Several commenters said the narrator seems schizophrenic, but that doesn't really seem to fit because his problem is a deeply unsettled feeling rather than specific delusions. I talked to a lot of schizophrenics as a volunteer at a suicide/crisis help line; most of them had multiple delusions, and most of those delusions were a lot more specific than the "men are coming to take me away." Besides, the narrator here is referring to a dream, not a waking delusion. And he's had the fear since "before I could speak," whereas I think the onset of schizophrenia is usually in one's 20s or 30s.
Mattyedgeworth's interpretation is the best because it's the simplest. The narrator is living in fear of death. But not just death by getting shot or getting hit by a car. It's more like a fear of just suddenly being whisked into nothingness as if he never existed. And not into any kind of afterlife. It's the "same place animals go when they die," which is to say no heaven or hell.
I think his fear is probably even less specific than fear of dying or of being erased. He's just fundamentally unsettled and untrusting. He's asking someone, maybe his girlfriend or partner, to keep the car running so the two of them will be able to speed away whenever the unspecified "They" shows up to grab him.
Several commenters said the narrator seems schizophrenic, but that doesn't really seem to fit because his problem is a deeply unsettled feeling rather than specific delusions. I talked to a lot of schizophrenics as a volunteer at a suicide/crisis help line; most of them had multiple delusions, and most of those delusions were a lot more specific than the "men are coming to take me away." Besides, the narrator here is referring to a dream, not a waking delusion. And he's had the fear since "before I could speak," whereas I think the onset of schizophrenia is usually in one's 20s or 30s.
Mattyedgeworth's interpretation is the best because it's the simplest. The narrator is living in fear of death. But not just death by getting shot or getting hit by a car. It's more like a fear of just suddenly being whisked into nothingness as if he never existed. And not into any kind of afterlife. It's the "same place animals go when they die," which is to say no heaven or hell.
I think his fear is probably even less specific than fear of dying or of being erased. He's just fundamentally unsettled and untrusting. He's asking someone, maybe his girlfriend or partner, to keep the car running so the two of them will be able to speed away whenever the unspecified "They" shows up to grab him.