4. Audrey
AUDREY
PLAYLIST: MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT – ELLEY DUHé
Istare into the eyes of the woman who just beat me half unconscious; her features are so hardened, and of all the things that just happened, I don’t recognize myself.
I don’t know what happened to me when she walked up to me, but I became someone I detest. Someone I ran away from.
Someone I never wanted to be, and yet…I feel alive. I feel so fucking alive.
I am panting heavily with throbbing pain in my nose pulsating into my eyes and cheek. But I don’t care. It feels too good. Too real.
Maybe it’s the gun pressing into my chest, the thrill of my life being on the line that pushes me beyond anything.
“You’re all smoking guns, but who you are shows when there’s nothing but your own skill between life and death, the one second where nothing else matters,” I say.
She stares at me with a look that could kill.
“Come on, C,” says the very hot cherry-red-haired girl who went between us. “Let it go.”
Cass doesn’t react to her.
“Bring it to the streets; that’s where you’ll beat her,” says the redhead. “No one has ever beat you; she won’t either. It’s what you do.”
Cass’s jaw flexes.
It takes all my willpower not to break her gaze.
“Get in the car,” she then says, removes the gun, and turns.
I breathe in deep as the immediate threat falls from me.
“You’ll race Ferris, Sullivan, Van Brunt, Verona around the Coffey Park into Dwight, Van Dyke and back into Ferris; who’s back first wins,” says the man who has pulled me off her as he walks past me. “You’ll lose, and when you do, you won’t show your face here ever again.”
I don’t even have the capacity to tell them what I get when I win. The only thing I can do is get into the car, and the second I’m in, tears overcome me. All I wanted was to forget what had happened, and somehow I ended up in the middle of everything I tried to escape.
I mean, I could just drive off and get lost. Never look back.
But I have honor. And honor states you don’t run from a challenge.
So I wipe away the mix of tears and blood from my face, check the map on my phone to get an understanding of the track, and start the motor.
The Mustang gurgles like the lion it is.
When I drive past the others, they stare worse than before. I don’t know how many realized who I am, but I am sure having Cass at my throat is enough for them to hate me already.
I drive to the exit where the redhead is waiting at the line she drew next to Cass and her black Challenger Hellcat.
It looks simple in its dangerousness. I am not one to underestimate an opponent.
But I also know I was made for the streets.
Those ten seconds of pure adrenaline—I have mastered them, because I learned from the best.
My father tried to contain me.
The world I fled into tried to reason with me.
But I didn’t care, because the people I call family are the only thing I value in my life. There is nothing else left of me but those ten seconds.
I give Cass one glance.
She is arrogant and believes herself untouchable. Something that makes her careless and makes people underestimate an opponent's abilities.
It is something I will shamelessly use.
I will make her believe what she wants to see, and retaliate when she least expects it.
I avert my eyes, grinning to myself.
The redhead lifts her arm holding the flag.
We both let our cars roar.
I don’t know the Mustang too well because I have only been here a week, but I know Elise has always had a thing for feral beasts with a touch of madness, and this car shows nothing else.
I still remember the day she crashed Father’s Bugatti. The news made it all the way to Hollywood.
Stop thinking, I tell myself, because I can’t be distracted.
My mind focuses. No more memories. No more thoughts. Just the street, me and a car.
The redhead kneels down with the flag going down, and I hesitate just this nano-second to make Cass believe she has won.
The Mustang with its immense power roars and doesn’t get full grip as I launch off behind her. It’s good. Let her believe she already won.
Cass knows the road better than I do, so I let her lead, staying on her tail. She isn’t even giving it her best; that’s how arrogant she is.
We turn into Sullivan Street.
Into Van Brunt Street.
Into Verona Street around said Coffey Park.
A long straight until she drifts left into Van Dyke Street. Another straight line before we’ll turn back into Ferris Street, the last corner and that’s where I’ll get her.
I press the little red button just before the corner. It’s my signature move, and everyone who ever raced me knows it’s their death. I spin the steering wheel left while we’re still on the straight line; the Mustang handles it quite well as the force of the NOS pushes it sideways forward.
We reach the corner, and Cass pulls her Hellcat into a drift, but I am already in position.
I drift around the corner, brushing past a tree on the sidewalk, overtaking her. The hair on my arm stands up because I know I won the race right here with this move.
I shift down.
Press the throttle with force.
The Mustang shoots forward.
And I am the first to reach the line drawn on the cobblestones.
I brake the Mustang hard, a grin spreading on my face as I soak in the victory I took.
People freak out as I step out of my car.
Screeching tires as the black Hellcat slides sideways towards me.
Cass jumps out, her eyes burning me down in murderous rage.
“You fucking bitch!” she shouts as she walks up to me, pushing me back.
I can deal with the emotion of one who has lost. Even more, I provoke her. I want her to hit me again. It’s the most alive I have felt in forever.
“Uhhh, someone felt too sure and now can’t deal with the defeat,” I say with a sneer, pushing her back.
Her fist in my face.
Yes.
I retaliate because I want her to fight me. I don’t care that my manager will kill me when he finds out I can’t film in a week because I got into a fucking street fight.
They all can fuck off.
The fucking Whitney Morgan Conglomerate.
The fucking lawyers.
The fucking world.
Right now, everyone can fuck off.
I hit her.
And hit her again.
There is nothing else I need but inflicting pain.
Shouting.
I’m pulled away.
Like her.
It’s then that I realize what is happening around us.
Sirens closing in.
People are running.
People and cars shooting away.
I stare at Cass, panting, in front of me. Blood on her cheek from a cut where I got her.
I can already see the blue and red light behind the corner.
“Go!” I shout at Cass as I get into my car.
She gets into hers, and we drive off the moment the cops turn around the corner.
She takes the lead; I’m quite glad. There are way too many one-way streets in this area.
The cops catch up.
More join us.
We’re heading through a one-way-street with no escape left and right.
Reckless, stupid girl. My father’s words in my mind.
Yes. Reckless. Nothing to lose, that’s who I am.
A grin appears on my face as I grab the handbrake after the last parked car and rip it up while turning the wheel.
The Mustang spins round; its back is just an inch from the tree on the sidewalk. I brake, front facing the cops. They can’t get past me, because the road is too tight.
Guns point at me, and they shout.
I get out with my hands up.
I’m pushed into the hard body of the car.
Pain.
I am feeling something other than being dead inside.
All the roles I played, the life I'm supposed to have, but this here is the best I have felt in a long time.
I will be bailed out anyway within the next three hours, the moment I call my manager. He will lose his shit, but at least I felt something.
Something.
Something real.
Something alive.
Something like pain.