A car horn interrupted the driver's thoughts, and he realized his mind had been elsewhere, reliving a despairing moment, an ugly slice of time in which he'd killed a friend. A tear formed in his eye and rolled down his cheek.

He hoped the night would not hold any more surprises. Enough had already gone wrong. He hesitated, and when he pulled onto the road the reflection of the street lamps off the wet pavement reminded him of a carnival midway, and he fancied being transported to another world where things would not be as they were: life dependent on death.

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and cursed the troublesome mist that swirled through the air. He could discern no rain falling, though the moisture seemed to be everywhere, a monsoon of molecular proportions emanating from the fabric of the world it coated. His lack of concentration didn't surprise him. He didn't want to be there, driving around town on such a night. The windshield wipers cleared his field of vision, and when he saw the place where he'd found her before, some bar along 31st Street, he slowed the car and pulled in. His actions were not prescient, or even fantastic. He knew where to look. She frequented such places.