A very narrow opening between the car in front of him and the car to his right... He floored the accelerator, taking a sharp swerve to the right at the last second, barely slipping between them and zooming off.
Ever careless, heedless of his own safety, he never really considered the danger his reckless driving posed to himself and others. He was aware of it, of course, but it always seemed unlikely for something bad to happen to him. Much like we all choose to ignore inconvenient truths and convince ourselves that it would never happen to us, he never really gave it any serious thought. He didn't do it to look cool. He didn't do it to endanger others. No one understood.
He turned up the volume on his iPod.
People underestimate the mood-lifting effects of driving like an idiot. Sure, it's dangerous and you could kill pedestrians and you could crash your car and blah blah BLAH BLAH BLAH but oh GOD the feeling is unrivaled. Going as fast as your car would go without crashing into other cars or breaking the sound barrier is more invigorating than any drug or pill. You reach this moment of clarity where you understand that your life is in your hands... Literally. To live or to die depends on your skills, your judgement and how well you know your car.
He lifted his foot off the accelerator and banked hard to the left, using the car's momentum and centripetal acceleration to carry him past the car in front of him, and then slammed the gas pedal as hard as it would go as soon as he passed it.
Our parents are liars. They made us think we have a choice. The illusion of choice is more cruel than having a predetermined role in life, because as soon as you realize it, your life is never the same. We fool ourselves into believing that we control our destiny, but do we? We are metaphorically given a choice to either swim across the ocean, board a ship, or fly... But no one ever asks us if we want to cross that ocean in the first place. It's always assumed, because it's "the cycle of life". We are born, we go to school, we study hard to go to a good college, we study hard in college to work for a good company and buy a car and a house with a white picket fence. Then we get married, have children, have them go to school to repeat the same cycle, while we slowly age until our lives are over, leaving nothing more than a skid-mark on the highway that is life... if we're lucky.
A radar camera was coming up to his left... He was going too fast. He glanced in his rear view mirror, and there was a car behind him so he couldn't brake as hard as he wanted. He made a sharp turn to the right and slammed on the brakes, barely steadying the steering wheel with both his hands. He barely made it to the speed limit as he screeched past the camera.
Nothing steadied his nerves as much as a dangerous gamble with death. It was up to him. He was in control. No one could tell him what to do. If he were to want to crash into a wall or a truck, he would do it and bear the consequences. The stakes were high, but it was his call. His car. His life. Once he made a decision, he had to live with it. At these speeds, you can't go back. You either speed up and take the opportunity, or you slow down to a speed where you can think. You are committed to your decision. There is no middle ground. To hesitate is to die.
A Nickelback song came on shuffle. It ruined his mood. He clicked "next" on his iPod, and replied to a text message on his phone.
But as much as he loved driving, he also hated it. He hated it because he hated not knowing if today would be the day he finally took it too far, giving a random stranger the chance to deliver the worst news in the world to his family as his car lay crumpled on the side of the road. He could not be trusted with a car, especially when he was in emotional turmoil. It always made him at least thrice as reckless.
He'd always thought driving was a lot like life. We're not all equals. Some people have better cars than others, and hence they have a head-start. Literally. Also, you can let obstacles such as road bumps or traffic rules hold you back... or you can achieve your full potential. In some ways, he found driving to be a better, riskier version of life... Your every decision counts. During those few, adrenaline-charged seconds when you notice a window of opportunity up ahead and you decide to take it, you make your own reality. Rational thinking, logic, emotion... they all take the back seat and instincts take over. You're a fighter pilot, maneuvering your way out of a missile lock... or a hawk, taking a deep dive to snatch a fish from under the waves.
Say what you will, but he felt more alive doing five minutes of that than he did "living" for a few weeks.
Of course, human instincts are not always accurate.
He started gathering speed to overtake a car. As always, his car made that angry rumbling noise as the RPM cranked up and the motor tried to deal with the extra fuel input. He was just about to take a left when he noticed a car behind him on the left, right in his rear view mirror's blind spot. But he was going too fast now, he couldn't brake in time to avoid slamming into the car in front of him. He could either go left or go right. He was getting closer. He had to make an immediate decision. To hesitate is to die. He knew there was a car to his left, and there was no time to look in the side view mirror... so he banked right at 80 MPH, hoping for the best.
There was a car to his right.
__________________________________________________________________________
In the memory of Maged El-Gaweesh.
PS: This post in no way promotes reckless driving. It is purely a work of fiction, meant to portray the speed junkie's point of view. Please drive responsibly... the protagonist dies.
