Wildly Driven

Chapter 15

There was no sign of life when I reached home. Dad was not home yet and I wondered if it had been a good idea to send him on a day out in the first place.

Tensed, I called him again only to reach his voice mail. Call me, was the only message that I left for him. I hoped that he understood what those two words meant to me.

With me alone in the house it was not difficult to drift back to the race and its outcomes. I had stumbled around the kitchen, trying to get my head out of the scene in which cars were burning with their drivers along with it... but it was of no use. I took out my English text a while later to read a few stories to divert my mind. With a few pages turned, it was really working.

I didn't know what time I had fallen asleep on the couch with the textbook fallen across my chest. Somewhere in between reading the book and looking at the door expecting Dad to somehow turn up, I had dozed off.

With a sudden bolt, I got up with my eyes wide open. I was sweating and panicking with my dream to blame for it. It was the same race, with competing cars running one after the other, but my Dad was racing it... and he hadn't made it through.

I looked around to see my book messily fallen down on the floor. It was still six in the morning, too early for me, but I was frightened to fall back asleep just to dream another nightmare.

Shaking my head in an attempt to keep those thoughts away, I picked the book up and placed it aside. It was one of those days where I start my day early, I thought as I rubbed my eyes. I pulled my hair into a messy bun and got up to start my day.

I made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. Since I was eating out from past two days, there was no left overs. The refrigerator too was empty and I had to make a note of grocery shopping as soon as possible. I reached for the bread which was thankfully not stale yet.

I settled down for a simple toast as I was not hungry. Robert had treated me with a fine dinner and made sure that I had eaten everything that was on my plate last night. Still, I made around six toasts, thinking I would take some to school.

As I kept the toast in the hot box, I went ahead to have a quick shower. Since I had gotten up early, I thought of visiting the café to clear some chores there. I hurriedly dressed up with my casual tee and jeans. I put on a shawl to keep myself from the cool breeze that might get me the usual cold.

Just as I packed the toast for lunch and repacked the English textbook that I had placed aside, the doorbell rang loudly echoing through the empty walls of the house. I jumped up at the sudden noise and turned towards the main door. Hoping it was Dad on the other side, I raced towards it.

I opened the door expectantly just to see him on his usual wheel chair smiling at me. There was Dan behind him with a guilty face drawn on him.

"Look who finally made home!" I pretended to be surprised as I moved aside to let the two men in.

Dan scratched his neck as he walked past me, pushing the wheel chair with his other hand. "Smells toast."

"Yeaah, that's my gurl." Dad spurred with half closed eyes.

I couldn't believe my ears. With wonder and shock in my eyes, I looked at Dan for explanations. Dan sheepishly looked back at me with a small smile. "You are up early today and already dressed up." Dan commented.

Ignoring his smile and pretending not to hear either of them, I tried again. "How are you, Dad? You didn't call." It wasn't a blame, I was just making sure that I was just hallucinating or having another nightmare.

Dad put his head back and laughed out loud, soon hiccuping and coughing at his attempts. "I furgot." He laughed again.

I covered my mouth with my hands, leaning against the wall for support. My eyes had pooled and I couldn't believe my senses. "How could you?" I asked, my voice too weak to raise above a whisper.