Driving Me Crazy

Chapter Forty-Five: Part Two

Charles

"I'm fucking tired of not winning my home race," I say to myself when we line up for a second time following the red flag of Pierre's crash. I wait for the lights to go black and as soon as they do, I'm on the accelerator and taking first from my teammate. Flying past him through the first corner lifted a weight off my chest, but I knew I still had to finish the race to take the win. Pushing myself and my car harder than ever before, I begin the fastest lap of my career. The G-forces against my body nearly knock me out, but I push through it out of sheer determination to take home this race.

Everybody dreams of winning their home race. People come from everywhere to celebrate you in your native city, especially in a sport where there are only 20 of us in the world who can do it. I think about all of the faces that I came across prior to getting my seat at Ferrari, the cheers that everyone shouts when I get behind the wheel, the support from my friends and family as I prepare for this race, and her. Everything flashes in front of my eyes as my car tumbles into the solid barrier, leaving nothing behind. Memories flood my brain as I watch the metal barrier mold around my car. My seat snaps out of place as I fling out of the car and into the detached halo before getting surrounded by the barrier, molding to our shape. The car failed in many ways today, giving me less of a chance to survive this accident. My seat stays attached to my body until I bounce across the ground, breaking it off of me. Luckily, it absorbed the impact, causing me to feel fine, but the adrenaline flowing through my body has the same effect.

Once everything is still, I try to extend my compacted body and push my way out, but something seems to be putting extra weight on top of the halo. The car must be on top of us, with the defective halo being the one thing keeping it from crushing me. The metal around me becomes hot to the touch, signaling that the car must be on fire around me. Fred's voice buzzes over the ringing in my ears, begging me to get out of the car. He may not know how defective the car was, not knowing that I don't have the radio button to respond. He continues to tell me how much time has passed as the air around me gets hotter and harder to breathe. My heartbeat finally slows after the adrenaline burns out, leaving me in a hot ball of metal with no way out. The marshals can't get to me until the fire is out, and even then they might not know where I am.

As my oxygen runs out and my body temperature rises, my mouth dries out and my breathing is now staggered. Everything runs through my thoughts once again, but they all stop at one person. Katana runs through my brain. Her smile, her laugh, her pink cheeks when she's nervous or embarrassed, the feel of her skin against mine, the taste of her lips, everything about her holds me in consciousness as I round two minutes of being in this burning car. My eyes grow heavy and despite Fred talking to me throughout everything, my mind goes dark and everything is just black.

A sharp pain runs across my chest, bringing me back to consciousness. When I open my eyes, my race suit is off my chest and paramedics are standing around me. My throat is dry and raw, but before they put the oxygen mask back on, I ask, "Where is she? Where's Katana?" They try to force the mask back on, but my stubborn ass needed an answer before they put me in that ambulance. Attempting to sit up, a strong hand comes across my shoulder and pushes me back into the ground. A finger points in my face before I realize who it is, but the second I hear his voice, I know it's Lando.

"Keep your ass on the ground and do what they say, Charles. This is really bad..." Lando says, his face showing signs of distress and his eyes red-brimmed as if he's been crying. If I'm this worried about Katana, she must be ten times worse than myself. Instead of listening, I pull the mask off again and scream as loud as possible, "Where the fuck is she, Lando?" He pushes my shoulder back down and puts the mask over my face again before he says, "She's back in the garage. Hopefully on her way to the hospital, which you need to be doing as well." My chest lightens knowing where she is, but I still manage to ask, "Is she okay?" His eyes drop to my body before meeting my eyes again when he says, "We're all terrified, man. You were in there for nearly three minutes. We thought you were dead..." Guilt runs through my body as I process the look on his face. I bring my hand up to his on my shoulder and nod slightly as they move my body onto a stretcher. Bringing me into the ambulance, Lando climbs in next to me. The entire ride there was filled with sirens and questions from the paramedic, but Lando sat silent, his mind running wild.

As they wheel me into the hospital, Lando stands at one side of the bed and reaches over to pull someone closer. Not being able to move very well in the neck brace, I'm unable to see who it is until he pushes her up to the front of the cart. Katana's sad face fills my line of sight as tears fall from her eyes. "Hey, Romeo. You got pretty messed up out there," she says, half-heartedly. I can tell that this tore her apart, but she's strong and is doing her best to stay together for me. We get into the room and they transfer me to a bed, hooking me up to the machines while Camryn, Lando, and Katana watch from the other side of the room. Lando is the first to come up to me when he presses his forehead to mine and says, "You are fucking stupid, man. I'm so glad you're okay," before walking back over to Camryn. She gives me a light smile before taking Lando's hand and walking out of the room.

Katana stands at the end of the room, staring at me. The fear on her face is overwhelming as my mind runs wild, unsure of what to say to her. A few moments pass and neither of us says anything, but I break it when I say, "Come here love." She rushes over to me, more tears spilling from her eyes as she holds my hand. I give her the best smile I can muster and say, "I will be alright, I don't feel nearly as bad as I look." She laughs lightly before looking over at the IV drips and saying, "I'm surprised you feel anything, you're on morphine. I expect you will be fast asleep within the next five minutes."

Blinking heavily, I look at her beautiful face and say, "Well then you better get in this bed and nap with me. I can't go another second without you by my side."