Page 68 of Drawn Together

“The car won’t stop, Sebastian!” I shouted, now freaking out. Sweat began to drip down my back. I was flying down the road at top speed, and the fucking brakes weren’t responding!

Sebastian cursed loudly when he saw that I was being serious.

Trying to take control of the situation, he leaned over me, forcing me to grip the wheel tighter. “Focus on the road,” he said with a calculated calm.

“I can’t stop! There are no brakes! I can’t slow down!” I shouted hysterically, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Listen to me,” he said, squeezing his hand against mine on the wheel. “Stay calm, okay? Everything’s going to be fine. There’s no traffic, but we have to lose speed before we get to that bend in the road.”

“We’re going to die!” I shrieked, my foot cramping from the force I continued applying to the brake unsuccessfully.

“We’re going to be fine! I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise,” he assured me. “Now, take a deep breath and do as I say. You have to reduce your speed using the car’s engine. Shift into a lower gear.”

“I can’t!” I answered.

“Shift down gradually into third,” he ordered.

I did as he told me, and the speed dropped, but not by much.

“That’s not enough…” Sebastian said, alarmed.

Just ahead of us on the road was the curve he’d referred to previously. Never, in my entire life, had I driven at such speed, and in that moment, I couldn’t help but remember what I’d learned in driver’s ed, about how, past a certain speed, a simple turn of the wheel could make the car spin out uncontrollably.

“Sebastian… Sebastian, the curve…”

“Pay attention: I’m going to pull the emergency brake. When we get to the curve, I want you to turn the wheel to the right, okay?”

“But I’ll lose control of the car!” I replied, terrified.

“We’re going to skid, and hopefully, we’ll lose some speed. Marfil, you have to do it, do you hear me?”

“No, no! Sebastian… I’m scared; I can’t.” I was petrified, my entire body stiff from gripping the wheel so tightly, the car still barreling down the road… We were going to crash, I knew it. I was going to die in this car. I was going to die in this fucking car with Sebastian beside me.

“Fuck, Marfil, listen to me, please!”

“I can’t see. I can’t see anything!” I said, blinking back my tears furiously.

“Take a deep breath,” he said, a little more calmly this time. “Everything is going to be all right, I promise.”

We reached the curve, and everything happened very quickly. I turned the wheel as Sebastian pulled hard on the emergency brake and the car spun out of control.

The world disappeared.

I felt a hard impact, and I lost consciousness.

CHAPTER 19SEBASTIAN

I knew exactly what was going to happen, and I would’ve given anything to face that situation alone.

Marfil did as I told her. As soon as we reached the curve, she turned the wheel to the right and I pulled the emergency brake so that, with the help of the rear wheels, the vehicle’s speed was reduced.

Needless to say, things didn’t go as smoothly as they would have if I’d been the one behind the wheel. When the car started to skid and turn on itself, Marfil lost control. I tried to help, but it was impossible. We crashed into something, which caused the car to flip over with us still inside. The airbags deployed and the windows shattered. The last thing I heard before I hit my head was Marfil’s scream of terror.

I lost consciousness for a few seconds, but opening my eyes and finding myself hanging upside down, I knew that the situation was worse than I’d imagined. I turned toward Marfil and saw that she was unconscious, held in place by her seat belt.

Ignoring the sharp pain in my right hand, I unbuckled myself and fell against the door. I cursed under my breath and climbed out the window.

Fuck… The car was totaled… Flames were coming from under the hood.