Speed

Matthew Kouame

SPEED

Michaels’ start to his day was quite unusual.

For one, his dog hadn’t come to lick him awake and his parrot wasn’t screeching for food.

Secondly, the sun hadn’t risen.

Michael thought back to all the dystopian movies he had watched and wondered if he had woken up to something similar but as he reached over to check his alarm clock, the aggressive whine of the turbo chargers in his neighbours BMW assured him differently. His alarm clock portrayed the numbers 5:32 so his pets were still asleep.

Michaels’ neighbour, Austin, tended to illegally drag racing early in the morning as he thought all the police officers were asleep at this time and reduced his chances of being caught. Seeing as he had been doing so for the last 3 years with no punishment so the whole neighbourhood saw his statement as more or less true.

For this reason, Michaels’ entire neighbourhood had also decided to take part in his Austins’ wheel-based shenanigans until 6 am daily. It didn’t affect Michael much as he had taken the liberty to soundproof his room 3 months after moving in, but it did annoy him that he couldn’t partake in most of their conversations at the neighbourhood watch meetings as he himself did not own a car.

He had previously owned a chrome black Ford Focus RS but after losing every one of his races to his to his neighbours, he had bought some expensive upgrades for his vehicle and made it the fastest out of them all. So fast that he had actually crashed it after the brakes had given up on him (not that he blamed them, they weren’t something that were really used during a drag race) and cost him a fortune in repairs. A fortune he did not have. Which meant that Ken, his thieving neighbour downstairs, had bought the rocket with wheels off him for 5,320 pounds and repaired and upgraded it to the point where whenever he raced someone, he gave them a 5 second head start before turning on his engine and zooming past them sounding like gunfire which was what Michael was hearing now.

When Michael had finally saved up more than enough to buy back his Ford from Ken, Ken had simply refused his offer. After that Michael tried everything to win Ken over money, gifts and even paying for his summer vacation yet, when Michael made and even higher offer, Ken simply laughed and said” Mike you should know by now, I'm not selling you the car. I’ve already made 5,320 from betting on myself and I don’t intend to stop”. In that embarrassing moment Michael made an oath, to get his car back no matter the cost.

Even if that cost was Kens’ life

Michael had turned to fitness to try and fill the void in his life that had been created after he had given away his Ford and went to the gym daily to try and forget about it and leave it in the past. But occasionally he would wake up early in the morning like today unintentionally (he told himself) and if could not go back to sleep, he would go on an early morning run cutting across the entire “drag strip” to get as close to the engine as possible but he would make sure to only cross when he had just seen a set of rockets roll by to reduce his chances of being hit by one and being sent into orbit.

He got up and searched his running clothes scattered around the house but slipped as he put on his medium size track pants and hit his head on his landline phone and it began to play his voicemails. He lifted his tall dark well-built frame off the ground and continued the hunt for the rest of his attire as he listened to his voicemails. He found his Nike Dri-Fit top in a cupboard for reasons unknown to him then froze as the landline beeped out a voice he hadn't heard in years. Rita. The love of his life who had left him at the altar.” Hi Michael, I've been thinking about you and how terrible thing the I did was, I'm sorry and was hoping we could meet for coffee to talk about the whole ordeal. I hope you're okay call me when you get this, or don’t. I’d understand “

Michael suddenly realised he hadn’t breathed for the entire message and gasped for oxygen.

All he could think about was what he just heard yet he was simultaneously thoughtless. At first, he was happy because he thought the she did still care about him and that it wasn’t completely over but then the remembered that fateful day, where she had left him standing there for 53 minutes and 20 seconds looking like a fool. But most of all he remembered the pain in his mother's eyes that made him think he was a failure and that no woman would ever want him. He couldn’t take the thought of it and quickly searched for the rest of his attire. He found them, took his headphones off his bedside side table, put his keys in his pocket but did not close it because he had to lock the door, tied his shoes and opened the door to find himself facing Austin who was in the process of entering his room.

“Aaayyy Mikey lad, how have you been?” Austin asked as he fidgeted with his door.

“I'm alright Austin but you seem to be struggling there” Michael replied.

