Author's Note: Hey! Don't forget to VOTE on my POLL! Rmeber, you can pick up to 2 options! Also, Cars 3 spoilers will NOT BE tolerated in the reviwes. And finally I WILL PROBABLY SEE CARS 3 OPENING DAY! WHOO! BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN SPOIL ANYTHING REGARDLESS! I will delete your spoiling comment without hesitation and block you. Anyways! Thank you all for reading and reviewing and putting Guo with my slow updating self! I love all of you! Now thrn, I hope you enjoy this chapy! XD
Chapter 24: A Dream
It was dark. Doc didn't know where he was as he looked around but only continued to see nothing.
"Where the heck am I?" he asked aloud. Suddenly stadium lights started to come on one by one. They circled Willy's Butte and the race track around it. He was in the stands, looking down. To his left was Sheriff. To his right, Flo. "What's going on?" He asked, but got no response from either of them.
"It's her debut ladies and gentlecars!" Darrell Cartrip blasted out into his headset.
"And it's his final race!" Bob Cutlass stated. Doc was confused and looked down at the track. His eyes widened as the scene melted away and faded into a new one. He was suddenly in his garage with a small t.v. turned onto the news.
"It was her debut. It was definitely his final race…" Doc gasped at he read the headline. "It was a crash that.. that ended it all." he reversed away as he saw what used to be a silver car and a white car on the screen. Crumbled up cars that could no longer drive on there own.
"I hate to say this," the news reporter said, "but to make it out of here being the same car as before… it would have to take a miracle." Doc shook his hood. "With both Davis and Carson being heavily involved in the crash, they're both going to have a endure a long recovery time. The manufacturer be with them. Let's just hope this isn't Davis's last time on the track. And let's pray that Carson isn't gone for good." the t.v then shut off on it's own. Doc looked and glanced at the newspaper clipping framed on his wall, but it wasn't his. It was of what was just on the t.v screen. It read "Davis and Carson. The Wreck to be Reckoned With." The photo was the same as what was on the screen. A shiver ran down Doc's chassis.
"No… not her…. Not my…" He said as his voice cracked with grief, but he suddenly realized something that didn't make sense. "Wait a second…." His face turned into a scowl. "Damien." He said before his eyes shot open in the dawn of a new day. "Reveille" quietly filled the air and Hendrix version "Star Spangled Banner" soon clashed with it.
"Will you turn that disrespectful junk off!" Sarge could be heard next door yelling at his neighbor.
"Respect the classics, man. It's Hendrix!" Fillmore yelled back. Doc shook his hood in attempts to shake off the dream. As he left his room, he glanced down the hall and towards Harley's room. He expected her to slowly drive out with a yawn as she usually does after the morning arguments between the two polar opposite friends next door ensued. Doc slightly furrowed his eyelids as the seconds dragged and still no Harley.
"Harley, you up yet?" He asked as he drove down to her door. He softly knocked on it, but he heard nothing in response. "Harley? You okay?" he asked and waited quietly. He then opened the garage door and was terrified at what was behind it: A room void of any car. "Harley?" he quickly drove in and looked around as if he were still dreaming and looking for the answer. "Harley!" he frantically drove out and searched the entire clinic, but there was still no Cadillac in sight. After he was certain she wasn't in there, Doc headed straight to Flo's were Sheriff had only just drove in seconds before Doc's arrival there.
"Morning Doc-"
"Have you seen Harley?" Doc stopped Sheriff before he could say anything else.
"Wha- Ah, no. No I haven't seen her yet." Sheriff said then noticed how worried Doc looked. "Was she not in her room?"
"No. She wasn't in the clinic at all!" Doc said as a shiver ran down his body. "Where could she be…?" he thought aloud.
"Willy's Butte?" Sheriff suggested.
"Or Wheel Well!" Flo chimed in.
"She could've gotten stuck on the long way to Willy's Butte." Sarge said who had beat Doc the the café. "I say we take our squadron and split up to find the cadet!"
"Sounds good. I'll go to Wheel Well." Doc said.
"I'll take the short route to Willy's Butte." Sheriff said.
"That leaves me with the long route to the Butte." Sarge said.