Ever careless, heedless of his own safety, he never really considered the danger his reckless driving posed to himself and others. He was aware of it, of course, but it always seemed unlikely for something bad to happen to him. Much like we all choose to ignore inconvenient truths and convince ourselves that it would never happen to us, he never really gave it any serious thought. He didn't do it to look cool. He didn't do it to endanger others. No one understood.
He turned up the volume on his iPod.
People underestimate the mood-lifting effects of driving like an idiot. Sure, it's dangerous and you could kill pedestrians and you could crash your car and blah blah BLAH BLAH BLAH but oh GOD the feeling is unrivaled. Going as fast as your car would go without crashing into other cars or breaking the sound barrier is more invigorating than any drug or pill. You reach this moment of clarity where you understand that your life is in your hands... Literally. To live or to die depends on your skills, your judgement and how well you know your car.
He lifted his foot off the accelerator and banked hard to the left, using the car's momentum and centripetal acceleration to carry him past the car in front of him, and then slammed the gas pedal as hard as it would go as soon as he passed it.
Our parents are liars. They made us think we have a choice. The illusion of choice is more cruel than having a predetermined role in life, because as soon as you realize it, your life is never the same. We fool ourselves into believing that we control our destiny, but do we? We are metaphorically given a choice to either swim across the ocean, board a ship, or fly... But no one ever asks us if we want to cross that ocean in the first place. It's always assumed, because it's "the cycle of life". We are born, we go to school, we study hard to go to a good college, we study hard in college to work for a good company and buy a car and a house with a white picket fence. Then we get married, have children, have them go to school to repeat the same cycle, while we slowly age until our lives are over, leaving nothing more than a skid-mark on the highway that is life... if we're lucky.
A radar camera was coming up to his left... He was going too fast. He glanced in his rear view mirror, and there was a car behind him so he couldn't brake as hard as he wanted. He made a sharp turn to the right and slammed on the brakes, barely steadying the steering wheel with both his hands. He barely made it to the speed limit as he screeched past the camera.
Nothing steadied his nerves as much as a dangerous gamble with death. It was up to him. He was in control. No one could tell him what to do. If he were to want to crash into a wall or a truck, he would do it and bear the consequences. The stakes were high, but it was his call. His car. His life. Once he made a decision, he had to live with it. At these speeds, you can't go back. You either speed up and take the opportunity, or you slow down to a speed where you can think. You are committed to your decision. There is no middle ground. To hesitate is to die.
A Nickelback song came on shuffle. It ruined his mood. He clicked "next" on his iPod, and replied to a text message on his phone.
But as much as he loved driving, he also hated it. He hated it because he hated not knowing if today would be the day he finally took it too far, giving a random stranger the chance to deliver the worst news in the world to his family as his car lay crumpled on the side of the road. He could not be trusted with a car, especially when he was in emotional turmoil. It always made him at least thrice as reckless.
He'd always thought driving was a lot like life. We're not all equals. Some people have better cars than others, and hence they have a head-start. Literally. Also, you can let obstacles such as road bumps or traffic rules hold you back... or you can achieve your full potential. In some ways, he found driving to be a better, riskier version of life... Your every decision counts. During those few, adrenaline-charged seconds when you notice a window of opportunity up ahead and you decide to take it, you make your own reality. Rational thinking, logic, emotion... they all take the back seat and instincts take over. You're a fighter pilot, maneuvering your way out of a missile lock... or a hawk, taking a deep dive to snatch a fish from under the waves.
Say what you will, but he felt more alive doing five minutes of that than he did "living" for a few weeks.
Of course, human instincts are not always accurate.
He started gathering speed to overtake a car. As always, his car made that angry rumbling noise as the RPM cranked up and the motor tried to deal with the extra fuel input. He was just about to take a left when he noticed a car behind him on the left, right in his rear view mirror's blind spot. But he was going too fast now, he couldn't brake in time to avoid slamming into the car in front of him. He could either go left or go right. He was getting closer. He had to make an immediate decision. To hesitate is to die. He knew there was a car to his left, and there was no time to look in the side view mirror... so he banked right at 80 MPH, hoping for the best.
There was a car to his right.
__________________________________________________________________________
In the memory of Maged El-Gaweesh.
PS: This post in no way promotes reckless driving. It is purely a work of fiction, meant to portray the speed junkie's point of view. Please drive responsibly... the protagonist dies.
No comments:
Post a Comment