//------------------------------//
// Face the fear 
// Story: Rainboom in the snow 
// by TCLF 
//------------------------------//

Face the fear

Speed. My turbo worked great. Grip. My aero kit worked awesome. All felt great. This would beat the GTR for sure. Only my right front was to stiff. It gave me understeer in left turns. Rainbow saw my doubt about the left turns. “Are you alright.” She asked with a worrisome face. It took a while before I responded. “Yeah...” I said with a small doubt.

I saw it. The clock hit 10:00. On that exact moment I could see the meet up place. The GTR already was on the road waiting for the start. I stopped the car next to the GTR. “You like coming late, do ya?” The guy in the GTR said with a nasty look. “Get that blue pony out of your car. That fat friend of yours as well. No jokes this time.” He pulled his window up as Rainbow and Jack got out. I saw rainbow look worried in the mirror. She turned around. I sighed. This would be my first race on the streets. A girl walked up to our windows. We both opened it. “This race is from here through the canyon up north. The finish will be after the forest west from the canyon. Whoever is first will win.” The instructions were clear as we both closed our window again. The girl walked up in front of the cars. She stood in the middle holding a scarf. The black scarf was blowing in the gentle cool breeze. We both waited. Then the girl threw her hand down. Our engines both revved up high. Almost at the same time we pulled our feet of the clutch. The tyres screamed for grip. Our engines rev came down till we hit our grip.

So the race had started. The GTR had a big advantage on the start. His 4 wheel drive had more grip. I was behind. The GTR went out of sight as I saw something in my mirror. I was astonished.  Rainbow gained a lot of power back this week, but I never thought she would be able to fly this fast already. I could see her worried face behind me. Her mouth moved. Stop. That was what I read from it. i looked in front of me. I looked back in the mirror. I saw Rainbow slowing down. She was tyred. “No!” I screamed to myself. “I’m not giving up!” I looked at my speed. It was high. Higher than I could ever do before. I felt the excitement. I felt the danger. I felt the adrenaline running through my blood. I would win. No doubt.

My engine was getting higher and higher in the revs. High speeds through the turns. It felt good. It didn’t take long to see the rear of the GTR in front of me. Pushed the clutch, I threw the gear lever to the other side. I could see, I could feel the turbo coming back. My rear tyres were on their limits as I tried to go faster and faster. My car was on its limit. I closed the gap as we left the canyon to the west. Trees got higher and thicker as we both sped up through the faster part of the road. I was on his tail. I needed one single turn. He had to make one slight mistake. He had to leave only an inch to much space. I would put my car in that gap.

A sharp left hander came up. Not a hairpin, but a sharp left hander. I saw it. The gap I needed. I had to brake only half a meter later than he would. I could see the air flowing. The draft gave me more speed. Less grip, but speed. That was all I needed here on this straight. Just before the brake in point, I pulled the steering wheel to the left. Out of his draft. The cold breeze hit the car like a storm. The car got pushed to the ground. Braking. I had to trust the car one hundred percent. While braking, I could hear a loud bang in the rear. In a split second I could feel the rear sliding away. In my mirror there were parts flying through the air. Time stopped...

“Stop!” I could hear the words through my head. “Stop!” Rainbow screamed. “Stop!” Thats where I didn’t listen to. That was a mistake. Fear hit me within one tenth of a second as my mind went black. The sound of Rainbow screaming faded away.

It looked like forever. The black colour. The same color as the GTR. Black. A siren faded in. I opened my eyes a little. I saw Jack in his M3 screaming for Rainbow. Rainbows tear hit my face. It hit me hard. “I can trust him.” I heard as Rainbow ran away to the M3. The BMW took of. Police and an ambulance came as I could see far away. I looked around. My car was dead. Split in half. Small fires had erupted because of the fuel that was leaked. All that Rainbow, Jack and I worked on. All that was left were memories. My mind went black. I felt one thing. Fear.

It took long. The black picture flashed white. I woke up. The only thing I could see was white. My fear got worse as I thought about Rainbow. She was alone now. Where was she. Was she safe. That was the only thing I thought of as my eyes got used to the light. The white picture slowly got shape. It got some color. Blue. As my eyes got used some more. I saw the shape of Rainbow. Jack also was standing there. “Am I alive?” I asked. Both their eyes got bigger as they noticed I spoke. “Are you okay?” Rainbow asked as she jumped on my hospital bed. She pushed her head with her seven coloured mane against my body. “It looks like it.” I said as I felt better and better every minute I talked to Rainbow. “You were lucky to live. Even more lucky to not even brake a single bone.” Jack said. “Some parts fell of your car as you Started. Rainbow went after you, but couldn’t catch up. The B4 clan had the M3 with them and weren’t looking at it when the parts hit the ground. So I took the M3 and raced off. I couldn’t catch you two at all with you having such a large lead. I saw a huge plow of smoke further up ahead as I picked up Rainbow.” He let a tear leave his eye. “We were scared. You weren’t the only one who faced the fear. Rainbow was shocked.” “No I wasn’t!” Rainbow defended as she let some tears hit my chest. The only thing I could do was smile. I was OK. “I’m sorry.” I said as some tears left my eyes over my cheek.