Unsung Requiem by C.L. Stone

Fortississimo

(As loud as possible)

Victor

Driving the V28 was harder than it appeared, as Victor wasn’t totally used to shifting. The car groaned a few times as Victor got used to how to use the clutch and where to hold his arm in order to get the shifting stick to move where he wanted.

He was surprised it was in the back of the parking lot. He thought Kota had it for the night. What happened to Kota?

His heart raced, partially that he’d smoked pot and that he would likely get into so much trouble. Part of it was that he was driving this new car and every time he hit the gas, it shot forward.

Focus. Focus now.

He repeated this through the fog in his brain. They hadn’t taken that much, or so he thought. He even had tried to hold the smoke in his mouth more than his lungs, but still, the effect was so strong.

But now, he had to get Sang. Get her and get out.

He waited on the other side of the maintenance building. Luke had gone to get Gabriel, telling Victor to wait here in this car and don’t move.

But orders changed once he got the emergency call from North, telling him to get Sang and drive off.

“Don’t go far,” North said. “Just find a block you can hide in and sit. And go slow. Wait until you sober before going further. Spend the night in the car if you have to.”

What happened to the others that they were all too busy? Why did that seem to happen? Everything fell on him.

Victor thought he was doing much better. He managed to get the car this far.

Victor put the call in to Sang and waited for her where he said he’d be.

Sang appeared, her hair disheveled and her clothes dirty. She ran to the car once she spotted it, opening the passenger door. She peered in. “Victor?”

“Get in, we have to go,” Victor said.

She hesitated. “But…”

“Unless you’re driving!”

She shook her head slowly and took another minute, but then got in.

“Buckle in,” Victor said. “I’ll try not to kill us.”

Focus. Focus. Focus. Don’t even look at her.

She was saying something, but with the pot fogging his brain and trying to figure out how to drive the car, he tuned her out. Just for now.

“Don’t talk,” he said. “Let me focus. … Focus…”

He talked to himself now, loud, about the steps he needed to take. “Push the gas. No, too much. Brake. Release brake slowly. Turn the wheel.”

The car coasted a little while idling but didn’t go too far. He followed the road until he realized it was a dead end behind the coliseum, however, there was a field and he pushed the gas this time, going over it.

“Maybe we can just park it in those trees,” Sang said, holding on to her seat and still bouncing a bit as Victor drove through the grass.

The bottom of the car scraped a few times against rocks and debris. For a moment, he thought it was going to be stuck, but it pulled away with a bit more push to the gas pedal.

“We have to find a…” Victor wanted to try to remember what North said but he was sure trees weren’t it. “We have to hide. Until I sober.”

“Go over there, maybe?” Sang pointed.

It was a spot between two trees, like she’d said before. Yet the location didn’t seem right.

Victor found a single lane on the other side of the wide expanse of grass and followed it. This led to a bigger two-lane road.

He didn’t know where they were. He didn’t really have a location in mind. Once he was on the road, he slowly pushed the gas more. A bit too fast at one point, to where the car zipped forward and he feared it was much too fast. The police would pull them over.

“Victor…” Sang said.

He sighed when she said his name. “I wish we could run off, Sang.”

“Maybe you can just pull over now,” she said.

“I do love you, you know?” Victor asked. “You didn’t say it back. I know I was drunk.” It hadn’t really bothered him she didn’t say it because it was so sudden and he blurted it out. He just wanted to tell her.

She hesitated. “Victor…”

His heart was beaming. He was alone with her. They were safe together. They just had to get away for a while. Maybe they could go to some motel for the night. North did that with her once. He should be allowed. “Let’s go to the beach.”

“Can you pull over for a minute?” she asked. She sat back, bracing the seat, like he was going too fast.

Was he?

The speedometer was so bright, he wasn’t sure what it was saying. Or were his eyes watering? Was the window open?

Pull over. She asked to pull over.

He turned the wheel, what he thought was a little bit.

And suddenly, out of nowhere, the car shifted hard to the right. Like a rollercoaster out of control, the whole car tilted right, not just turned.

Tilted all the way over.

There was a blankness. Darkness. His face smashed against something both hard and pillowy. The airbag had deployed.

It wasn’t until the car settled, upside down, that he opened his eyes back again. He hadn’t even realized he closed them. Had he been knocked out?

The airbag seemed to fade away after a few moments. Where before he felt smashed in, now he hung loose.

He could see Sang, her hair standing up on her head, until he realized it was only because she was hanging upside down, like him, still strapped to her seat.

The bracelet he’d given her dangled from her arm, the heart drifting across her skin.

The horror welled up in him, but he couldn’t move. He didn’t know why.

Something blurred his eyes. Warm. Wet.

Her door opened. She was removed. A voice. A strange voice.

Like multiple voices at once.

But Victor was left behind.

Left in the car.

Hanging upside down.

Alone.