Zane was quick to slide into the car, and as he did so his eyes went wide at the sheer beauty of it all; the leather seats, the hi-tech dashboard, among other things which just seemed to make the car a perfect machine. No wonder they bought it… he thought to himself as he buckled the seat belt, just in time it seemed, before Vicki began her adventure out of the garage and into the open world.
As quickly as they had exited, they began speeding down the road, and Zane gulped at the sudden speed. Not that he cared; he could run just as quick as this, but to be sitting there at such speeds did come as a slight shock, and Zane understood now how Vicki was probably most used to his running speeds vicariously, through the use of her driving lessons.
Zane watched as the blurs passed them both by, not giving him even a single moment to focus on any object of the outside world. Rather, it seemed to just all merge into one, and Vicki and Zane simply penetrated the blur. He looked over to her, noticing her nonchalant attitude as he raised an eyebrow.
“You’re mad, you know?”
To some the simple comment that hung in the silent air, uttered by Zane, would have been an insult of the highest order; to Vicki, on the other hand, it was a compliment of the highest degree. If madness was clear in her actions, she was doing something right; fuck sanity. She looked at Zane for an extended few seconds, not even thinking to look back at the road ahead. She simply gazed at him, her lashes blinking furiously, her face expressionless. A small laugh broke the silence, and she turned her attention back to driving.
“So…” She began, the word ringing in the silence of the car “…as much as my parents are the last thing I ever wish to discuss- I would love to hear what you though of all of that.” Vicki said with a scoff, thinking back for a moment on the previous event the two of them had escaped together.
“They aren’t very nice.” He said the words almost immediately after she asked, and he frowned and huffed as he leant back in the leather seat, feeling a bubbling anger well up inside him at the sheer thought of them both. “Why are they like that, Vicki? It’s mean and nasty and not nice…” He looked over to her, raising an eyebrow as he did so, before he cleared his throat and finally said.
“I don’t want you to see them any more.”
The question he posed was childish and nonsensical; it may as well have been rhetorical, for there was no response to offer that would ever answer the question properly. Vicki sneaked side glances at Zane, her foot proceeding to slowly press harder and harder on the gas pedal; their speed reaching dangerous heights. Vicki huffed, throwing herself against the back of the seat, her mood turning from calm to annoyed in a millisecond. She drummed her nails against the wheel, the clicking sound echoing in the dull silence of the car.
“They’re too bored with their fucking lives. That’s why!” She snapped. Vicki didn’t know why she had turned back into the cold, spiteful, and bitter version of herself, but every thought she had in the moment was cynical and fatalistic. “They regret the choices they’ve made that have lead them to misery, so they force other people around them into their own personal versions of hellish existence. Misery loves company; My parents are miserable, and surrounded by dozens of people who are exactly like them.” She shook her head, scoffing again with displeasure.
But when Zane made his final comment, Vicki’s annoyance turned to anger quicker than she thought possible. “What!?” She screeched at him, nearly losing control of the wheel she was wielding. “What kind of a person says something like that?” She snapped fiercely. “Do you really not get it? Do you really not understand a damn thing about my situation?”
Zane’s eyes went wide at her sudden change of mood, and he couldn’t help but gulp as he noticed the atmosphere change before him, though he chose to just sit and listen to what she had to say. It appeared, however, that it wasn’t the best thing to do, as soon she was practically screeching at him, which almost cost the two of them their lives through careless driving on her part, not that it was her fault. Zane raised an eyebrow, before shaking his head.
“No Vicki! I don’t understand!” He said it simply and honestly, because he truly didn’t. “I don’t understand why they are so mean, and I don’t understand why you must stay there with them. I know that you should forgive, that’s a very important thing, but if someone was mean to me all the time… people would tell me to go too!”
