I must have been out of my mind to think that any person would be awake at nine in the morning, especially after a night of racing. But I figured that people do have lives outside of the night life. With each ring, time seemed to slow down to a dead halt, until a voice sounded through the phone. "Good morning, how may I help you?"

"Um...good morning. This is Jack."

"Jack...hmm, Jack. I'm sorry I don't know a...hold on one moment please," I waited patiently trying to figure out what was going on. I had a fear that the opportunity was right in front of me, and it was shot down because of a wrong phone number. Just then a different voice sounded through the phone. It was deeper. "Good morning Jack. I see you got my message."

"Yeah I did. So I heard you want to meet in person."

"Indeed. There's a coffee shop about ten blocks down from your apartment. We'll meet at nine."

"But it's nine right now."

"P.m."

"Sorry about that."

"No worries, it didn't kill anyone. But does that sound ok?"

"Yeah, sounds fine. I'll be there," and with that, he hung up. Looking around the room, and remembering that I had called in sick, I pretty much had nothing to but lounge around the house till that evening. Eating, sleeping, and watching TV all helped make time fly by up until about 8:30. At that point I was ready, and just grabbed a coat and walked straight out the place.

While walking down the street, every shop window was lit up with hanging lights, or neon displays. Countless people were wandering and walking all over the place. But the lights, the lights caught my attention. The lights sent me into a deep state of trance along with a flashback. My mind ventured back to the point of my last race. I could remember the break lights of cars on the highway, and the faint sight of the rear bumper of Speed King's car. My hands were dug into the wheel; tightly enough that drops of red were falling to the floor. With one gear left, and hoping it would make the difference, my right hand shot from the wheel to the stick. I heard the engine grow silent for that split second, that split second of relief. Then everything in my mind grew to slow motion. My hand slowly returned to haven, and went back painting the floor with the droplets of red. My eyes could see a faint distant red up ahead. I could hear the sound of ever blood drop hit the floor, with each sounding like a pounding echo inside of my ear. The red light started to illuminate and grew brighter, to a point where it was too intense for my eyes. A huge roar then sounded, and I was startled. Looking around, I was standing in the crosswalk, and was knocked out of my trance by the sound of horns from angry traffic. Quickly, I rushed out of the crosswalk and back on the sidewalk. I was entirely nervous about falling into another trance, so being three blocks away from the coffee shop I started whistling and counting cars.

Luckily I made it to the coffee shop without having another episode. The outside looked dull, but inside, it was medium sized with about fifteen round tables, each with a fern. I glanced at my watch and noticed I was right on time. Looking around though, I had no clue which of them was Speed King, until a man sitting at a table in the middle of the room raised his hand. I approached the table steadily and he welcomed me. "Well hello Jack."

"You know, it's not every day I talk to someone such as yourself in person."

"Nonsense, you talk to Rick."

"Rick's not a leader of highways, is he?" the man only snickered.

"Please Jack, take a seat. Is there anything I can get for you? Tea? Coffee? Water?"

"No, I'm fine," I said while pulling out a chair opposite to him."

"Waiter, one tea please. So Jack, how have you been?"

"I've been better."

"We all have our off days, nothing to worry about."

"So you just wanted me to come here for a friendly evening chat?"

"This wasn't a problem was it?"

"Oh, no. No problem at all. Not like I had anything better to do."

"No, Jack. There is a problem. I'm getting a feeling that you have some tension of some sort."

"Of course I have tension. You of all people would know why I'm so tense."

"Me, what does this have to do with me? I just...," and I interrupted him while darting from my seat.

"Come on! You know exactly what I'm talking about. Two years. Two years ago I and you raced, and you had the lead by far."

"Yes, I remember that, and you won."

"No! I didn't win. You claim I won. But you and I both know who really won that night."

"Jack please..."

"For two years I've done nothing but sit in that garage, in that car, for ten minutes every fucking day. Do you know what I did those ten minutes? Rethought the moment over and over and over," he then let out a huge sigh and sunk down a bit in his seat.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out."

"Obviously not too long."

"Please, I didn't want you to come here to have a confrontation. I only wanted to talk."

"Talk about what, huh?"

"Just a friendly evening chat. Like you said."

"Friendly, as in now we're friends?"

"If you wish to look at it that way, then yes."

"Right now, we're more like sworn enemies."

"I didn't know it was going to affect you this way."

"Well maybe, just maybe had you of thought for one tiny little second that your idea was unbelievably stupid, you wouldn't had to worry about how it would have affected me because you wouldn't have gone through with it!"

"I'm sorry," before I went on to saying anything else, I had realized what I had said, and how I was close to yelling at him. With a huge inhale, followed by a slow exhale, I held on the chair, and lowered my voice.

"I appreciate the invite, but right now I think I'm too emotionally unstable to handle this. Thank you though," I started to turn around and head for the exit but he began to speak.

"Please, don't go just yet."

"I'm sorry, but I have nothing more to say."

"Yes, well I do," he sounded convincing and sincere enough so turned around and sat back down. At that same time, the waiter brought Speed King his tea, and I asked for a coffee. "To start off, I am Ripp Griffon. Secondly, yes I will admit, I gave you the race, intentionally. I only thought from the angle that you were seeing it at, that you would have thought I came to close to the back of a car and had to stop."

"Why though? Why give me the race?"

"I was so tired of winning. I wanted to see change, someone worthy of being the legend. Five times prior to that, you raced me, and all five times you lost. Normally people would only race two or three times then give up."

"As nice as the logic sounds though, I was pretty guilt stricken by it, till finally hearing you admit to it. But that's exactly why I quit. At first I thought it couldn't hurt. No one knew about it but me and you. But eventually I couldn't handle having something that didn't belong to me."

"Yes, well again, I am sorry."

"Apology accepted."

"I am glad we have settled that, but I still have something I need to tell you. Everything...," this was the last time in the conversation that I interrupted him.

"Has changed. Everything has changed. I know because Rick told me."

"You are still going to race knowing the changes that have come about."

"Why not? I want to honestly earn that title. I'll do anything to get it."

"Well then, I won't try to stop you. A man must do what he thinks is best for him."

"I guess, but one question. Why did you agree to let all of this happen?"

"Tyrant, the name he goes by, happens to be a close friend of mine. One time, before I held my title as speed king, I severely damaged my vehicle while going into a turn. I didn't break till it was too late. I think I broke two toes and pulled several muscles. He not only paid for my checkup, but he also paid for the fixing of my car. That day, I told him I owed him. When he came to me about the problem he was experiencing, I couldn't turn him away."

"Nice friendship. But aren't you at all upset about him being the new ruler?"

"He was always the better racer out of the two of us. He always had the faster car, the better skills, and the smaller temper. I wasn't at all surprised during the race when he beat me."

"Nice story, Ripp."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"It was neither. It was just a comment. But anyway, I think I better be on my way. I can't skip work two days in a row. Not to mention if I'm going to start racing tomorrow, I need the sleep."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay any longer?"

"I'm pretty sure."

"Well then, I guess the only thing I have left to say is good luck."

"When it comes to racing, I don't believe in luck."

"Well then, I guess there is nothing more to say," and with that, I left the coffee shop and headed back to my apartment. When I got home, I decided to go through the door in my garage rather than through the front. As I walked through the garage towards my apartment, I took one look at my car, and knew that the time had come. This would be it.