“aye I seem to have taken the keys to me missus’ apartment instead, see I need to get the jerry can” “I'm running low on petrol and my race against Ken starts in 53 minutes and 20 seconds to be exact”

“well, I hope you get the-” Michael began before he was cut off by the Scotsman.

“Listen lad could I just borrow ye keys I haven't got the time to go and find me missus and swap the keys”

The man who had built the apartment complex had somewhat ingeniously made every flat that opposed each other keys identical so that if someone was locked out there neighbour could let them in but also rob them though, this had surprisingly not happened yet.

“I would give them to you but I'm going on a run and need to get back before 6:50”

“lad Ive told you multiple times you don’t need to run I'm selling me missus’ old car at a discounted price to you just take it”

The car Austin was referring to was a Reliant Robin and Michael refused such a downgrade seeing as the “car” would’ve been more useful as a roadblock than a moving vehicle.

“No not to certain destination running for fitness Austin”

“I guarantee you my race will be finished before you come back and I'll be waiting in my apartment till then to give you your keys back, deal?”

Despite all his illegal races Austin was actually quite trustworthy and had taken care of Michaels dog and parrot when he and gone on his single honeymoon.

“Fine” Michael complied after he had locked his door.

As Michael stretched his hunky body Austin rushed into his room and slammed the door behind him. Michael wondered about the Reliant Robin and why on earth Austins wife had ever thought buying one would be a good idea. He also wondered why they were called reliant when all they did was flip over due to the fact that they only have three wheels. Michael thought about this as he went down the stairs because of his fear of elevators. At this point he had completely forgotten about the message from Rita.

He started off at quite a fast pace to warm his body up cutting through alleyways and parks. Behind him he could hear the revving of the masterpieces of machinery as he ran past a funeral planner and the contrast made him giggle inside, he then ran past a Foot Locker with shoes missing from the display. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he found them in Kens’ room. After that, he ran past the women's jewellery store he hated so much because it made him think of Rita which at that moment, was the last thing he wanted to do but he couldn’t help himself. He decided that he would accept her invitation as soon as he got back from his run. As he went on, he started reminiscing of all the times they had been together talking about their future together maybe moving to Dubai or Australia. Michael was so lost in thought at this point that he didn’t see the briefcase ahead of him in the alley and tripped over it. He turned around and opened the briefcase.

Austin had somehow managed to just make it to the start of the race against Ken. He had faith in his BMW M8 Competition. It went from 0-62 in just 2.6 seconds, just 0.2 seconds off a Bugatti Veyron. This acceleration would've creamed a standard Ford Focus but sadly, Ken did not drive a standard Ford Focus in fact it was hard to believe he was even driving a ford and not a futuristic alien Warcraft. But nevertheless, he had bet a lot of money on himself to win. Even Ken had decided to take it seriously and not give him a head start. He revved his engine waiting for the lights to go green.

And they were off.

The BMW pulled away at the start but the Ford began to catch up.

The Ford then overtook Austin.

“Aw nuts” he thought.

Then Michael appeared on the horizon.

Austin braked.

Ken continued.

Michael had abandoned his run and was returning home with a briefcase in his hand.

He didn’t seem to hear the vehicles of his impending doom as he crossed the drag strip due to his noise cancelling headphones.

Ken saw him.

He broke and wrenched his steering wheel to the left.

Michael took impact of his own Ford Focus RS at 52.3 mph.

He was launched through the air and landed in an alleyway on the briefcase and continued to roll.

It collapsed on impact.

Ken left the Ford and ran to Michael but tripped over the briefcase.

“what the heck” Ken said

He turned around and opened it

It had 5 pounds and a notebook

The notebook had the numbers 5320 hastily scratched on

Ken opened the notebook.

The First line read” Thanks for the car”

Ken looked towards the Ford and locked eyes with Michael waving in the driver's seat.

He looked behind him to where a crumpled life-sized figurine of Michael lay.

“What th-”

The briefcase exploded.

So did Ken.

Michael sat in the seat of his Ford for the first time in 2 years.

His “body” lay melting next to the remains of Ken.

He reminded himself to buy more life-sized figurines of himself.

He drove away from the burning scene wondering what to do with the 19,995 pounds he taken from that briefcase.

And what to wear when he saw Rita...