A voice like grinding stones whispers, 'I can give you what you want,' as the performer drives on an empty road.
The story is told in second person, placing the listener in the body and perspective of a young Asian-American performer who has given up conservatory for a professional stage career. They perform eight shows a week in the role of a fallen witch and love the work, but the aftermath of each performance leaves them depleted for most of the next day, barely functional except during the brief window of performance itself. They're aware of the sacrificial context their parents provide — immigrants who built a life in a new country through difficult choices — and use this awareness to dismiss their own exhaustion as ingratitude. Late at night on an empty highway after a show, they sense a presence in the back seat. A stranger's voice offers to give them what they want. The performer dismisses it in the language of their heritage, which their parents connected specifically to the danger of driving in desperate states, and the presence retreats. Later, after a catastrophic on-stage freeze in front of a New York Times critic, the stranger returns to the passenger seat. The performer agrees to hear what it has to offer. The stranger shows them a vision of a version of their life without the social and emotional cost of performance: no post-show collapse, no social dissonance, easy belonging. The performer refuses — it is not who they are. The stranger then causes headlights to appear from an oncoming lane, nearly causing a crash, and offers to make such a crash look like an accident. Recognizing that the stranger knew their intrusive thoughts, the performer is disgusted and drives it out with escalating force, finally using an ancient chant in the language their parents fled their country to leave behind. The stranger is banished in shadow and ash. The performer sits alone on a dark road, checks the car for any remaining trace, and drives home. The host reflects on how the story captures the weight of generational sacrifice and how survival is sometimes its own success.
