Aiyana was wide-awake at closing time. It always took her awhile to wind down after a shift. Now she had her ride back, she decided to go for a moonlit ride. It was a gorgeous night with a star filled sky, and the moon lit up the old country roads.

Aiyana was on top of the world. Everything in her life was going smoothly. If things kept going in this direction, she would be good to go sooner than planned.

People asked her on many occasions why she felt such an overwhelming desire to ride the open roads. Wouldn’t she be afraid all on her own? What would she do for money?

Aiyana would always answer saying she really couldn’t explain why. She guessed you could compare it to a junkie needing his next fix. It was like an unknown force drove her. Jokingly, she’d say it must be her gypsy ancestry. Was she scared? Not today she wasn’t. As far as being on the road alone, there wasn’t a better feeling, plain and simple. Aiyana never had a problem with picking up a waitress job. No matter where she ended up, she didn’t know of a strip bar that wasn’t going to hire her on the spot. She knew she was good for business and as long as her boobs stayed up where they should be and she had all her teeth, there’d always be money to be made. It felt like the whole world was sleeping except for her… a solitary rider gliding down an old country road.

If Aiyana hadn’t been lost in her own thoughts, she might have been able to avoid hitting the deer. In an instant, everything changed. The stricken deer stood frozen before her headlight. Its bright eyes staring death in the face. She never even had time to react. The last thing she remembered were those eyes, and then an impact so hard she flew over the deer. Her bike became one with the animal.

In that moment in time, everything moved in slow motion. The bike and the deer melded together as if an eccentric sculptor’s hands were behind the end result of twisted metal and flesh.

Aiyana, on the other hand, flew a good six feet from the ground. Air bound, she flew over the asphalt, crashing into the wall of the embankment. Her body bounced back and stopped, leaned up against the inner wall. Slowly, she slid down the side, coming to rest on the bottom.