"Ey, she could've also gone the other way on Route 66." Ramone said and, as he slightly rose with his hydrologics, pointed in the direction towards the clinic. "I'll go check out that road."
"Alright. Hopefully we find her soon.." Doc said and the four men split up to find her.
Sheriff shook his hood as he headed for Willy's Butte. He muttered under his breath something about recklessness and being inconsiderate. Trekking closer and closer, he could being to hear the sound of an engine revving.
"Oh, please Manufacturer, let the not be her…" whoever was down there began speeding down the track. Sheriff sped up himself and once he could finally see the butte, a little thirteen-year-old was headed down the second straightaway. Barreling towards the treacherous turn, Harley grinned and thought it through.
"I've seen Joh- er Damien- do this turn a hundred times! I got this…" she said.
"Harley!" Sheriff yelled and suddenly, she got distracted for just a moment. She started to loose control and quickly start to swerve towards the edge of the dirt. "Harley!" Sheriff yelled more frantically as he started to speed towards her. She braked hard and skid to an ugly halt inches for the cliff side. A shaky gasp came from her as she quickly drove away from the edge. She began to head towards Sheriff as he slowed seeing that she was not flying over the edge and into the cactus.
"Um… h-hey.. Sheriff…" She nervously said.
"Don't 'hey Sheriff' me! What on Earth was that?" she sternly shouted. "You couple been hurt!"
"I'm sure I would've been fine…." Harley tried to convince him.
"Fine? I've seen plenty of hotrodders think they can take on that turn then go flying and not driving way 'fine.' What were you thinking?" he looked at her disappointed, but she didn't look back. "Just wait until Doc hears about this.. he'll-"
"Please don't!" she said as she quickly looked up at him.
"Don't? You want me to lie to Doc?" He questioned.
"Y-...yes…" she admitted. "He d-doesn't have to know about th-this…" he sighed. "Why…" Sheriff asked annoyed.
"B-because… because…" she looked down trying to think of a reason. "Because I was okay… I…." she looked down again with sad eyes. "I just wanted to know what it felt like…." Sheriff looked at her, trying to decide what he'd do. He finally shook his hood and turned back towards town.
"Come on, let's get out of this place…" He said. For a second, Harley hesitated. A-are you going to tell him?" she asked. Sheriff didn't answer her but kept driving. "Sh-Sheriff?" she nervously asked, but still nothing. She gave up as she followed behind him but kept her distance.
Meanwhile, after driving up to Wheel Well, Doc looked around the old motel. When he found nothing he drove to the cliff side and saw three little dots. One was Ramone turning around after driving pretty far out of town. The other two were Sheriff and Harley.
"Oh, thank the Manufacturer…" Doc said. He saw that they were coming back to town and so he started to do the same. On the way, he went over in his roof what to say to the trouble maker. Once he got there, Sarge was just now getting back, but Ramone, Harley and Sheriff had already beat him. He drove into the V8 Café with a disapproving frown on his face. Harley was quick to notice and moved herself closer to Lizzie.
"Harley… stop hiding." Doc said.
"A soldier shows bravery! Especially in the face of their commanding officer." Sarge added as he drove to his spot beside Fillmore. Harley's eyes followed Sarge for a second then they looked back at Doc who held his same expression as before. She sighed and drove forward.
"Sheriff," Doc said as he turned to the cop car, "thank you for finding her."
"It's not a problem. She was at Willy's Butte." He said and he caught Harley's worried eyes.
"Harley. Why were you there?" Doc asked and she looked down.
"I, uh… I um-"
"Harley… don't lie to me." Doc said and she took a deep breath.
"I just wanted to see the sun rise on Willy's Butte…" She said then looked up. "Really? That's why you snuck out again?" Doc asked sternly.
"Yes." She said, which wasn't entirely a lie. She did want to see the sun rise. She glanced at Sheriff who looked away from both Doc and Harley. She wondered why he didn't say anything about it, but at the same time, she was glad he didn't.
"Okay…" Doc said and his facial features softened. "But don't ever leave without telling anyone again. We always end up worried and having to wear our engines out looking for you." Harley seemed to shrink onto her tires. "You do this much too often."
