since it was necessary to go through there unless he wanted to lengthen his drive by 20 minutes.

Following his psychologist's second proposition, Adam took a few days to rest. But nothing really changed. At this point in life, whenever Adam wasn't going through Anathema Road, he was thinking about it. About the bone-chilling stories. About what he saw… Most of his nightmares revolved about his memories of the place. And most of the time, the memories became twisted, making demons and abominations take shape in his mind. More often than not, the night would end early, and with a lot of sweat.

The last straw happened on an evening. Stressfully, Adam's eyes were unconsciously exploring the landscape of Anathema Road. After all this time, he knew all the trees, and the curves in the road, more than any other section he took. And suddenly, a monster surged from the woods and crossed the road. Adam screamed, and clenched his hands on the wheel. This time, Adam had to vanquish the monster that stood before him, so he accelerated as fast as he could, and slayed the demon. But after this, he realized that it was no demon… only a small, innocent animal. On the way home, Adam snapped and had a mental breakdown. The rest of the drive was filled with nervous sobbing.

As soon as he came home, Adam was comforted by his wife. After a long discussion, both came to an agreement : they had to move back into a more urban location. Definitely, Adam was too traumatized by those creepy, small countryside roads. When Adam started crying in his wife's arm, she made a smile that he couldn't see. And she simply said.

"Oh that's sad, living in the countryside was great. But it's your decision, right ?"