Page 107 of Race to Me

As they were driving alone, with storming clouds angrily rolling overhead, they swept through a familiar curvy road.

They remembered the way the wet road looked as another headlight swept through the opposite side.

How they were both going much too fast on the dark, shiny curve.

The crunching sound of twisting metal when the other person lost control of their motorcycle and how the scraping, sparking sound bled through their ears as they slammed on their breaks and threw the car into park.

The way their feet trekked quickly along the dark pavement following the long black line riddled with shredded motorcycle parts, a guttural scream escaping them when the bike stopped scraping and the body continued flying until it slammed into a tree.Their tree.

History repeating itself.

The way they raced to them, how they dived beside them.

There are millions of flashes of memories from that terrible, stormy night that will haunt their dreams forever.

The young lover will never forget running to the downed racer.

But most of all, for when the helmet was lifted, and a lock of silky blonde hair slipped out.

He knew the painful memory of her blood ridden hair would be etched into his memory forever. The way he couldn’t find her faded red streak through all of the other never-ending red.

Along with the song that leaked through her headphones,To Build a Homeby the Cinematic Orchestra. That must have been what they were going to dance to.

What they would have danced to if ...

And as he carefully unzipped her jacket to check her delicate body for more blood, a familiar well-loved bear sat tucked neatly inside.Sophie’s bear.

With his name etched on the foot.

‘Love, your big bro Foster.’

How?

The already terrible night became much worse.

While waiting for Skyler at the theatre where they were going to dance, he received the call that Sophie had collapsed.

Foster knew that his little sisters’ hourglass was running out, her life spilling out of the shattered glass in tiny grains of sand no matter how many treatments she went through.

She needed a transplant.

It was now or never and nothing was more important to Foster than his little sister. Until Skyler came into his life.

So, he planned to race and as he left the theatre to get his bike, he ignored Skyler’s relentless phone calls, not wanting to hear the heartbreak in her voice when he told her he would need to race this storm.

He needed to race for Sophie, Freckles would have understood if he wasn’t so stubborn.

He could have told Skyler, but he didn’t want to admit his little sisters failing health to himself, much less anyone else.

Now, he would do anything to answer Skyler’s relentless calls.

Money solves everything, and Foster couldn’t sit by while Sophie’s life withered into dust.

“Why would you do this?” He cried out with a quivering lip.

And as his world came crashing down on him, he knew why the love of his life was lying on the wet pavement clinging to life as he screamed for someone to help her.

She was racing to him, or for him.