"You aren't going." Jazz said plainly.
"Yes Jazz." I said sarcastically, sat back down and leaned back, pondering what she just told me. Dex has been missing for over a year now, he was 18 when it happened. I see the point Jazz is making but it doesn't change anything, and I'm not 18.
"I'm not joking, you can't go. You can't do that to me, just disappear in the middle of the night and then not showing back up. Do you know how that would destroy Jay? They'll think you abandoned them."
"You're jumping to conclusions Jazz, you don't even know if this guy is responsible for Dex's disappearance. I'm not going to disappear, I'm going to win the race and bring back two thousand, just as I have before."
"You don't know what will happen, and before you even realize it you'll be too late." she started to raise her voice now.
"Listen, even if they did kidnap Dex, it's not like they could do the same to me. I'm not 18 years old Jazz and I could take Mr. Vaughan out and his little pawns." He threatened me but that's not why I'm going. I've seen some of those guys out racing before, and they weren't very good, it's easy money.
"Oh, because you can take on a mob by yourself. You're a good fighter Norah but be realistic here."
"In an ordinary case, I'd agree with you." I cough.
The sound of a motorcycle interrupted us, Jay pulled up.
She sighed, she knows she can't change my mind no matter how much she argues.
"Now I know how Jay feels..." she mumbled, "before you decide to go, just remember one thing. Kirra. Remember why you race Norah. Family, first." she turned and left, too frustrated with me.
Jay watched Jazz stomp off, looked at me and shook his head. "You've got a bad habit of making people angry, you know that right?"
"You don't even know what happened." I cough.
"Doesn't matter, it was your fault." He smirked now. At least he's not angry with me anymore. That's something I've always admired about him, always forgiving.
"I figured I'd pick you up, even though I should make you walk." we started for his motorcycle.
"Yeah...Probably." he smiled at the thought, and chuckled.
"I know your sorry Norah. I forgive you."
"I didn't mean it." I say as he pulls out and starts towards the apartment, "Even so, why is Jazz so upset? I haven't seen her like that in years."
I stayed silent. What am I supposed to tell him? He forgives me now, but tonight he's just going to get mad at me all over again.
"Another race?" Sometimes I swear he can read my mind.
"Yeah."
"Jazz has never had a problem with that, why is she so upset?"
I can't tell him about Mr. Vaughan, he'll be destroyed if he found out I put myself in more danger than I already do. I'll just bring the money home like it's another ordinary race.
"She's just sore because I told her I can't take care of her friend's ride on discount." I lied.
"Ah. That it?" he says suspiciously.
"That's it."
He raised an eyebrow but didn't question me further. I know he knows I'm lying, but he knows if won't talk about it to him, that he'll find out what it was either in the morning when he finds how much money was put into the safe overnight, or through Jazz later. We start walking up the stairs, the sound of an old piano getting louder as we go up and into our apartment. Kirra is sitting at the old piano playing a classical tune.
"Is that new?" I ask her as we both walk in the door.
"Yup, it's in this old piano book I found in the piano stool." she lifted the book; the pages were yellowed a bit.
"It's called Shattered Humanity, the composer's name is faded though. Whoever wrote the song was ahead of his time anyway."
"Sounds depressing."
She shrugged and continued playing.
"One day, I'm going to buy you a white baby grand, and we'll have enough money to get a real apartment. Just like those rich people who get real homes." I think. And it's true, only the rich and famous survived all this time and used their money to rebuild their homes. The poor or middle class were left to live in the ruins left behind. There are some neighborhoods that are starting to be rebuilt, but it's hard to rebuild something that just gets bombed again.
I walk into my room and plop on the bed, listening to what wouldn't be a creepy tune if it was on a better piano and the sound of Jay walking around in the kitchen, slowly drifting to sleep.
I woke up sweaty and panting, Jazz's tales of kidnapped children and testing had been intertwined with my parents and Mr. Vaughan. I look at the alarm clock beside the bed, ten thirty. Kirra's already asleep beside me, breathing heavily. I get up quietly and pick up my helmet from the corner. I slip on my black boots, changing my tank for a black shirt and put on my leather riding jacket, and black fingerless gloves. Tiptoeing out of the room I peek into Jay's room. He's not there, must be with Glitch downstairs. That makes it a lot easier to sneak out. I walk out the front door and start for the garage, stopping by Glitch's door. I can hear them both talking, Glitch using the big technical name for things and electronics. A glowing blue light coming from under the door, probably one of his inventions. The kid's a genius, Dex taught him everything he knew.
I continue on, making it down another flight of stairs,
"I'll see you around 3 am?" Jay called down, startling me.
I looked up, and smile wearily. "Yeah, just like I always do."
He gave a sigh, and disappeared back to Glitch's apartment.
I walked the rest of the way, hopped on my bike and put on my helmet. The garage was open, Jay must have just opened it for me. It's colder now, must be at least fifty degrees out because I can see my breath. I cough a little bit but suppress it as much as I can. I don't want another episode again and that stuff to come out of me.
What was that stuff anyway? Why am I sick? I never thought about it too much until now. This is clearly not the cough of a cold...I wonder if it has to do with-?
No, it's not. I haven't used that in ages because I was afraid I'd be caught. It wouldn't make sense to start getting sick from it now, because I've had it for as long as I can remember.
I start her up, the blue Opelentium flickering alive flowing through my bike, shining off the jet black paint. My initials, NG, glowed the cerulean blue from the Opelentium. A few of the orange street lights flickered, fighting to stay alive. About half of them are already out. I pulled out and drove off, taking about a half hour to get there.
When I arrived in the mall parking lot a group of men were gathered in the middle. I pull up, not taking off my helmet. I never take my helmet off in front of a crowd, even if they had found me and knew who I was.
