Page 22 of Shattered

“Just chill. I’m all good.” Coming up behind the car in front of us, he starts swerving. “Move out of the way, fuckers!”

Gripping the door handle, I straighten in my seat. “Come on, man, back off a little. You’re going too fast.”

Ignoring me, he inches closer. “It’s all good. I’ve got this.”

“You haven’t got anything except a death wish right now.” A quick look over my shoulder tells me there’s no one behind us, thank goodness.

“I can just go over them.”

“What?” My eyes fly to him. “Over them?”

He chuckles. “I’m kidding.”

But the crazy look in his eyes makes me think he might not be kidding, though, as if maybe he’s losing his grip on reality. I may not have noticed that he’d taken something when we first started driving, but it definitely seems to be taking effect now, and there would be no hiding it if we were stopped by the cops.

“Just pull over and let me drive.”

Not surprisingly, he doesn’t listen and continues with his reckless swerving.

“You can’t drive,” he muses a moment later. “You don’t have a car.”

His nonsense only adds to the knot that’s been forming in the pit of my stomach.

“I’d drive this car. Just pull over. You’re going to get us killed.”

My heart rate increases with every second that passes while we ride the bumper of the car in front, and I’m pretty sure the organ in my chest is trying to climb its way up my throat. My palms have turned clammy while gripping the “oh shit” handle and the side of my seat.

“I just need to get to the other side, and then we’ll be all good.”

“You don’t need to get anywhere. I can drive us the rest of the way, and then we can see Jacob be proven innocent.”

“Jacob, yes.” He nods as if he’d forgotten what we were doing. “But what if he’s not?”

I shift anxiously in my seat. “What if he’s not, what?”

My question apparently falls on deaf ears, and he doesn’t bother answering, but I’m too distracted to ask again. I catch his eyes flicking back and forth to the lane beside us, and my stomach bottoms out. I can see his intention before he follows through.

The next second seems to happen in slow motion, and the absolute terror rushing through my limbs almost paralyzes me.

Jason veers to the left, putting us into the lane of oncoming traffic, as if to go around the vehicle in front of us, but there’s a semi coming in the opposite direction, heading straight for us, and if Jason were in his right mind, he’d be able to tell we’re not going to make it.

“Pull back! They’re going too fast. We’re not going to pass them in time. Fuck, Jason, get out of this lane!”

My panicked shouting does nothing, nor does the truck’s blaring horn. Despite the speed we’re going, it feels like time stretches on, giving my mind time to flash to my parents and then to Sunflower and how I’ll never get the chance to meet her in person. At the last second, I come to my senses and yank the steering wheel to the side, sending us on a bumpy ride into the ditch.

“Oh, shit!” Jason shouts.

We’re jerked around in our seats while whatever he had in his back seat gets tossed around and lands on the floor, and then we come to an abrupt stop, miraculously without hitting anything. My eyes flutter closed, my body feeling like a jittery mess. Heavy breaths burst from my mouth as my chest heaves.

I turn to Jason, and the sight of him still gripping the steering wheel and staring ahead with wide eyes like he’s still trying to process what just happened has anger bubbling up and overtaking some of the shock running through my system.

“The fuck?!” I yell at him, shoving his shoulder, then slapping the back of his head before snagging the keys from the ignition. “Fucking driving us while you’re out of your fucking mind. You have a death wish or something? Because I don’t, asshole!”

Pushing open the door, I haul myself out onto shaky legs and bend at the waist, breathing deeply to try to calm down and work my stomach back to where it’s supposed to be.

“Shit. I’m sorry, man.” Jason’s legs appear beside my head, and I straighten up to face him, pushing my glasses back into place. “I just . . . I needed something to help with today, you know?” He fidgets, shifting his weight from side to side.

“I could have driven your car.” I may not be able to afford to have my own, but I do have my license. “Instead, you almost got us both killed.”

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