It happened so fast that it even startled my Instinct. At once she was in control, running cross the room the door I had entered through. Behind us I heard crashing, the thud of a door slamming open and thunderous footsteps hammering on the wooden floor. We were at the door by the time I heard the splash of the yoghurt onto the ground, the dull puck as the half-emptied container hit the deck. Ripping it open, we sprinted at full pelt into the hall, and nearly sprained an ankle when we stopped for the door to the living room.
I tried to think through the adrenaline-rich blood that was pounding in my ears, tried to think of who could be chasing us. The first thought in my mind was the man in black from the shop, Henry. He’d found me once, so what’s to say that he came back to finish the job. Then I started to think sensibly, that the only person who it could be was the homeowner. It had to be an angry homeowner with a phone, with a car; with everything necessary to alert the police, or take us in himself.
That is, it he can catch us.
Before I was aware of where we were, my Instinct and I were outside, running down the street. Mere seconds after I heard the whirr, chug, chug of a car engine coughing to life. We ran down the street, but there was no side path or alleyway, and there was no chance of us trying another house.
Even though we were fast, unbelievably fast, the car was drawing level with us in less than a hundred meters. The shiny blue coat glimmered in the bitter air, fear shredded through me as I thought of the implications this could have. I could be fined, trialled, go to jail. Anything could happen; all over some yoghurt. I tried to concentrate on the footpath, the intersection ahead and the chance of escape, but it all seemed pointless. He had a car, he had a phone, he had anger and intention, and what did I have?
I had a crazy schizophrenic mind that seemed to hijack my body in times of need. I had amnesia. I had incredible pace, incredible knowledge, incredible everything: everything but a life.
His window was winded down, and I could tell from the furrowed brow that he thought I would escape. “Give up!” he called, worry staining his voice. The intersection was my only hope. He pulled his car down to a slow crawl, matching my pace, then below it. He had to check for other cars on the road. My heart sunk as I heard nothing, nothing over the roar of his engine and the gushing of blood through my veins. We were picking up speed, leaving him behind at the last minute.
We were ten meters from the four-way intersection.
We neared the corner and my racing companion realised that there weren’t any other cars on the road.
Perfect. It was another voice, inside my head, but it wasn’t my thoughts. She was thinking, and she was planning. A small beacon of hope lit up in my head. If she was thinking of it, then it must be good.
I was amused by the fact that we ran through the intersection, straight past the only side street for the next few hundred meters. Who knows what could happen in that distance? Our breathing slowed as he regained speed, levelling out with no fear of a sudden change in direction; or so he thought.
We skidded to a halt, and he zoomed right on passed. The elation of my heart was nothing compared to the clarity that the adrenaline rush had introduced. A wide grin spread from ear to ear, even though my Instinct was still in control. She doubled back, and reached the intersection once again, turning left. Our ears perked up as a loud screech erupted into the air, the backwards motion of the car and then a turn. Somehow, I could picture his exact action from the sound of the car that we heard. In seconds we were passed a dozen houses, even though I knew that this speed should not be known to man, let alone a teenage girl.
We were half way down the new street, half way to the next intersection when the blue car rounded the corner. We shuddered as we heard it, but that only made my Instinct push our body to its limits. I could feel the increase in speed, the slight advance in power that made us sprint eve faster. I was surprised, we weren’t even breathing heavily. This is better than a world class athlete could do, and I was hardly breaking a sweat.
The car drew level when we had halved the distance between us and the intersection. I caught a glance of his face and drew in a steep breath; he was enraged almost to the point of steam coining through his ears, foaming at the mouth. He knew our tricks now, and because the car was so much more bulky than a person, he would have to make his move before the next street. There were only a few houses to go now, barely more than fifteen between us and another evasive manoeuvre; just over a hundred meters. At the speed we were running, it would take less than ten seconds.
He revved his engine, switched up a gear and pulled ahead. What is he doing? I wondered, but my acquaintance kept her cool. We moved slower, but still at a breathtaking pace.
It all happened so fast from then on in, it’s a wonder my Instinct was able to react so fast.
He slammed on the breaks, and the awful sound of friction poisoned our ears. I remember seeing his hunched form over the steering wheel, twisting heavily to the side. A fraction of a second and the car started to skid, still at incredible speed, but now running onto the pavement. The wheels bounced and he was thrown forwards in his seat belt, which he had luckily thought to buckle up. The car was sideways now, bounding onto the pavement like a barricade, which is exactly what it became.
There was twenty meters between us and the intersection, and only ten between us and the car.
My Instinct did not falter, however, and she kept on running, now at full pelt once again. Half a second later and only five meters separated us; we bent down into a crouch, still sprinting hard as we could. Another step and we pushed off, just in time to see the angry man, opening the car door and stepping out. We cleared the car’s height by half a meter, a feat that surprised even me. We passed straight over the shell-shocked mans head. It was unbelievable, the feeling of wind passing through your hair, ripping at your clothes and whooshing in your face. I felt the cool air as it flew through my lungs, and for once, we were not fighting the wind, racing into it and shoving it aside, we were at peace. We were flying solo at one with the elements.
But what goes up…
Must come down.
We started to decline straight after passing the man and then it was me, plummeting towards the earth, not even passed the car; just me. She was gone, just like yesterday. She had got me out of danger, started to fight the hazard off, and then she left. It was that simple; we were no longer flying - I was crashing into a car.
My arms started to sail through the air, flailing and grasping at anything they could find. But, as you would expect in such a situation, there was nothing but air. Felt my body twist in the air, no longer in control, but at the mercy of the elements. I coiled in the wind, battered at once by the sheer force of my own momentum. Somehow I landed on my back, half on the car, half off.
And just my luck, you can guess which half was about to plummet to the ground. I started to slide, ever so slowly off of the car. The bright, white sky and the lifeless, dreary landscape were upside down, the ground seems to fall onto me. My head lolled backwards, the grey pavement started coming up to engulf me. Even though my hands were thrashing madly at my sides the slippery metal car held no oddities in its surface. I squeak was heard barely by me ears as I grasped franticly for some grip. Sometime later I closed my eyes, not willing to see the gravel in extreme close up, but soon after that I felt a dent in the car surface, both hands gravitated towards it, and by twisting my body around to grab what me left hand found to be the car handle, I somehow managed to avoid the full on impact. My chin hit the ground hard, forcing my head to crack backwards with tremendous force. My body was soon to follow, and I did a somersault on the ground, landing on my front, breathing in the loose shingle.
At some point along the track, the aches and pains made me pass out.