"The last time I did it was last year." She said with a small smile. "That's not that often." she admitted.
"For me, Har, it is…" Doc said unamused. Her smile quickly faded. Flo looked at the two and quickly changed the subject.
"Harley, sugar, tell Flo whachya dreamed about last night!" She said with her signature flashy smile. It was contagious and Harley smiled too.
"Well, I fell after listening to my uncle on that Jay Limo talk show-"
"What talk show?" Doc said, not approving of it. "I don't want you listening to that. Jay Limo isn't always-"
"Doc, calm down, the girl talking." Flo snapped, surprising the Hornet quiet. "Go on, Miss Harley."
"Okay, uh… well, I knew he'd be on last night 'cause I heard it in a commercial while I was listening to some music. Anyways, he talked about his racing and stuff, as he usually does, being The King and all. And, uh." she tried to decide what to say. She really didn't have any dreams the night before, and if she did, she sure didn't remember. "Uh, I fell asleep then I remember the, uh, the Hicks guy! He was racing my uncle. And, uh, he tried to hurt him, yeah. Well, he ended up getting cut off by one racer, then another. Then he got dead last! Then all of a sudden, I was in victory lane with Uncle Strip and Cal was there-"
"Who's Cal?" Doc asked quickly.
"He's, uh, my cousin." She said and Doc still looked confused. "Uncle Strip talked a little about him last night. I've never met him. Moving on," Harley continued, "News reporters took lots of pictures of us and we autographed some stuff and then the three of us took a drive to Wheel Well!" She thought she made up a pretty good dream.
"That's wonderful, sugar!" Flo said.
"Reminds me of when I met Stanley's sister!" Lizzie said with a smile. "Oh, she was a snappy one! Never approved of Stanley traveling so much. She was always worried he'd get hurt. Or die!"
"Well, it's a good thing he kept adventuring!" Harley said. "Or else we wouldn't have a home!" The others smiled at the youngest citizen of the town.
"You are absolutely right, Harley!" Luigi agreed.
"I'd still be in East L.A. with Pancho y Francisco." Ramone said. "And I wouldn't have met my beautiful wife." he said as he gave Flo a loving smile.
"Oh you!" She said and smiled back.
"Wait, hold on!" Harley said and everyone looked at her. "Who are those guys?" she said, always loving a good story.
"They were two of my other Impala friends back at my hometown. One was red," he then started laughing, "I always told him 'Ey, Francisco, you need to change your look! You look so cheese with that bright red paint!' It would drive him crazy!" He laughed again then continued. "The other one, Pancho, was blue with black racing stripes. He actually taught me how to paint a pearl finish. You know, after I bugged him for who knows how long about it." Harley giggled.
"They sound cool!" she said and Ramone chuckled.
"Yeah, they kinda were." He admitted. "Maybe one day you'll get to meet them."
"That would be awesome! Meeting Ramone's old friends, telling stories, eating Mexican food!" Ramone laughed at the stereotype.
"Well, they eat other food too." He said.
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure" she said being oblivious that what she said could have been stereotypical and offensive. "But it would just be fun to get all you guys together and all of us make some good, homemade Mexican food! Flo could help! She's a great cook!"
"Aw, why thank you, sugar!" she said and Harley smiled at her.
"You know, that would be great." Ramone said. "I remember Francisco wanting to be a cook at one point." he smiled kindly at Harley. "I bet he'd love to cook with you."
"Awesome!" she said.
"I remember when I was overseas, the best cook in the army was Jordan Islet!" Sarge said. "That car could cook anything into a fine cuisine!"
"But was it made with all organic ingredients?" Flo asked.
"Oh, hush. His food was at least edible compared to yours." Sarge retaliated.
"Well," Luigi chimed in Mama Tampalino, my aunt in Italy makes the best delizioso fuel in all of Italy!"
"Sì, Mamma Tampalino è un cuoco magistrale!" Guido agreed.
"Guido says-"
"No! I got this!" Harley cut him off before he could translate. "Guido says…. That yes, Mama Tampalino is a cook master!"
