Always Down

MIA FAYE

The cool breeze blew across my face, sending a trail of goosebumps down my bare skin. With his hand clutched around my wrist, he reached for his key with his other, unlocked the parked car and opened the passenger door.

"Get in." His words were short and clasped, with a clear tinge of anger rolling over.

It'd be foolish not to comply at this point for his anger didn't seem to recede any soon, though it felt evident from each of his temperamental actions. It all felt like a déjà vu- the first time we met. With him stepping into the driver's seat, he pulled his suit over his shoulders before promptly hurling it to the back. I followed inside without a further spoken word as he deviated the car out of the parking lot with one harsh turn and onto the clear road ahead.

A flare of anxiety swelled in my chest taking in his reaction. With his squinted eyes focused on the road ahead and jaw snapped tight, his bruised knuckles were almost white from holding onto the steering wheel so tightly, making the veins running from his hands to the exposed part upto where his sleeves were rolled stand out more.

I didn't say anything, even though deep down I wanted to thank him for what he did. Each time I thought of hating him, he'd end up doing something that would contradict my thought. I'd never expected someone who was obviously so wrong feel so right to me.

The speed at which he was racing was off limits. I had to hold onto the sides of my seat to stay steady. With every going second, his feet kept pressing onto the accelerator as he aggressively sped along the lanes. My heartbeats increased abnormally, fearing the danger a few metres away as the round-about came into view.

"Hades-" I said, turning to his side. "I think you need to slow down."

Meeting with silence as a response, I looked back to the road where it appeared clearly impossible to change lane with the speed at which we were going without ending in a fatal crash. We had no chance of surviving after this.

"Hades, please slow down." My words flowed out in a panic and I found myself gripping his shoulders as he increased the pace.

I dug my nails deeper into his shoulder as the car raced violently across the road and neared the round-about. With nothing but blackness in view and an unclaimed feeling in my heart, I closed my eyes. The car swerved violently to the right, making a screeching noise as the tires drifted across the asphalt. I clutched his forearms and slowly opened my eyes.

We hadn't actually crashed, though it felt like we did. It was a relief to find yourself very much alive when there wasn't quite a possibility to make it out but that escaladed quickly as he shifted the gear lever and accelerated further. Instead of taking the usual right, he veered the car to the narrow road with a red warning 'cliff ahead. I could see the wide v-cliff ahead as he sped across the rough trail.

Oh god, we're totally screwed.

"Hades stop the car!" I shouted, shifting nervously in my seat. My lower lip quivered in dread and I could feel my hands trembling as I extended them to grab his arm.

"Stop the car, there's a cliff ahead!" I screamed louder, my eyes darting between his void face and the looming cliff.

"For fucks sake Hades, you're going to kill us both!"

With the approaching cliff ahead and no response from him, I knew my words had no effect on him and death would be the ultimate consequence if I didn't do something- I had to act quick. With that thought, I slipped aside from my seat and moved over to his. Positioning myself onto his lap, I heard a faint grunt from behind and his grip around the steering wheel loosened.