SV5 - One Shots

The Girl He Left Behind

Sebastian Vettel had a virtually photographic memory.  He rarely forgot a place or a person, unless he wanted to that was.   Over the years there were only a few people he'd pushed out of his mind.  Most of them because they were toxic and he was better off without them in his life.  The one exception, he forgot her because it hurt too damn much to remember her. 

It had been eight long years since he had walked away and left her behind, shutting her out of his life for what he had thought would be forever.

So why did he now find himself driving the streets he used to know so well?  It wasn't as if he hadn't been back to the UK in the past eight years.   He'd been back every year for the Grand Prix, and he'd been driving for a British team, Aston Martin, for a year now.  He'd never had the urge to return to Milton Keynes.  Until today. 

It was winter break and he'd just been to the Aston Martin factory for a seat fit and a session in the simulator.  He'd left the factory to head back to his hotel but instead had found himself turning the opposite direction and driving towards Milton Keynes. 

It was funny how quickly he remembered the roads, he even remembered the numerous roundabouts.  He guessed some things just stayed in his mind.  But not her.  Even now he didn't think of her.  

He thought of Red Bull, of all his race wins, his four world championships.  He thought of Christian and Helmut, of Mark and Rocky.   Those were the days.  It had been a dream come true to drive for Ferrari, but that dream had turned into a nightmare.  

Red Bull, that's where he'd driven his way into the record books.  He'd forever be grateful to them.   As if by instinct he found himself driving past the factory.  A lot had changed in eight years, but some things had remained the same.  

He himself had changed.  He was no longer that cocky young gun.  He was thirty four years old, a soon to be divorced father of two.  He'd been through hell and back over the last few years but he was finally happy again. Aston Martin had given him a new home and he knew he was finally where he belonged.  

He carried on driving, telling himself he was just feeling nostalgic.   He steered the car by memory.    Then he found himself driving along a road he'd used to travel along a lot.  He'd had a flat in the area and he'd used to jog these streets, first with Tommi, then with Heikki, and later with Antti. 

He passed the small convenience store where he used to pop in for a loaf of bread or a pint of milk.  He looked to the other side of the road expecting to see the pizza place he'd ordered from occasionally on his cheat day but he noticed it was now a betting shop. 

Then he felt his heart race as he spotted a place that he'd tried to forget, and had succeeded in forgetting...until now.

He turned into the car park in front of it.  After pulling into a space, he cut the engine. 

He looked at the red brick building in front of him. It looked just the same as it had looked the last time he'd seen it.   The night he'd driven away, leaving Milton Keynes behind him.  

The sign was weather worn, it looked like it could do with a new coat of paint.  The White Lion Inn.  

He sat looking at the sign moving backwards and forwards as the wind picked up.   Then it hit him.  The nights spent here.  The friends he'd made.  The choice he'd made.   Then he remembered her.  The girl he'd left behind.  Alannah.

                                      ***

Alannah Harrison locked her front door behind her and walked down her garden path towards the blue Vauxhall Mokka parked by the kerb. The wind was getting up and her long dark brown hair blew around her face. She raised her hand and swept it out of her eyes and pressed the button on her car key to unlock it.