"Is a masterful cook." Luigi corrected.
"Gah! So close!" Harley said with slight disappointment.
"Ma sei diventato meglio!" Guido happily exclaimed.
"Um, you said that I've made it better?" Harley tried, but instead of being mad, Guido laughed and smiled at her attempt.
"He said you've gotten much better." Luigi helped her.
"I'll be fluent one of these days!" Harley smiled.
"E quando lo farai, sarò qui per parlare con te tutto il giorno!" Guido quickly promised back.
"Ah! Too fast!" Harley said as she struggled to keep up.
"He said he'll talk to you all day once you do become fluent!" Luigi helped.
"Oh, thanks!" she said to both of them.
The rest of the day was spent at Flo's V8 Café with everyone sharing stories of cars they once knew at one point or another. Harley smiled as she listened and enjoyed all of them. That is, uh til night fell. After a day of listening to what everyone did and cars they met before they landed in Radiator Springs made her realize that she knew no one else outside of this town besides her uncle. It made her wonder when, or even if, she'd have anything else outside of this town. She was good about not letting the thought bring her too far down, but when all the cars were off to sleep, she didn't.
Harley stayed up and listened to the sounds of the night: the gently breeze flowing past her window and the bugs making their soft sounds. She thought about that morning. About how it felt to have the wind whipping past her. It made her smile.
"I have to do it again." She whispered to herself. She put herself in drive and so carefully crept out of her room. She snuck past Doc's room and paused for just a moment. Listening intently, she only heard the sound of steady breathing which came behind the door. "Good. He's sound asleep." Harley thought then continued on. She pushed the front door to the clinic open, but it squeaked slightly. She froze and listened again. Nothing. "It was too quiet for him to hear." she decided then left into the cool of the night. She looked across the street and looked at Wheel Well. Remembering all the nights she snuck out with Damien, she smiled softly, but it soon faded as she remembered how he left. All the anger in Doc's voice, the fear and sadness in Damien's. She looked down but then looked to her right. She inhaled then exhaled and drove. Without hesitation, she made her way to Willy's Butte without headlights, that is until she got down to the track. She turned on her lights the took a deep breath. She then looked over at the almost impossible turn.
"I can do this." She declared. After getting to the starting line, she revved her engine. Adrenaline started to fill her engine as she remembered her first lap that morning. Every since the night Damien left, she decided she was never going to forget him. She always thought about him and how her could never really perfect that one seemingly simple turn, so she decided she was going to get that turn down. She suddenly flew forward at the fasted speed she had ever gone. She thought about scaling the wall, but hesitated and swerved slightly when she attempted too. She quickly gained control and kept going. Seeing that the turn was coming, she focused hard. Once hitting get the curse, she turned her tires left, but she didn't go left.
"What!" She turned right, and she started swerving. "No, no, no, no!" she frantically turned her tires left, then right, then left. Finally, she braked hard and stopped. She was panting, partly because she was tired, but mostly because she was terrified. She tried to catch her breath by taking a shaky deep one. Harley then shook her hood, shook her tires then slowly went back to the starting line.
"What did I do?" She went over the turn in her roof then nodded. "Okay." she went again, swerving again on the turn. She went over it again and again and again. Even though she was far from getting it down, she was improving with each run through. She panted as she again slowly made her way to the start. "Only … one… one more time." She said, but one more time turned into two then three and ultimately ten then eleven. "One…. More… time…." she lied to herself. She didn't realize it, but she was becoming obsessed. Obsessed with with wind, the dirt, the adrenaline, the challenge and most of all, obsessed with the speed.
As she continued to race around the track, she didn't feel any sense of being watched, even though she should have In the distance, she had a single spectator. He closely watched her until he couldn't watch any longer. He didn't want her to continue, but at the same time didn't want to stop her. He smiled, and frowned, going back and forth between the two constantly as if he were the two theater masks of comedy and drama. He shook his hood and drove away, which surprised him.
"She doesn't need that life…." He said to himself, but didn't turn around to do anything about it. "Maybe she'll just get it all out of her system…" he tried to convince himself. "She just needs to stay here in this town with me. Why would she ever need to leave…
Why?"
