Until Ernie called her that day, Danica was under the impression her Grandma Lenore had been dead the past four years. She’d gone to her funeral. Or at least, she was told that was her funeral. She considered calling her parents to ask, but they’d neglected to leave a number to reach them by in the note she found on the kitchen table informing her they’d gone to California and would probably be back before Christmas, and if not, definitely by New Years. Underneath it there was a twenty-dollar bill as a thanks for “watching the house”. Typical. They’d done the same thing to her sophomore year of college, called for weeks begging her to come home to visit for the holidays, only to ditch her for a last-minute cruise with the Thompsons. She fucking hated the Thompsons.

Danica spent the first few days of her time off lounging around the house, watching bad horror movies and half-finishing crosswords. A few days ago, she’d set up a time for her to meet up with Ernie for lunch the next town over. She was avoiding going into town on her own at risk of seeing everyone she knew and wished she didn’t. The twenty went towards a pizza, which she was in the middle of eating when Ernie called and told her that Lenore dropped the Cadillac off at the shop earlier and she needed to get down there to check it out.

Since he started working at his uncle’s auto shop out of high school, Ernie never called Danica and told her to go there. In fact, one time, he was supposed to call to let her know her car’s oil was changed and forgot. His career as a mechanic was purely based in nepotism and he was destined to always be somewhat miserable within five feet of the place. This made it a bad place for them to hang out. It also meant she knew that something must really be wrong if he was asking her to meet him there, which was why she was willing to leave the warmth of her house to drive to the shop.

*

After she’d maneuvered her way into a tight space on the side of the street, Danica fought her way through the wind, deeply regretting leaving her winter coat behind in her dorm room. Ernie was already standing outside the shop waiting for her, leaned up against the side of the building. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his pants, which were too long for his legs, and his eyes constantly flicked from side to side anxiously. “There you are,” he said, relief filling his face. 

“What’d you need to show me so badly?” Danica asked.

“She hit something,” Ernie said, leading her back to where Lenore’s car was parked inside.

“I can see that,” Danica said, looking down at the dark, crunched metal of the Cadillac’s hood and the spiderwebbing cracks that spread across the windshield. She didn’t have to be a mechanic to realize that the car was fucked.

Lenore had driven that car for as long as Danica could remember. It’d always been in pristine condition, washed every Saturday, with absolutely no food allowed inside for the sake of the leather seats. Danica hated that rule as a kid, especially when her grandparents would pick her up from her after school soccer practices and refuse to take her to the drive through. She tapped the nearly flat front tire with her boot and watched as the glass of the windshield splintered further and the entire thing came shattering down, mostly landing in the car’s interior. The color drained from Ernie’s face.

“I’ll get a broom.” Danica turned and retreated further into the shop. “What did she hit?”

“Something big,” Ernie said.

“You didn’t ask her what it was?” Danica returned holding an ancient wooden broom and began to sweep up the pieces on the garage floor into a plastic dustpan.

“She didn’t tell me she hit anything, just threw the keys at me and said to fix the car. I didn’t see how bad the damage was before she was already gone.”

“That sounds like her,” Danica said, laughing slightly as she continued to collect the shards.

“It might have been a deer,” Ernie said.

Danica crouched, examining the floor for any pieces she may have missed. “You’re the car guy.”

Ernie picked up a small waste bin from beside his desk and extended it for Danica to dispose of the glass, which she tipped in unceremoniously.

“You should probably vacuum later,” she said.

He nodded, looking back at the mess of the car.

Danica slid onto the shop stool, moving side to side as Ernie clearly debated something in his head.

“I think I know where it happened,” he said, voice lower now.

“Is this about the old highway again?” She asked, spinning around in a circle.

“That road is creepy, Danica. There’s something weird about it. I’ve always said that, ever since–”

“Accidents happen on every road,” Danica started, stilling the chair.

“That one was different and you know it.”

She sighed. They were in the third grade when someone found the car pulled off on the side of the old highway. It was on the stretch of road just after Exit 23. It had hit something too, but that was overshadowed by the fact that the car was empty, and the driver was nowhere to be found. The last anyone ever heard from him was the night before, when he’d left her night shift to head home. They kept looking for years after, but they never ended up finding any trace of him. It scared the shit out of Ernie so much that part of him was still thinking about it.

“There are a hundred other roads it could have been,” Danica said, trying to steer him away from the subject. The truth was, it wasn’t impossible. That stretch of the old highway wasn’t too far from the road that led up the hill to Lenore’s massive house outside of town.

For a moment, he was quiet again and then Ernie spoke. “It’ll cost a fortune to get this thing fixed and I’m not qualified to do it.”

“You want to tell her that?” Danica raised an eyebrow.

