The sound of the car’s engine courses through the otherwise quiet and dark forest, the only things that are listening seem to be the stars themselves. I slam the lever up a gear into fifth, tears beginning to fall down my cheeks. The radio is the only voice nearby, and it was far too busy singing along to itself to pay me any mind. The past and the future don’t matter, the only thing that matters right now is the road and myself. I can try and forget the reality of being suddenly jobless. All of my skills and loyalty meant nothing to politics and money. I can forget my inability to understand people and focus on the thing I understand best, my ability to drive.

---

The misery began this afternoon. I had just finished the design for a brand new efficient motor, when all of a sudden I heard my name being called from the entrance of the engineering development offices. I stood, straightened my tie, (always hated the damn things, so uncomfortable) and left to go see what was needed from me.

“You Cyrus Sutton?” asked a huge man, way taller than I was with excessively broad shoulders.

“Uh yeah I am, what's it to you?, I’ve not seen you around before,” I ask, a little annoyed to be taken away from my work.

“The boss has said that you’re not necessary anymore, clear up your things and leave your work behind. We’re moving the facility overshores,” he responded, clamping a hand down onto my shoulder as if to say I have zero right to object.

“But I’ve worked here for years?! This is my dream career!” I start to panic, knowing there’s not another place in England that I’d be anywhere remotely as comfortable and pushed to design as good as I am here. I start to break down, but I manage to hold back the tears, just.

The nasty piece of work seemingly hired just to show all us redundant workers out the door forcefully spun me 180 degrees and shoved me back towards my desk. “Grovel at home, what the hell is wrong with you man.” I so wanted right there and then to tell him to shove his toxic masculinity right up his arse, but one look at his furrowed brow and terse scowl persuaded me otherwise. I slunk back to my desk and gathered my things, at least they can’t take my car and my stash back at home, I think to myself, trying to convince myself that this wasn’t the beginning of a downward spiral in my life.

---

What little light there was had begun to slip away as it neared 11pm at night, out here in the countryside north of my home town of Hillchester the local bobbies rarely ventured, evidently they figured out that a sleepy small town wasn’t a mass crime central, and that the countryside would be even less so.

“Fine by me,” I say to no-one in particular, as I race past the 100mph marker point on the speedometer. I look past the edge of the pop-up headlight into the treeline along the way to try and spot the next corner….

”There, let's go for it,” braking hard I turn into the corner, and I’m suddenly lit up by the oddly purple tinted headlights of an oncoming car, my sense of self protection stirring me out of my sorrow and self pity. “Shit!” I exclaimed yanking the wheel in the opposite direction, I just avoid wrecking completely and manage to skid to a halt just a couple of yards down the road. The car I barely avoided seemed to carry on silently by itself. I exhale loudly and decide to cool down a bit. The atmosphere did seem way more tense than it should, and I can hear thunder in the distance

“It was a sunny day today wasn’t it? Hell even half an hour ago I could see the stars. Bloody weather,” I exclaimed, again to myself.

Talking to myself was an unfortunate running habit of mine, either that or talking to something inanimate like the car, I didn’t really get along with people, being diagnosed with asperger's syndrome .

“Well, at least you’re okay,” looking back over the now very muddy vehicle, “Ever since my brother moved out for his army career it’s been just me, you and the occasional visit from Miura, well if there is any dings in you I’ll sort them out tomorrow,” The dinging of the door open chime continued to ring unsympathetically at me, begging to be closed and taken home.

All of a sudden I hear the thunder grow louder and closest, purple and orange lights appear to bathe the road in their brightness.

“That’s...not right, I don’t think I can outrun tha-” at this point all I can feel is nasty twisting pain, concentrated in my left arm but then spreading throughout my body, head, crotch, ass chest and all my other limbs are rippling with shock and a grinding metallic noise that only later I realised was caused by the crushing of the gravel I had fallen on. Once the pain had passed I suddenly felt very cold, nothing I was wearing seemed to fit at all and water had gotten all into my clothes. I managed to stagger back to the RX7 and crawl inside somehow managing to close its door with my foot, lying uncomfortably across the two seats of the compact sports car, gear lever and handbrake rubbing against my soaked abdomen. I pass out face down, wondering in my stupor and pain just why my chest felt so squished in. And there I laid, the only sound around being the radio screaming out loud the music I loved to listen to.

"Frontal Impact
Feel like going nowhere
World is turning upside down on me"