Survive the Night by Riley Sager
EXT. LODGE—DAY
Charlie has to take a cab to get to the Grand Am, which is still parked at the base of the ridge where the Mountain Oasis Lodge had once sat. The cabbie, kind enough not to mention the way Charlie looks and smells, only gets as far the sign for the lodge before being stopped by a police barricade.
Forced to walk the rest of the way, Charlie eventually gets to the bridge in front of the waterfall. The chunk of railing she’d taken out with the Volvo is now covered with police tape—clearly a symbolic gesture and not an adequate replacement.
The Volvo itself still sits in the grass beside the ravine. Although Robbie’s body had been removed and carried away hours earlier, Charlie gets a chill when she sees the car. It reminds her not only about how close she had come to death but about how little she knew Robbie.
And how, when pushed, she was capable of anything.
As she crosses the bridge, Charlie wonders if there had been warning signs that she missed. She assumes there were. She also assumes it’ll take years of therapy to figure out what they were.
That and maybe some little orange pills.
Charlie knows that the movies in her mind need to stop. She can’t spend parts of her life in a dream state. She suspects that’s one of the reasons she had so spectacularly misjudged Robbie. He was too handsome, too smart, too perfect for real life. The flaws were there, but she had overlooked them in favor of preserving the movie-version boyfriend she wanted instead of looking for the real-life one she needed.
That’s the tricky thing about movies. They can be wonderful and beautiful and amazing. But they’re not like life, which is wonderful, beautiful, and amazing in a different way.
Not to mention messy.
And complicated.
And sad and scary and joyful and frustrating and, very often, boring. Charlie knows the night she’s just had is the exception rather than the rule.
She reaches the Grand Am, which had been left unlocked. Sliding behind the wheel, Charlie grabs the keys Josh gave her and starts the car. She then grabs a cassette and pops it into the stereo. She presses play and a familiar song starts to blast through the speakers.
“Come as You Are.”
Charlie bobs her head in time to the music. She can’t help herself. It’s a great song.
As the music plays and the Grand Am’s engine hums and the sun rises over the mountains, Charlie shifts into gear.
Then she drives like hell.
