Speed

[ Fiction ]

He arrived at the shade with the car key in clutched fist and immediately settled in the drivers seat slamming the door.

Ignition turned full on and engine fired up; screeches of backing up turning tires tore up peace of the quiet neighborhood's night. By the time he arrived at the on-ramp to the freeway his harsh breaking and equally sudden accelerations would have made his mood clear to any onlookers but they were absent and he was oblivious. His mind didn't even register the fading profanities of a pick-up trucker when he merged in front of him being too close for comfort.

Once in lane with some breathing space ahead, he started moving again.

Tick tick.. a look behind...left
Tick tick.. left
Tick tick.. left...

He was now in the fastest lane with road on slight descent; in middle of dense traffic that was moving rapidly in both directions, oncoming yellows equally matched by the reds flowing ahead. 78-85-90-92-. And he found he can't go any further. Then he started weaving between the cars where space allowed and he felt he will soon leave this cloud of traffic behind. He thought, he was discovering a new mode of driving and started feeling better.

Suddenly he saw the image of the truck ahead blow up on his windshield in silence. For the next second he was not present but here is what happened. His foot pressed on the break pedal instinctively, then lifted itself, his right hand turned the power steering for a split second and restored it back. When he woke up from this second-long dream he was surrounded by deafening silence and then suddenly the noise of the freeway came back and he found he was seeing back fender of some car roll on the road and being left behind in the rear view mirror. For few seconds he was completely blank. Then he felt the hair rise on the arms and felt his heart beating with something gushing in his arms and shoulders. He realized he was still driving and he centered his car in the lane.