"Norah!" a voice keeps calling, "Norah you promised! Common don't do this again..."
I grumbled, and opened my eyes slowly to the light from the window.
"Kirra it's too early..." one leg hanging off the bed, I roll over and put the pillow over my head.
"It's one in the afternoon!" She grabbed my pillow away from my head, "You promised!"
I looked up, her light brown eyes shone in disappointment, and she made that face again.
"Alright." I sighed and gave in.
"Yes!" she threw on her jacket.
"Where's Jay..." I say drowsily.
"Down at the salvage market." she said hastily rushing downstairs.
I sat up and rubbed my head. "I hate it when she makes that face..." she started using that face against me ever since I had disappointed her all those years ago. I thought, now that she's almost sixteen she'd grow out of that, of course not. I coughed and cleared my throat, got up and went to the closet, grabbed a pair of grey jeans and a black tank and put them on. I looked in the broken mirror by the door, my hair had lost its spike over night. So after brushing my teeth I ran gel through my hair and re-spiked it.
"Hurry up!" Kirra calls from outside.
"Kirra don't rush me!" I say irritated, and coughed again. I heard her grumble outside.
I grabbed my jacket with the Opelentium still in it and went out of the apartment and outside.
The garage had been opened up already and Kirra stood by her almost motorcycle. It's a white 2012 Honda Fireblade, we managed to salvage it from the wreck when we first moved here. Jay and I already had bikes and she was too young at the time to get one, so we work on it together so that when it's finished she can ride it. It was a mess when we found it, crushed from the building toppling on it. But now it has new body parts, salvaged the rest, she was looking in good shape. This afternoon I promised her we'd get it painted. I know an auto body painter and detailer in business, especially for drag racers looking to pimp their ride. She's a friend of mine and would give me discount for it.
"Do you have the Opelentium for it?" she asked me.
"Yeah got it yesterday." I pulled out the tube from my pocket and handed it to her. I thought of the man I had killed getting this tube, "I could have handled that a bit better..." But it's too late for guilt to plague me now, what's done is done.
Kirra took it with her oily hands and studied the tube, "Strange, powerful substance." she said and handed it back to me. "You never taught me how to put in the Opelentium." She said fixing her ponytail.
"No, I haven't. I'd rather you not get into direct contact with the stuff. Which is why I designed your bike to keep it safe within the bike. Even if your whole bike blew up that tube would be untouched by the explosion." I went over to her bike and pushed a combination of buttons on the side of it.
"Can I know the passcode?" she asked.
"No." I say bluntly.
"Why not? It's my bike."
"Because, you don't know what effects Opelentium can have on a person. It's an element that's unpredictable." I told her while the opening for the tube came out. I put the tube in and closed it.
"Then why use it in motorcycles?"
I looked at her, and smirked. "You ask to many questions." I sighed, "Because, so far that's the only way I've seen it safely used. It's safer than gas when used properly, more accessible now, and lasts a lot longer. But, if more mechanics did what I did, which is locate it in the center of the bike, then there would be a lot less accidents. But with all of the unnecessary crap they put in their bikes to try and make it run better they end up not having enough room. So, where does it end up? On the side, easily accessible, and easily explosive."
Which is what happened to the last guy who carried this tube of Opelentium.
She nodded, and hopped on her bike. She then took out her key and put it in the ignition. The Opelentium then ran through the bike, making parts of it glow, and it spurred to life.
"Yes! It works!" She said excited and put on her white helmet.
I hopped on my bike and turn on the ignition. "Let's go get her painted up." I said and smiled.
I heard another bike from behind pull into the driveway. Jay's dark blue Hayabusa pulled in. he parked it in between Kirra and I and turned it off.
He turned to Kirra, "What's this? You got it running?"
"Norah put in the Opelentium today! We're about to get her painted and detailed." She smiles ear to ear.
"That's great Kirra! But you be careful out there, don't go wondering off by yourself." He ignored me and took the bags of stuff into the building.
Kirra raised her eyebrow, "You guys have to stop arguing all the time."
"And you need to keep your nose out of it." I say and clear my throat, "Let's go."
We drove off onto the street and into town. Ten minutes later we pulled into Jazz's Garage.
"Hey what's up my friend!" Jazz came out and punched my arm.
"Nothing much, here to get Kirra's ride done." I cough.
"Awesome! And you must be Kirra, sweet ride girl. Your sister pimp it out for ya?" she laughed.
"Yeah," she said quietly. I could tell she was a bit intimidated by Jazz. To me, Jazz was just a little oriental girl. She had a little nose piercing and music notes tattooed on her arms, among other designs. But to Kirra, she must look like a freak show.
"Well let's get your bikes inside and see what we have to work with." We took the bikes inside, and Kirra whispered to me. "She has purple hair." I laughed, "Yeah she's eccentric but don't be fooled she's the best detailer in the country."
Honestly Kirra hasn't been out much other than the apartment. But most people out here looked like that, it's not really strange. Jazz had shaved the back of her head really short, but still black. And the top was longer and pushed towards the front with bright purple streaks. She should have seen her last week, when her hair was long with green.
An old Shinedown song plays in the background with the sound of a sprayer, and the smell of paint hangs in the air. Two other detailers worked in the back.
"So what color do you want for your bike?" Jazz asked Kirra, trying to involve her and get her to relax.
"Um...I was thinking white and black in it or something." she squirmed in her chair.
"Kirra, you can chill I don't bite." she laughs. "Okay, so are you considering any designs? A style you're going for? Do you like flowers, or is that too girly for you?"
Kirra laughed, "Nah no flowers. I was thinking I really like the indian designs, like the way they would put henna on their hands? So have a white body with black detailing of indian designing."
