Left Lane Silence

The merge was tight, a squeeze

of metal and hurry.

Then a cough, a choke,

a shiver under my foot.

Dashboard lights blinked wild,

a Christmas tree of dread.

A final shudder,

and then just the hum

of other cars rushing past,

a solid wall of sound

that left me stranded

in the left lane,

dead still.

The steering wheel felt suddenly

foreign, too light.

No sound from the engine now,

just that faint, acrid smell

of something fried,

something lost.

And the horn blare from behind.

A stranger's anger,

a sudden helplessness,

trapped in a steel box,

nothing working,

just me, and the noise

I couldn't escape.