Fireflies And Butterflies (ON HIATUS)

10║First Race

"You can do this Czarina. You have what it takes to win."

Czarina kept her eyes on the start line, tightening her fingers around the steering wheel. Cars were revved around her, drowning the loud cheers that the spectators were giving. She looked to her left and then to her right. The lines on both sides were long, race cars of different colours ready to speed past the starting line.

Czarina's heart pounded as if it were the one that was to race, making her swallow large breaths. "It's only a game and nothing more. It's no biggie." And then she remembered her brother's threat; she groaned and rolled her eyes. "Screw him and his idiotic words."

In the next few seconds, the counter that was in front of the racers shone a bright green. It started counting down and Czarina counted along with it, whispering the numbers to herself.

The spectators began to yell, "Five! Four! Three! Two! ONE!"

The second it showed zero, Czarina pushed the gear lever forward, slammed her foot into the accelerator pad and the car shot forward. With her eyes on the track and her hands around the steering wheel, Czarina drove as quick as she could, moving past a few cars.

The racetrack was oval in shape so it was easy to twist the car and zoom past the other cars. But after she drove past the first half of the track, she was faced with obstacles. Up ahead, slim, miniature poles stood, creating a zigzag course for the racers. A few of them had not been successful while driving through them, causing the poles to bump into the tires of their cars, making them loose balance and roll or slide away.

Dropping her hand on the gear lever, Czarina gently pulled it back as she eased the pressure that she had against the accelerator. The car slowled down a bit as she twisted and turned, careful not to get stuck. She made it past the first ones, coming out of it with a few taps here and there. She instantly boosted her speed and zoomed towards the next one.

"Wow! Would you look at that! Racer number thirty-four is the first to make it past the first obstacles!" yelled the first commentator, his voice echoing throughout the stadium.

"You can say that again Mensa!" the second one said, excitement in his voice. After Czarina came to the second one which was tightly spaced, the commentator exhaled. "Are they going to make it?"

"I don't know Ymir. People hardly make it pass that one given the fact that it's badly spaced and could affect the tire. Let's see what this one'll do."

Czarina licked her lip and pressed her back into her seat, zooming forward. "I can do this. I will win."

Getting closer to them, she slowed her car to the safest speed. Holding on tightly to the steering wheel, she turned left, turned right, snaking through the course. Lucky for her, she barely made it out with a lot of scratches on her car.

Czarina smiles as she looked up ahead. She could see it—the finish line was really close. She was so, so close. But when she stomped her foot on the accelerator pad to drive forward, her car jerked, seeming to slow down. She pressed her foot into it again and again but her car wouldn't budge.

"Uh-oh. Seems like racer number thirty-four is clearly not going to make it," Mensa said in a singsong voice. "Would you look at that. So much fume. Clearly this is a bad sign."

"Oh hush now. They'll make it."

Czarina shrieked loudly as her car began to crawl toward the finish line like a tortoise. She looked down at the dashboard and saw that the car was running on fumes. Her face paled.

"What? How did this happen?!" she hissed loudly, continuously stomping on the accelerator pad. She slid her eyes to the car's side-view mirror. In a flash, another racer's car zoomed past her's and she cussed silently. "The fuck is wrong with this car now that I'm close to the finish line?!"