And After All ...

The Homing-Bot did not arrive until around eleven that night. Speed and I had been in the living room, watching this British movie about a scientist who becomes obsessed with a couple that lives next door that he can see through a hole in his wall and, as a result, punches more holes into it so he can watch them.

"What's the point of this movie again?" he asked.

"I told you it was terrible."

"Then please explain to me why we're watching it!" he demanded.

"Sorry, Wunderkind, but I'm gonna have to let you spin on that one," I replied. He crossed his arms and continued to gaze at the screen, mumbling, "Might as well … nothing better on anyway."

Through the open window, the little robot came sailing in. It landed right atop the Mach 5's hood.

"Gizmo's back," said Speed, rushing to the car. He pushed the button to Gizmo's compartment and explained, "We'll call the CIB about it tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Fine," I smiled.

He stared at his knees, as if his pants were the most enthralling thing in the universe. Suddenly he said, "Trixie, you know, Gizmo is my robot. And with this … if there's something really worth noting … I'm the one responsible. No one has to know you're involved in this at all."

I lowered my face to his level, pulled his head close, and touched our cheeks together. I sighed, "Speed, he's my dad. Everyone is going to know I'm involved." Never tearing my gaze away from his eyes, I fell to my knees, wrapped my hands around his extended arm, and rubbed it up and down, "Do you know how much you mean to me?"

"You mean a lot to me, too," he replied.

"Kiss me?"

"What?"

"Just kiss me, please," I begged. He leaned over the door to touch his lips to mine, until …

"Get a room," said Spritle, hopping down the stairs with Chim-Chim. The chimp squeaked and nodded, concurring with him.

Speed jumped back from me and turned his head disdainfully towards his brother. He asked, "Wasn't your bedtime an hour ago, Spritle?" The boy shifted his eyes around the room suspiciously. He murmured, "We were just gonna get some water."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize he was lying through his teeth.

"It'd be a shame if Mom found out you weren't getting your eight hours," Speed continued.

"Yeah … well … I'm sure she wouldn't be happy about you eating before bed, either," he retorted. Speed and I glanced at each other, bewildered. 'Eating before bed?'

"What are you getting at?" Speed asked.

"You are trying to swallow Trixie's tongue, right?" Spritle gibed.

"Spritle, I swear, if you don't get out of here …"

"Oh, continue your spit-swapping-fest," he interrupted. "Come on, Chim-Chim." They bounced up the stairs, Spritle whispering, "I guess we'll just have to watch it in our room."

"What could he be so anxious to see?" I asked.

"No doubt something Mom and Pops wouldn't want him to."

"Are you going to tell them he's still up?"

Speed shifted his mouth from side to side and concluded, "Nah, he'll give himself away tomorrow when he collapses in the pancakes." He looked to the clock and said, "We should probably get to sleep ourselves. Brittlerock's tomorrow." He went over to the TV.

"Do we really have to watch the end of this movie?" he asked.

"Oh, no," I said. "I read about it." He let out a deep breath of relief and pressed the power button off.

"Just so you know, you're mine, too," he declared suddenly.

"What?" I asked. He motioned his head to the now-blank television screen, "I know. And you're mine, too." As he trotted up the stairs, I stared at his back and grinned.

The movie's name was Wonderwall.

I followed up the staircase and skipped into my room. Speed was standing in his doorway, hand on the light switch. He bade me, "Good night, Trix."

"Nighty-night, Speed," I said with a wave. He chuckled and turned his lights off. I smiled too as I flipped the switch and closed my door.

I sat up for a while, thinking about everything that happened, everything I had discovered, and that horrible movie. My eyes stayed transfixed on the black ceiling, looking at, but not seeing, the moving illusions that danced in the dark. I started blinking rapidly and soon fell asleep.

I stood alone in darkness, nothing at all to be seen. Voices called, "Quit. Quit. Quit."

"I won't!" I yelled. The voices responded by coming out of the shadows and grabbing me. They pulled by my limbs, even my clothes, in one direction.

"It's not your time," said Racer X.

"You know how competitive Speedy gets!" Mom Racer warned.

"I told him it would be nice if you survived," My father snorted. "Your boyfriend is doomed." When they finally released me, I was standing before a door. Speed was stationed in front of it.

"What do I do?" I asked him.

"Find your direction," he said. He moved away from the door and I could see the writing on it: Their Direction: The Easy Way Out. I walked over and reached my hand to it, but just as my fingers touched the surface, I felt a tug on the back of my shirt. Something was holding me back.

"Prove my brother wrong, Trixie," said a little voice

"I didn't come this far to quit now," added another. I turned and faced my ten-year-old self and the girl from Waterstratt's class. I shook my head clear, knelt down, and hugged them both, "Thank you."

Everything melted away. I was in the TRX-1, driving on the track at Cosmopolis; the Grand Prix! Even through the black tint of my helmet, the neon lights were almost blinding. I turned the wheel absentmindedly, concentrating solely on the beauty of my surroundings

Then I felt something ram me. I glanced over, only to find Kellie Kalinkov smiling at me. Then someone else joined it. I turned to my right, where Rosey Blaze was giving me everything she had.

I pushed the A button on my dashboard. Nothing happened.

"The Jump Jacks can't be disabled," I whispered, just before I took another blow. All the other cars on the track were crowded around me pushing my car towards the ramp. I looked around desperately while pressing button after button with no response. Finally, something occurred to me.

I couldn't see the Mach 6.

The other drivers finally managed to throw me off the ramp. I went tumbling through the air, car and all. Then the car vanished, and I was left, sailing as if in slow motion, until I hit face first into solid ground. I turned myself over and looked at my body. I was now wearing a black dress. My father stood above me in a black suit.

"Daddy?" I asked, glancing around. "Where are we?" Dirt and tombstones surrounded us. I concluded, "The cemetery."

"It's your fault," said he.

"What are you talking about?"

"She got sick because you left!" he yelled. "She cried for you every day and you just sat around, philandering. It's your fault she's dead, Patricia. And when he dies, it'll be your fault, too." I looked over my head at the tomb I was lying on.

Gregory "Speed" Racer.

"No!" I yelled. I touched the stone, feeling every indentation on the rock. "He's not dead, he can't be dead …"

"All he ever did was care for you!" shouted Mom Racer's croaky voice. "I knew you were trouble! Look what you've done! It should have been you!!"

"It should have been you!" chanted the family. I found myself in a ditch, dirt washing over my small body.

"NGH!" I moaned, jerking awake, tears streaming down my face. I ran out of bed, opened my door, and ran into Speed's room. For a while my hand wandered, looking for the light switch, until I found it, purely by chance. Speed was lying in bed, eyes closed, and silent. I moseyed over to the side of the bed and watched him.

Then I whacked him on the chest.

His eyes opened and started kicking blindly in front of him.

"Hi," I said. Finally, he saw me and asked, "What was that for?!"

"You weren't snoring," I explained. "I got scared."

"I snore?" he asked.

"You sound like an air conditioner," I confirmed. He rubbed his chest and said, "Okay, but if anyone asks … you were a ninja." I smiled and nodded, "Okay. But, um, Speed…"

"Yeah?"

"Can I stay here tonight?" I asked. "With you?"

"I'd love that, but if Mom and Pops …"

"Please?" I added. He paused, but finally said, "Sure." I turned the light back off, strutted back to the bed, got on my knees, and felt for his hand. I pulled it toward me and rested my head on it.

"Never leave me," I demanded.

"I won't."

-- Author's Note: okay, so this whole chapter is one big reference to that Oasis song, but hey, that song is awesome. And the movie really DOES exsist, and they really do say it's terrible.--