Daniel
"You've been late, the race is about to start, Daniel," Marco told me, annoyed and limping.
"What have they done to you?"
"They have made me fall, I bend my foot, I have a hard time walking. I'm sorry to do that to you, Daniel, really, but Derek wouldn't answer my calls."
"Where's your car?" I followed him.
There were many girls and boys between sixteen and thirty years old as spectators. The crowd shouted and cheered enthusiastically, as if the race was something really important. I wondered what it was that led those people to be there as part of the public, I wondered why they risked the police arriving and finding them. When the police heard about these races and arrived, they would arrest anyone who had in their sight and did not wear an officer's uniform. Maybe the same reason I got into all of this: for my father. Or mental stupidity.
We got to Marco's car and I was hesitant to do it or not, but I couldn't back down, not now. People were screaming louder and that made me nervous.
"Quiet," Marco pressed my shoulder.
"Quiet?" The last time I was in such a place I almost died.
"That day there was a lot of rain, this time nothing will happen. I promise you I won't ask you again, Daniel. The next one I will go," his eyes reflected sincerity and guilt. I knew he didn't do it to me.
"You should leave this. It doesn't do you any good," I advised. This was the ninth time he had told him so in the day.
Marco looked away for a moment, uncomfortable because of my seriousness. He arranged his hair and didn't answer me.
"How are the opponents?"
"You'll run against two, buddy. They're good, but you're better," he said, in an attempt to make me feel calmer. Clearly that wasn't going to happen.
"I haven't run in two years. Of course they are better than me, Marco."
"You can."
"You owe me a big one," I replied.
"I'm really sorry. I wouldn't have called you, but I didn't know what else to do. We bet a lot of money. And I don't have that money, I'll be in debt but..."
I knew well that Marco was not trying to put me in more pressure, he wanted me to stay calm and have that super arrogant attitude that I had in the past, when I thought I was the best of all, when I thought I was invincible. But things changed a lot, the years have passed and my ability and love for adrenaline were appeased.
Marco quickly explained to me how far the goal was, the signals I should follow and what techniques I should use. My competition got into their respective cars, which were on the sides of Marco's car. When I got into the car and observed the line I had to cross to start the competition, I remembered all my past as an illegal runner: the addictive adrenaline, the smile that formed during the race, the feeling of fresh air rushing impetuously through the window, my victorious smile when I took the prize.
I put my hands on the wheel, waiting for it all to start. Marco wished me good luck by shaking my hand and went to the audience. His brown eyes crossed with mine and I had to take them away from him, because my friend accommodated his black hair with a lot of nervousness and that generated the same thing for me, because as much as Marco tried to show me that everything was going to be fine and that I could, he was afraid.
A pink-haired girl stood off the line, she had a black and white checkered flag. She would start the competition.
"Stop, wait a minute!" Said one of my opponents, getting out of his car and surrounding mine until he was on the side of the driver's door.
I unbuckled my belt and pulled down.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Marco approached us. The other opponent also got out of the car and approached the circle we had formed.
"This is against the rules, Marco. You are the one who must drive."
"I can't drive, I've hurt my ankle. And what rules are you talking about, Louis? You've never mentioned any of that," Marco replied, folding his arms.
"What are you going to know? You're new to this," the other guy got in.
"Close your mouth, Troy," Marco seemed worried.
"Are you afraid of losing to me? Are they afraid of having a new threat? Maybe it's because they heard how good I am running" I got into the conversation.
"Who do you believe?" Louis looked at me with some contempt.
"If you're so good, then you won't mind us doubling the prize amount," Troy said.
I looked at Marco.
He didn't know how much the original prize amount was, but he knew that Marco didn't have that amount of money, let alone double that. It was an abuse that they wanted to double the amount. The way Louis and Troy looked at us was very annoying, you could tell they thought they were better than us and I didn't like it at all, so I turned on my super serious side. I wasn't going to let those guys look at my friend that way.
"You're going to regret betting twice as much," I used my dark tone. Many people have repeatedly told me that when I got serious it was scary.
