—here the fluorescents flicker, the cashier never blinks, and the coffee machine never stops brewing
The road was empty, endless, wrong.
Your map had burned out miles too long.
The fuel light blinked, your hands were numb,
but there it was, the station. Come.
A single pump, a neon hum,
a door that sighed like something dumb.
Inside, the air was thick with brine.
The clerk did not look up in time.
The lights buzzed out a fractured hymn,
a hymn for those who wander in.
And in the back, beside the snacks,
the coffee brewed in ancient vats.
No brand, no label, just the pot,
as black as oil, as thick as thought.
You poured a cup, your hand unsure,
the Styrofoam began to stir.
You drank. The stars began to bend.
The road behind you would not end.
📜 The 3AM Fill-Up – The Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Machine Brew (from nowhere good)
- 1 dash Condensed Cosmic Dread
- 8 oz Styrofoam (disposable, in theory)
Instructions:
Find a gas station that shouldn’t be there. Approach the back without speaking. Pour from the carafe that’s always full. Don’t ask what time it is.
Drink once. Then drive. Don’t look at the rearview mirror. Ever.