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Are you driving this thing?
ARE YOU??

The engine idled softly in his ears, but the voice from the passenger screamed.

Go Dammit!

There was no putting it off any longer as the sole of his shoe fell gently upon the peddle, the vibration of the engine purring into his body, travelling through his skin until it reached the tip of every hair. The sense of electricity encased his body, gripping the muscles and contracting, squeezing them taut like the spring of a trigger, just before the hammer comes crashing down.

How long could he hold it here? Eternity?

No. The passenger wouldn't allow it, there had to be a move - one way or the other. A binary decision, on or off, a dichotomy - false or not, there were only two choices available - forward, or not.

So? What are you waiting for?
Are you chickening out?

Was he?

It has seemed like a good idea earlier and he had gone to the pains to meticulously arrange everything necessary, cover all the details, cross the T's and dot the I's. Now, there was only one detail left to attend to, one drive left to make to reach the finish line.

Pussy.

A chuckle followed.

The slight sound swirled in his head, echoing against parts of his brain never bothered by thought before. It was painful. Like being forced to overstretch on a torture rack, the neurons being pulled apart slowly and snapping, one by one, each with an audible click until they started to give way in a stream, emitting a tearing sound as if his consciousness itself was being ripped from the housing of the body.

His foot pressed ever so slightly on the gas and the tires sticky at first, broke the stillness and began a slow roll forward, hardly perceptible to the naked eye - like grass growing. And the moment stretched out, fractions of seconds becoming lifetimes. Lives consumed in an instant.

A little more pressure and the speed increased. A little more and then, all in.

Foot to the floor.

The engine whirred, as the rev counter moved fast to the redline and the automatic gearbox started flicking up through the gears, unaccustomed to being under such constant stress. The wheels whirled underneath, chewing the road ever faster, with each rise and fall met getting transmitted through them and into the seat within and into him - at one with the road, part of the machine, no longer fully human.

His eyes narrowed on the point ahead.

I still have time to choose the other option.

He hesitated for a moment and then realized he had waited too long, there was only one option left. So despite the back of the pedal already pushed as hard to the floor as it could be, he pushed harder.

That's right!
Let's do this!

His eyes opened wide as he crossed the final line and the darkness of the night enveloped them, as if launched into space - nothing in front, nothing to the sides - only what they had left behind.

He looked to the empty seat beside him.

Silence at last.