His response did nothing to ease Vicki’s mood; she brought a hand to her head, methodically rubbing her temple with her fingers, her eyes focused on the road. She began to gnaw against her teeth, her body going rigid with tension; an attempt at calm was failing her. Vicki took a deep inhale of breath, and exhaled slowly, pursing her lips. She could not even look at Zane for fear of what she would do or say to him; it was not that she was blaming him for who he was, but it appeared she was at her wit’s end with him this evening.
“I don’t know why I need to justify, or explain this any further. But I will.” She began, speaking through her teeth. “Firstly, I have no intention of forgiving my parents, because I’m not angry with my parents. I don’t give a fuck about my parents; their lives, their expectations, or their rules. Do you understand that?” She said harshly, not being able to keep her tone settled. “Secondly, I will tell you this once, and only once- so do listen. I have no intention or want to live a meager or poor lifestyle. Call me selfish, superficial, and a whole other slue of insults; I don’t care. This is who I am, and this is who I will forever be. This lifestyle is dependent upon my parents approval though; up until I am of legal age. At that point I can collect my trust fun, and do away with them. Clearly, I am not of legal age, yet.” She said quietly, but the whisper was hauntingly terrifying.
“Besides- they aren’t being mean. They are being themselves.”
“I… I uh…” He didn’t know what to say, in all honesty. In fact, he couldn’t even say a thing, he had practically been stunned into a silence that not even he himself could break out of. He chewed on his lower lip, wondering and thinking of how he could fix it, though there was nothing he could possibly say that would make it any better.
“Uh… I can help? Yeah, I can do that! I can give you money, Vicki! See? You don’t need them! See? We can get money another way, see?” He looked over to her for a moment, before looking away and frowning as his gaze turned to the blackened window which showed nothing but a blur, as it had done throughout their journey.
“I just don’t want you to get hurt no more…”
“Will you shut up!?”
The inflection of the insult was sharp, ringing through the car, bringing complete silence. Without a thought or further word, Vicki slammed down on the breaks, and turned the wheel sharply. The car screeched to a halt on the side of the road, nearly throwing them into the ditch below. She turned to Zane with a violent motion, rounding in on him. “Do you think I don’t realize what kind of financial position you are in? Do you think I want your money? That suggestion was foolish, and clearly no thought was put into it. When you say shit like that Zane, it fucking hurts me. It degrades my intelligence, and my pride.”
“There is very few possibilities for me to earn money- both of them involve copious amounts of sex. I can either get married to some rich bastard, or become a call girl. Whichever you prefer. My future isn’t in the Ministry of Magic, or St. Mungo’s- I’m not going to suddenly become a working professional Zane. Wake up, and realize that.” She said bitterly, eyeing him angrily. “Keeping around my parents is a way out from those options; and I’m gladly taking it.” She said, and snatched at the door handle, throwing the it open, and stepping outside. She slammed the door shut, as she began to walk away from the car, bare foot. She snatched a cigarette from the folds of her dress, lit it with ease, and welcomed the familiar smell of tobacco.
Her single sentence caused him to slip back into silence once more, with no means of escape. It cut deep, really, and once again Zane was forced to listen to every single word directed at him, and they were words he simply couldn’t ignore; not this time.
Who was he kidding? He couldn’t fool anyone; not even he himself. It was stupid of him to think he could help her, and stupid of him to even suggest at the idea of it. It was stupid of him to think he could even fit in with her really; she was so… and he was so… they were just so… different. How on Earth could he have believed that it would work, that she would care and he would care and things would just be okay, just like that? Well… wherever he had got the idea from, it had somehow been destroyed, crashed and burned right down to the ground, with not a single stepping stone or starting foundation left. Now, he only knew but one thing:
He didn’t belong here.
With a gulp, he unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door and stepped out of the car. He took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself as he shut the door to the car quietly, all the while turning to face Vicki, who was facing away from him and into the night, smoking on a cigarette as she always did. He sighed.
He turned away from her, taking in the sight and remembering it, before he took a deep breath and, in the blink of an eye, he ran off into the night.
Gone.