“Of course not, she’s terrifying.”

“So you want me to tell her?”

“Yes, please.”

*

Lenore’s massive house was perched atop a hill, hidden away from the rest of the world by tall, iron gates and high brick walls. It was exactly as welcoming as anyone who met her would expect. Danica punched in the code to the gate she’d memorized ages ago, incredibly grateful it hadn’t been changed and that the doors creaked opened for her. She pulled up the long, looping driveway, and parked the car, leading Ernie to the front porch.

“We’re just dropping by to visit, you got it?” Danica asked.

Ernie gave her a thumbs up.

She took a deep breath, ran her hand through her hair in an attempt to straighten it, and rang the bell. For a moment, she thought that Ernie might have been wrong. That it had never been Lenore and someone else would answer, if anyone would answer at all. The exterior seemed almost abandoned, with a overgrown grass and dead potted flowers on the porch.

“I thought I told you I’m not buying any of your nonsense.” Lenore swung the door open almost violently, then blinked at Ernie and Danica with confusion. 

She looked different from the last time that Danica saw her almost four years ago, but it was undeniably her. Her hair was pulled back in the same style and she was wearing her gray sweater with the brass buttons. There were dark bags under her eyes and a dark purple bruise on the right side of her forehead, probably from the impact of the crash. She was smaller than Danica remembered her. Seeing her again felt unreal. The wrinkles on her face were more pronounced as she frowned. A reminder of the years Danica spent needlessly grieving when she was only ten minutes away.

“Hi Grandma,” Danica said, her voice cracking a bit. “I’m back in town from university for the holidays, and I wanted to stop by and visit.”

“You’d be taller if you didn’t slouch,” Lenore said, turning around to walk back inside, leaving the door open behind her.

Ernie looked at Danica, who shrugged.

“You’re letting out the heat,” Lenore called.

Ernie stepped inside quickly and Danica followed, closing the door behind her. When she turned to face the inside, she could see the scattered chaos of the house. Newspapers going back decades were in piles on the floor, the coffee table, and the armchair of the living room. Plates and glasses were set on various surfaces, with no coasters in sight. A collection of coats sat at the foot of the staircase alongside several handbags and unpaired gloves. Pink Post-it notes with reminders were stuck onto everything from the TV to mugs, their pen scratch illegible. A pair of her grandfather’s boots had been pulled from their hiding space in the closet, used for the first time since he last wore them. Fresh mud surrounded them where they sat on the white carpet, trailing into the kitchen towards the back door. This was not the house she knew as a child, playing with educational toys in the spotless living room as she waited for her parents to finally come and collect her.

“Who is this man you brought with you?” Lenore asked, stopping abruptly and turning to face them.

“This is my friend Ernie,” Danica said. “You met him at the auto shop.”

“I haven’t been to any auto shop.”

“Of course not, Ma’am.” Ernie nodded. “You look lovely today, by the way.”

Lenore looked him up and down, frowned, and continued walking into the living room.

“What the hell was that?” Danica asked, giving Ernie a look. 

“I panicked.”

She shook her head, heading into the living room after Lenore, Ernie not far behind her. 

“Where are your parents?” Lenore asked, taking a seat on top of the newspapers that covered the armchair. “Would it kill them to visit every once and a while?”

“Last I heard, California,” Danica said, scooting some papers over to take a seat on the couch.

“I hate California.”

“Me too.” Ernie nodded. “Too hot. Too many surfboards.”

“How have you been?” Danica could see more bruises on Lenore’s shoulder peeking out from under her gray sweater. “Have you been into town recently?”

“Why do you care?”

“I thought I saw your car the other day when I was picking up my groceries.”

“I went for a drive.”

“Yesterday?” Ernie asked.

“No. Maybe. What’s it matter?” Lenore asked.

“We were thinking we could take you to the store, if you needed to go,” Danica offered.

“My husband will take me. He’ll be home from work soon.”

For a moment, the room was quiet. Danica’s gaze fell to the floor.

“Can you give us a minute” Ernie asked.

Lenore nodded stiffly.

Ernie pulled Danica aside into the hallway. She was still silent, focused on all the stains seeped into the white carpet and thinking about the first time her grandparents brought her home from soccer. How her father had promised he’d be there and forgotten, how she had to use the phone herself and the only number she knew was Lenore’s, because Lenore taught it to her. How Lenore came and collected her that night and every practice after that. She wondered how long the house had been a mess, if her parents even knew. She wondered what Lenore had been doing by herself for all this time, if she’d gotten lost when she was driving, if it had happened before. 

“It was probably a deer.” Danica didn’t look up as she spoke. “There’s lots of deer in those woods with nowhere to go.”

“It was probably a deer,” Ernie nodded.