"Why?" Troy looked at me with amusement.
"Because I'm very good and I'm going to beat them."
With nothing more to say, I got into the car. Louis and Troy looked at each other and walked to their respective places.
"Are you sure, Daniel?" Marco asked, very worried.
"No, but I will do my best. I don't like them trying to humiliate mine. I am too proud to leave and leave."
The girl returned to her position and I prepared, making the engine roar. I could already feel all that adrenaline inside my body, running through my veins, sending electric shocks all over my skin. I smiled unconsciously, realizing that despite what happened to me, I had missed all these unique and dangerous sensations. I knew it was wrong to feel pleasure in the face of danger, but now was not the time to rethink my rare tastes, now it was only time to embark on a path to good money, to embark on a path to victory. I mentally crossed my fingers that everything would go well, so that the police would not find out about anything and so as not to crash or slip at any time.
My breathing was somewhat irregular, just as it was in my first few running times. It had been so long since my first race... I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe how everything was so good for so many years and then I was left with almost nothing and ended up fleeing my country.
"You can, Dan," I said what my father would have told me to encourage me. I heard his voice in my mind and felt I could. I felt I could win.
The pink-haired girl waved the flag in the air and I started the car. The vibration, the feeling, the hope, the emotion... everything was amazing. I felt like that eighteen-year-old boy whose father had started racing. I felt younger, more alive. For an instant, I imagined that everything that was taken from me never happened. Running again, unexpectedly, instead of making me feel pure fear of having an accident again, momentarily returned me to my past and was great. It was like a kind of placebo.
I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Louis and Troy coming behind me. I was ahead of them and that sense of satisfaction doubled. I was doing well until, several seconds later, I was rammed: my body leaned slightly forward from the impact. Louis was the cause of that, he did it purposely, all to gain advantage. And he succeeded: he managed to get ahead of me.
Honestly, at the time of the onslaught, the pre-accident images I had reappeared in my mind, causing a chill to run down my spine. Already in itself, at the beginning of the race, my heart beat like crazy, but after Louis it was worse. I took a deep breath watching his car drive away, but I didn't give up or allow myself to be negative and accelerated as much as Marco's good car could, getting closer and closer to him and leaving far behind troy's pathetic car, who mistakenly, for trying to be bad, had bet twice the original money and was now losing.
With rage, resentment and a lot of pride, I caught up with Louis. The finish line was very close, we had already done the necessary five laps and this was the last one. We were both tied. I saw all those people screaming, laughing and cheering. I crossed the finish line next to Louis, cursing.
"Fuck!" I screamed.
I wanted to win.
I stopped the car at the same time as Louis. Troy, embarrassed, got out of the car, cursing loudly. I got out of the car, hearing the audience scream. My heart was beating like crazy, what had been very dangerous a while ago, but the feeling was really exquisite and addictive. I had forgotten what it felt like to run that way. I didn't want to admit it, but for the first time in a long time, I felt like the real Daniel.
"Tie! Tie! They were all screaming, circling our cars."
Marco came up to me.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"Nothing happens, you haven't lost, but we will have to tie."
"You run very well," Louis came up to me and stretched out his hand to shake it with me. I had to admit that he was running well too, but he rammed me in the middle of the race, and that's cheating. Had it not happened, he would have beaten him with a lot of lead.
"I would have beaten you if you hadn't rammed me," I replied. Still, I shook his hand.
"I'm waiting for you next week to tie a tie," he ignored what I said.
"Next week you will run against Marco, I was his replacement only for today."
"No, the rules don't allow anyone to take anyone's place in a tiebreaker. Either you are the one running against me, or you give up and pay me, Daniel."
I hesitated a lot. I looked at Marco and then at Louis.
I said it would be just for this time and I wouldn't touch a car again for an illegal race, but now I had my hands tied by Marco, my best friend, and I wasn't going to abandon it and let Louis' idiot take the money for my performance. Besides, I didn't give up. Not with how proud he was.
"Okay. See you next week." I crossed my arms.