Short Track Lovin' ✅

Chapter 46: Kentucky

Saturday, July 8 2017

Chase rolls over, glancing over at Sarina with a smile, as he notices the blank stare on her face glancing up at the ceiling.

With it being a night racing and focused on keeping himself as strong as he could, he had chosen to nap throughout the afternoon prior to the warranted appearances, driver's meeting, and race. Sarina, being the supportive girlfriend she was, agreed to not leave his side. She would either play on her phone, or read a book, or nap as well.

Though waking up this time around, Chase could only think about the blank stare.

"Talk to me...." He finally comments, catching her attention as she looks over. She was so lost in her own thoughts that his voice almost startled her.

"I didn't realize you were awak-" She starts as he brushes the hair out of her face. He knew she was going to focus the conversation on him – whether how he was feeling, the race that night, or something else. That wasn't the intention this time around.

"Talk to me..." She then lets out a sigh, not wanting to go there. He had a lot of other priorities to focus on – and it was now made tougher due to her own mistakes. She shouldn't be allowed to make that hill higher to climb.

"Chase..." He shakes his head immediately, knowing what she was trying to do. However, it wasn't going to work this time around.

"You've got something on your min-"

"You have a race tonight and so much other stuff to focu-"

"Right now, my focus is on you. You were thinking about something, so talk to me, please." She lets out a sigh as she knew she wasn't getting out of this. They had already fought about honesty enough over the past couple months that lying wasn't an option either right now.

"I still can't believe what my brother did. I've known him my whole life. I remember the sweet little boy he was as we were growing up. I remember the fun times we had together, like the family vacation to Disney World. I remember the jokes, the Christmases, and how wonderful he was. He was like a sparkling bud, if you will. Then I look back at the past couple of months, and see how he could just go and poison people with no regard for their life, their friends and family, or their future. Where'd that by go that I once knew?" Chase knew these feelings were eventually coming for Sarina, as he recalled her reactions from hearing the news, to the arrest, to the finding of evidence. He was just glad she was opening up to him, again – even if it stung to a degree in knowing there was sympathy for the man who had attacked him laced in there.

"I don't know, Sarina. They say sometimes people change because of what happens in their life, or just because that's who they are. He obviously did. Why, though? I don't know." Sarina knew exactly why as her eyes remained locked on the ceiling. It all went back to why she didn't want reminders of her childhood. Everything connected more than she ever wanted to admit, and it still pained her to this day.

"He got caught up with the wrong crowd. He wasn't a popular kid at school, but destined for that. He wanted to be 'wanted' and 'popular.' He didn't get that with the good people – I don't know why not. But yet here was this other group that offered him everything he wanted, as long as he followed certain rules and orders. He was strong, so making him the hunchman and go-getter was perfect. People would hand over their orders because they knew he could kick their ass. He also got joy from the time he tried it because it gave him that feeling he was missing." Chase laid there listening intently, intrigued by what she was saying. It was interesting to hear the reasoning behind it all.

"So when you guys realized whose these people were, did you try and get him out?" Sarina nods her head, taking a deep breath. it was these steps that ultimately led the rest of the road that followed. It was why there was anger laced in what happened, too.