“She needs to see a doctor.”

“We’ll take her to a doctor.”

They went back into the other room and Danica helped Lenore from her chair, guiding her to the front of the house. She picked up two coats from the pile, placing one around her shoulders and another around her grandmother’s, before they walked out to the car, flurries dancing in the air around them.

*

Danica sat behind the wheel, staring ahead intently. The sky was dark and the snow had already begun to pick up speed. Ernie was next to her, searching for a station on the radio that would make Lenore stop complaining about obscenities. He landed on one playing old jazz and heard a hum of approval from behind the backseat.

“How are you feeling?” Danica asked, looking in the rearview mirror at her grandmother, buckled in on the passenger side.

“Harold liked this song,” Lenore said.

Ernie opened his mouth to ask, but Danica cut him off. “My grandfather,” she said.

Jazz filled the car as she made the turn to merge onto the old highway, staying slow as the flurries of snow picked up speed. The street had no lighting. Only Danica’s headlights illuminated the pitch of the sky as they drove along. On either side of the road was a thick covering of trees, their branches starting to sink as the snow accumulated on their branches.

“What are you doing?” Ernie asked, panic rising in his voice.

“It’s just a road, Ernie,” Danica said.

“Harold would always take us on this road,” Lenore said. “This was our road.”

“This road?” Ernie turned to face her, his fear forgotten and his curiosity from earlier returning. “Have you been on this road lately?”

“She should rest,” Danica interrupted.

“Yes,” Lenore answered. “As a matter of fact, I have.”

“When?” Ernie asked. His leg was bouncing as he waited impatiently for her to answer. 

“Harold took me out for dinner. We missed our exit coming home.”

He frowned. Not recent.

“Just let it go,” Danica said.

“I’m cold,” Lenore said.

Danica cranked the heat and adjusted the vents towards the back. “How’s that?”

“Better.”

“You were here other night, weren’t you?” Ernie asked.

“It was the strangest thing,” Lenore said.

Danica looked up at the rearview mirror to see Lenore in the backseat where she furrowed her brow, trying to concentrate on the details.

“We were heading home. I was driving. No, he always drove us.” 

“What happened?” Ernie pressed.

“Ernie.” Danica glared at him, then turned around to face Lenore. “It’s okay, if you don’t remember.”

“It jumped. Right into the middle of the road.”

“This was the other night?” Ernie asked.

“Yes, Deer,” Lenore said.

“Dear?” Danica asked. Lenore never called anyone dear.

“Deer!” Lenore said, pointing ahead at the road.

Danica’s gaze snapped in front of her just in time to see a deer standing in the center of the road staring straight at them, its eyes shining, almost silver in the headlights of the car, before they collided into it.

The deer’s body rolled onto the hood, flying into the road ahead as Danica pressed her foot on the break and sent the car to a halt. The front of it was clearly dented, but by some miracle, the airbags didn’t deploy, and the windshield was still intact. Her heart was racing as she turned to check on Ernie, who was leaned back in his seat trying to catch his breath.

In the backseat, Lenore was unmoved, buckled tightly with her arms crossed. “I told you,” she said.

“Shit,” Danica said, looking out at the deer. Its legs were twisted in different directions and its neck was bent, head leaning limply backwards and facing the night sky. It was dead.

“Language!” Lenore yelled.

“Deer,” Ernie said.

Danica unbuckled her seatbelt and moved to grab the door handle.

“Are you crazy?” Ernie asked, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her towards him. “Do not get out of this car.”

“We can’t just leave it there,” Danica said. “It’s in the middle of the highway.”

“No one is leaving this car,” Ernie said, pressing on the lock button repeatedly. “We know what happens to people who leave their car on this road at night. That’s not gonna be us.”

“You’re a bad driver,” Lenore said. Danica sighed. Maybe she deserved that one.

“Ernie, come on,” Danica said. “We don’t know anything.”

“Someone will collect it in the morning,” Lenore said. “That’s what happened when I hit a deer.”

“It was a deer?” Ernie asked. “That’s what you hit?”

“Yes, a deer,” Lenore said, louder this time.

“Not a deer.” Danica shook her head, her eyes widening as she looked out at the road at the body, moving in the center of the road.

It was putting itself back together.

Its bones cracked and straightened as it stood, the neck turning into place until the head was looking straight at them. Its eyes reflected the same silvery light as it stood, unmoving, as if nothing had happened. For a few moments, it made eye contact with the inhabitants of the car, snow beginning to coat its ruffled, bloodied fur.

It tilted its head slowly, as if to ask a question. No one said anything.

The deer blinked, shook off the snow, and leapt into the trees along the side of the road. It looked back at the car for a moment before turning around and running deep into the darkness of the woods.