"Alright that's a cool idea, I promise It's gonna come out awesome. Just give me some time for me and your sister to discuss pricing and you'll see your new ride by tomorrow."
"Actually Kirra, why don't you go ahead home I'm going to hang out here for a bit okay?" I threw her my keys.
"Okay, I got stuff to do at home anyway. Thanks Norah!" She ran out the garage.
"Not a scratch!" I called out to her.
"She's a good kid." Jazz said.
"Yeah…but I worry about her sometimes. She's starting to act a little rebellious."
Jazz laughed, "And you being an illegal street racer isn't rebellious." She chuckled, "She's a teenager! Let her live a little, you and Jay keeping her in that broken down apartment twenty-four seven, it was bound to happen."
"Maybe your right…"
"Of course I'm right," she stuck out her tongue at me, "Give me a second I'm going to go put her bike in the back for now." Jazz got up and left.
I coughed, harder now. This time I took a tissue out of my pocket and coughed into it, trying to be more discreet about it. But I coughed harder, and started gasping,
"I...feel like...I'm coughing out...a...freaking lung!" I gasped and coughed, but it finally subsided. Looking in the tissue, it now had a blue black substance mixed with blood.
"Hey you alright?" one of the detailers asked me. "You looked like you were gonna puke your guts into that little tissue there." her Spanish accent was thick.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I quickly shoved the tissue into my pocket again.
"It's never been this bad before, I thought it was just because of allergies or something. What is that stuff?" I think.
I sat down and wait for Jazz, watching the girl detail a BMW, she looked up at my bike and then looked at me. "Nice ride," she commented, "I've never seen a Ducati like that before."
"Thanks, it was made in 2011 but I remodeled it myself."
She nodded in admiration, "Hey Friday, she did this bike herself." The man looked up at my bike and raised his eyebrows.
"You did that?" his deep voice was muffled, so he pulled down his mask. "Wow, that's beautiful." He approached my bike, "Do you mind?" I now recognized his accent. He must be Haitian.
I shook my head and cleared my throat, "Not at all."
He came up close and felt the smoothness of the body, admiring the jet black color that almost sparkled and the bright cerulean that etched out my initials. "Jazz did the paint job, I can tell. The structure of the body was kept classic but you completely rewired the way it works. There are a lot of people who would like to get their hands on your model if they found out how different it was."
"Most people can't tell just by looking at it that she's different."
He eyed me, "Yeah, that she's different...That's an awful bad cough you have."
"It's nothing." I suppress another cough.
I've heard that before." he went back to the bike he was working on and continued painting.
Suddenly a car pulls up to the driveway, four men exited the vehicle and approached.
The Spanish girl eyed them and then Friday.
"I'll take care of it, Eva." Friday walked up to the men who were headed towards me. The four look familiar, and I couldn't place them till I saw the burn marks on their necks and arms. Electrical burns.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" Friday stood up tall now and crossed his arms. I didn't realize how tall he was until now.
"We only came to see our friend Aura over there." the leader of the pack pointed to me. I gave Friday a nod.
"If you gentlemen need any more assistance then I'd be happy to oblige." It sounded more of a threat than a courtesy. Friday walked back to a motorcycle he was working on and kept his eye on us.
The four men came over and sat down on the couches.
"I hope you're not here to threaten me for money, because you know what happened last time." I rub my neck on the same spot Glitch had used his taser gun on the leader.
"Now Aura, don't be so hasty!" the man says coolly, I don't even know how they found me. I've never even taken off my helmet on the streets for them to know who I am.
"We're here to settle our little dispute. Since you insist on keeping your money, that's fine. Keep it. But regardless, my buddy here," he points to the man on his left, "is still hurt you beat our best man on the team. So, we have a deal for you. Double or nothing drag race. Only you and him." the man on his left raised his eyebrow at me and smiled.
This is certainly out of the ordinary. One, they track me down on the grounds of a wounded ego. Two, they claim that I didn't play fair in a game that has no rules. And judging by their classy car they don't need another two grand. Something's not adding up...
"That's quite an offer you have Mr?" I sit back and cough.
"You should get that checked out." he said referring to my cough. "Vaughan. Mr. Vaughan." using his real name, that's an oddity in itself. "So what do ya say? Do we have a deal?" the guy on his right showed a gun behind his jacket. This doesn't leave much time for speculation.
Doesn't seem like much of an option, at least I have a chance to win another two grand, that covers at least an entire year for supplies and food for my family and Glitch. I couldn't pass this up anyway.
"Mr. Vaughan, I can't resist a drag race like that." the guy covered the gun again.
"Good. Then show up at the abandoned mall 1 am sharp. Tonight." the four of them got up and walked out.
"Oh, and make sure you come," he looked at Friday and rubbed his burn, "alone." they all got into the car.
We all stand in silence, when Jazz came back.
"Sorry I-" she saw the car pull out. "Customers?" she looked at Eva.
"No, friends of 'Aura'." she pointed at me with her lips.
"Aura? Is that your new street name?" Jazz laughed, "I could do better than that."
"I don't care what they call me as long as I get paid." I sat down.
"So really, who were they?" She asked nosily, looking through some papers.
"Some guy named Mr. Vaughan, offering me a double or nothing race." I brushed it aside. Jazz stopped in her tracks, and looked up at me with the most terrified face I haven't seen since the bombing.
"Mr...Vaughan?" she repeated.
"Yeah? Jazz? What about it?" I got up now. She was silent, I could see in her dark eyes she was running my sentence over and over again in her head.
"Jazz?" I put my hand on her shoulder.
"Norah...Mr. Vaughan was the last one to see Dex..." she shook her head.
"Yeah?" I now remember seeing him talking to Dex a couple of weeks before he disappeared.
"And he challenged him to a double or nothing drag race the day he disappeared."