All of the parking lot lights were on, someone must have fixed them up. The mall however was mostly in a ruin. Some buildings remained intact, but the place gives off a haunted feeling. One that reminded you of all the innocent lives that were claimed here.
"Welcome Aura!" Mr. Vaughan was the first to greet me. "I'm glad you could make it, well lets not dillydally. You'll be racing him." He pointed to the man that came with him last time, the one that was on his left. He wears a tinted black helmet, and he leans on a Suzuki Hayabusa, the newest version of it, and Opelentium courses through it like blood.
"And his name is?" I ask, not fazed.
"He's not one to give his name away," he came up and whispered now, "but I wouldn't be so confident, he's not a by the book kind of guy." No-Name was now flipping around a knife in his hand casually.
"Good to know I'm not the only one." I say, and Mr. Vaughan laughs aloud.
"Let's get on with it then!"
He leaves for a minute and starts talking to another guy there. The rest of them stare at me like I'm a piece of meat, winking and a couple whistle. I ignore all of them and focus on Mr. Vaughan, the man he talks to doesn't open his mouth but only widens his eyes. He then turns towards me and glares, Mr. Vaughan puts his hand on his chest and stops him from approaching me, and whispers a few more things to him. After he's done he walks back up to me. The man he was talking to continues to stare me down, taking in strained breaths it seems. I look towards Mr. Vaughan who now explains the track to me, it's fairly small and easy compared to the other races I've been in. Probably to just test the skill of the driver since there is only two of us, instead of prolonging it more than it has to be. I'm familiar with the area so it won't be to hard. Once more I look towards the direction of the man who looked like he was about to rip off my head, but he's no longer there. I look around, trying to find where he might have went, but I don't find him.
I shake my head and line up with my opponent, focusing all my attention to the race. First one to the circle the track and come back to the parking lot wins. The sound a gunshot cracks in the air, and we speed forward.
I speed out of the parking lot, cross a few roads, and jump on the highway in a matter of minutes. But I haven't escaped No-Name, he's right on my tail.
"100 mph." My speedometer tells me. And the gravity holder automatically activates.
I don't get it, his bike can go up to 150 in less time, but he's still choosing to follow me instead.
Traffic is light, not many people can afford cars nowadays. This is the rich part of town, I start to wonder why they chose this place to race. Just when I think he's not taking this seriously No-Name speeds ahead, going 200 mph. I speed up and follow him, weaving through traffic.
"190 mph" my speedometer says.
"I need to go faster," I pick up my speed to 197 mph. I'm right on his tail now, he looks back at me, lifts his visor, smiles, and goes up onto a different exit.
"What is he doing?" then I realized what was going on, and why they chose the rich part of town. A cop's sirens go off behind me. Cops are more prevalent in this type of area, where they can get a salary. No one pays attention to the poor part of the city. But I've avoided cops before, this will be fine. I pass a car and hide between another car and a truck on the lane farthest to the right. A bridge is coming up, and I passed the opening to the exit it by just a little too much. It's now or never. The cop is still trying to get a lock on my motorcycle's signal, before he could even realize what I did I jumped my motorcycle over onto to the exit that was going down under the bridge.
The cop continued onto the bridge, and I made my way back on course. The exit No-Name took was the long way, and the jump I just made cut my time in half, he must be way behind me now.
I continue at inhuman speeds, until I come back around to the mall.
"Four thousand in two days. That's pretty good." I think.
I come into the parking lot, looking for the finish line.
And to my satisfaction there the crowd is, waiting for the winner. I pull up, and everyone's giving dissatisfactory groans.
"She won, fair and square." Mr. Vaughan walks up to me, "Well done. I suppose I underestimated you. No matter, here is your money." he handed me a roll of cash.
No-Name now pulled up, Mr. Vaughan shot him a menacing glance but continued talking to me.
"Aura, I'm going to give my friend here," he points to No-Name, "another chance to beat you, a week from today. This time, there will be more racers. And a larger prize." he smiled, making me feel uncomfortable.
I was silent, and counted the chances of me winning another race against Mr. Vaughan's men, something is just plain creepy about him.
"How much?" I finally ask.
"We'll double it. Four thousand." he shrugged, "take it now, or leave it."
"Done."
"Excellent! I will see you in a week then." He whistled for his group to go, and just as they were all leaving I hear a bloodthirsty cry. I jolt, and look in the direction of where it came. And the man whom Mr. Vaughan had held back was now ripping through the group trying to get to me.
He screamed and kicked as the group held him back, instinctively I drive off. I look back once to see Mr. Vaughan sedating him and and one man drag him away.
My heart still pounding, I can't shake the scream out of my head. He looked mad. I don't even know why they would bring a mad person to the race. And something is so familiar about him; I just can't place it. I think I've seen him before. A cough attack interrupted my thoughts, I manage to keep driving, and reach the apartment at two-thirty.
I open up the garage, its hard work by myself, and park.
"Four thousand in two days." I think, over and over again, "four thousand in two days, four grand, in two days."
I'm almost skipping in joy now, if it weren't for my coughing. I walk up the stairs, into the apartment, and drop my stuff in the corner after putting the money in the safe.
"I think I'll stop by Jazz's tomorrow to show how alive I am." I think, and then chuckle aloud.
"What's so funny?" Kirra mumbles.
"Nothing." I plop down on the bed, "I got the money for your bike just now."
Kirra's eyes went from tired to bright. "Yeah?"
"Yup, I'm going to stop by Jazz's tomorrow to drop it off."
"Okay." she rolled over, smiling.
"Goodnight." I ripped off my shoes and jacket, and just like every other night I pass out.