The sunset is one of the prettiest you have ever seen. The soft orange, yellow, and faint red blend together sweetly, sending a wave of calm over you as you admire it. This is one of the reasons you love biking around town in the evening, to enjoy the sunset. Out of all the places you’ve lived, you’ve never seen sunsets like the ones here in Phoenix, Arizona. That is why you’ve lived here for so long.
You forgot your headphones at home, but you don’t need them. The atmosphere is soothing, and there are very few cars driving along the dirt road you follow. Rocky hills surround you, but in the distance the rocks morph into a dense forest. The temperature is cold enough that the heat you generate while biking is welcome, and you are comfortable. You are miles away from your house, about to reach the point in your ride where you will turn around and head home.
A Prius passes you and you nod amiably at the driver, and the middle-aged man nods back. You both continue to your respective destinations, the driver vanishing in the distance.
Just as you are about to turn around, you hear another bicycle coming up behind you. You move to the side and slow down to let them pass, but what you see makes you stop in your tracks.
A skeleton bikes past you, pedaling steadily. Its long arms rest on the handle bars of its bike, leaning over them. Wind whistles through its ribcage, a sound that raises the hair on your arms. There is not one flap of skin anywhere on its frame, its eye sockets, nose, and mouth completely empty. The sun’s disappearing rays shine through the gaps between its ribs and the gaping holes in its skull. Its bones and joints creak as it moves, but otherwise it seems to be very much alive.
The skeleton looks at you as it bikes by, opening its mouth in what you can only guess is supposed to be a smile. You recoil, but the skeleton doesn’t notice and continues on its way, advancing with surprising speed.
For a moment, you stand with one foot on the ground to prop yourself up as you stare at the shrinking skeleton. Everything in you is screaming at you to call a friend, the police, someone, anyone, and tell them what you have seen. But even as the skeleton gets farther away, you feel the urge to go after it.
You can either: follow the skeleton or go home.
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