Who to Trust?

Ch 1 - Fury

The drive to Offline TV's house was unusually quiet. I kept glancing at her from the corner of my eye as I drove. The gentle roar of the car's engine filling my ears, the radio off. I've been driving for an hour and a half at this point, my movements robotic, even more so now that I'm worried about her. Clutch in, up-shift, clutch out. Passing lamp posts lighting up her face periodically, her beauty was something else. Her dark red-orange hair shimmering from the lights. She was my world. I just hope her silence isn't because of my own doing. Ahead of me, traffic lights flicker from green to amber before resting on red. I set the car in neutral as I came to a stop at the line.

An idea came to me as I waited for the lights to change once more. She always loved driving fast, especially in this car, maybe this will get her out of her funk. We're going to a party that was starting late so the road ahead of me is completely devoid of traffic. Reaching below my seat, I flip a switch that removes the rev-limiter. She seems to have seen what I did. "Corpse-!"

Too late. The lights have already turned green. Without even thinking, the rpm is already at six thousand, a mere moment later, the clutch is already fully engaged, tires briefly spinning before seizing the ground and throwing the car forwards, gaining speed by the second. Like before, my movements are robotic. I've done this a hundred times. Clutch in, throw it in second, clutch out. A mere moment later I'm already putting it into third. In seconds we're already going more than 180km/h. Both of us are being compressed into the leather of the seats, yet my hands are not straining against the steering wheel, but firm. This is where I am most free.

The moment ends too soon for my liking as we approach a corner. Easing off the accelerator, clutch in, downshift, clutch out. The engine roars to life once again as the rpm picks up to compensate for the lower gear. Slightly pressing on the accelerator to place load on the car as we round the corner, I see the corner finish as it once again straightens out and I accelerate out of the corner reaching the edge of my tachometer. Upshifting again, we're picking up speed incredibly quickly. I was going to continue speeding up until a small fist connected with my chest, throwing me out of my trance.

"The fuck are you doing?!" Her face is white, hands gripping the 'Jesus Bar' and centre console. Perhaps she didn't expect it. Who am I kidding, even I didn't expect that I'd do that, especially tonight. "Sorry, I'm a little excited." I manage to keep a smirk on my face as I briefly look at her. Her phone dings her usual tone for a text. I see in my peripherals as she steals a glance at me before moving her phone between her thighs, just out of sight from me.

Huh. Never seen her do that before. Before I can dwell on the thought any further, the GPS announces that we've arrived at our destination. Pulling off to the side of the road, I can see that there are a multitude of cars already around the area. Parking on the side of the road a minute walk away from the house, a dull beat and lights radiating from said house. Reaching down, I grabbed my girlfriend's hand and gave it a squeeze, except... she didn't squeeze back. Okay something is definitely up, she always squeezes back. I try not to think too much about it as I lean down to plant a kiss on the top of her head before I reach into my pocket and pull out a mask.

With my mask fastened and girlfriend by my side, I felt confident. We were about ten metres away from the front door before the door opened, revealing a smirking Sean. "I heard you guys before I saw you". I didn't reply to that as I simply smirked and moved in for a handshake that morphed into a quick hug before moving to the side so I could introduce my girlfriend.

"I don't believe you two have met. Sean, this is my girlfriend Lacy. Lacy, this is Sean, better known as Jackcepticeye. Sean flashed a smile before leaning in for a quick hug before showing the two inside. Now that the door was opened, the music was much louder than before. "You guys sure as hell know how to throw a party" I mumbled to myself. I would have rathered a smaller gathering as a large party meant that I would more than likely have to keep my mask on for a large portion of the party so that people I didn't know or trust couldn't see my face. Fold-out tables with red solo cups, most empty, were scattered about the house. Walking through a sea of faceless people, the first face's I recognised were Pokimane and Lexi's. They were sitting on a couch, side by side, talking with a couple of people that I didn't know. They spotted me and basically launched off of the couch and crashed into me.