Disclaim: I do not own Speed Racer: The Next Generation. I did not, would not, and could not now, not EVER make money off of this.
Summary: Everybody has their worst fear, the monster in the dark that they keep behind a steel door deep inside their mind... But what is Speed's? And how long can he keep his worst fear locked away? (Set about a week after part 3 of 'the Secrets of the Engine')
Author's Note: Greetings people who just happen to be on ! For those of you who read my premiere story, first of all REVIEW IT(!!!!), second of all you will know what I am talking about when I say that Racer V ALWAYS keeps her promises.
It was dark, and cloudy. There was a red haze in the sky. Every tree was dead, and leafless. There was a light fog just barely reaching above my ankles. In the distance, thunder rolled. The storm was getting close. When it was exactly the right moment, it would break loose. It would rain, and this torture would end...
...I couldn't bear to see it. I knew that it would grow over the years, but I never guessed that it could get this BIG. I knew that I couldn't handle seeing it... not after all the wonderful things that were FINALLY happening to me...
...I tried. I really did. Inside I was telling myself, "NO, SPEED! RUN! GET OUT OF HERE! YOU CAN'T SEE THIS THING AGAIN! I FORBID YOU TO SEE IT!!!" But when was the last time I listened to my own common sense? I tried to channel the one voice that could help me, the one voice of reason that I would SURELY listen to, and that man's voice is EXACTLY what I always thought it would be...
...The voice never came. And I knew why. I tried to stop. I tried to run the other way, but I was caught in a fixed path that no one could save me from...
Because no one was there.
That's when I saw it. On the small hill in the middle of the graveyard. And I was right. It HAD grown. When I first saw it, it was just two. Then after my first day at the Academy, two more showed up. After a few days, two more appeared, and what's either better or worse, the names on the first two became clear. On one of them was the name of my hero, my namesake,...
Here lies Speed Racer, Sr.
Speed Racer, Jr.'s father
Here lies Trixie Racer
Speed Racer, Jr.'s mother
Here lies Spritle Racer
Speed Racer, Jr.'s uncle
Here lies X Racer
Speed Racer, Jr.'s brother
Here lies Connor
Speed Racer, Jr.'s mechanic and roommate
Here lies Lucy
The girl Speed Racer, Jr. secretly loved
...My dad. My family. My friends. All reduced to names written on tombstones. As usual, this was the part where it became too much. I broke down. Scratch that. I fell down. On my knees, my arms holding my stomach, crying. Begging for them to come back. To not leave me here... alone. I looked up as the first drop of sweet, sweet rain fell from the sky...
I shot up out of bed like a rocket.
I had that horrible dream again.
I had the nightmare again. For the third time in one night. I found it somewhat fortunate that Wilson "Sparky" Sparkolomew hadn't been added to the mix. One more tombstone and I surely would have gone off my nut. I decided that I shouldn't try to go back to sleep. The horrible images of my worst nightmare were fresh in my mind. The only thing that even came close to the pain of all my family and friends being gone forever was that none of those tombstones said anything about how great they were. Not all the sacrifices my dad made just so X and I could be safe. Not how strong my mother was for letting dad make those sacrifices. Not how loving an uncle Spritle turned out to be. Not all the times X and I have been there for each other in the past. Not how Connor wasn't just my roommate/mechanic, but how he was also my best friend. And no words in the English language could describe how much I'm in love with Lucy. None of that was even there. *sigh* If I'm going to stay awake all night, I might as well get something to eat.
Well, that plan worked out perfectly, for about three days. By the end of the first week I was exausted. I almost fell asleep in my breakfast. Twice.
"So?"X said.
"So... what?"I replied, looking up from the plate of pancakes I had.
"Are you going to tell me why you look worse that usual today?"
"And what's that supposed to mean?"I said defensivly.
"It's supposed to mean that you havn't been getting enough sleep lately, Speed." Lucy chimed in.
"You're crazy. I've had 8 hours of sleep for the past week!"I lied.
"Tell that to those black circles under your eyes. It lookes like someone drew on your face, Speed."Connor said.
"And you almost drove off of the driving course yesterday. The last time you did something like that, you walked into a trap and I had to save your butt."
"Look, guys I'm FINE. There's NOTHING to worry about. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nothing's bugging me. Nobody is trying to lure me off campus to steal the Mach 6. Now let me eat my pancakes in peace."Please, I added mentally. Nobody said anything after that. I clearly didn't want to talk about it, but I could tell that X was still curious...
Author's note: Okay, chapters being longer... check. Please, PLEASE review my story!