The Monarch Effect

Chapter 1: The Descent

Chapter 1

"Traffic and safety rules? More like traffic and safety SUGGESTION!"

-My sister, probably.

I can mentally hear the simultaneous cries of driving instructors across the entire planet as countless road laws are violated in what's supposed to be my escape from a biology exam that I may or may have not studied for.

Or maybe that's just tinnitus from a possible concussion kicking in.

"Prim, it might just be easier for me to tour your workplace if I'm, oh, I don't know, conscious for it?! So please save both me and the car by -OOF- by not hitting this upcoming speed bump at 80 Miles Per Hour." I borderline beg my sister as I notice her finger barely hovering over the Nitrous button.

I can't see it, but my heart tells me that Prim is rolling her eyes. She releases an "ugh" with the force and attitude of a thousand bothered sisters. She then proceeds to speak in a different pitch.

"Prim, you gotta bail me out! The professor is gullible enough to believe my sob story and give me a few extra days, but my ride is still in dad's shop!" She mocks. "Aren't you just the shining image of chivalry?"

"Hey, I swear I'm not that bad!" I retaliate. "I just so happened to choose my GPA over ethics that day, and you know that university values-"

"Oh, Prim!" She starts once again. "I can't use any driving app, the drivers around here and I am currently on a 'never talking to each other again' basis."

This woman.

"You can't mock and lecture me on ethics and 'chivalry' when you are literally treating the public road like your play-"

"Can it." Prim cuts me off. "I saved you, so you don't get to complain as long as you're in this car."

Ughhhhh.

"Besides, you know how passionate I am about this. As if I'm going to give up this once in a chance lifetime opportunity! Tardiness is not an option!"

The stillness of the green hilly neighborhoods and backroads is interrupted by the abrupt dissonance of a V6 engine screaming at the top of its lungs.

"Just keep your center of gravity in the middle of the seat and hang on to the grab handle! It's only a problem if the speed bump starts screaming!" She snickers to herself with a half-smirk on her face.

"That's not-"

BUMP BUMP

As my body leaves the seat, I get enough airtime to regret my decision to step inside this car and dream about the alternative scenario where I had just studied like a good student. I am harshly yanked back to reality by one of the greatest inventions of mankind, the seatbelt, also known as the only thing that keeps my head from flying through the car's roof.

I would like to clarify that Prim can indeed obey safety laws like a good citizen. It's just that today, she decided that those laws are now... optional for some reason.

"Whatever you're so excited about, I'm pretty sure it's not worth our LIVES and the sweat, tears, and LITERAL BLOOD, mind you, that we put into modding this car!" I borderline yell, earning a side glare from Prim.

"Oh, pipe down, you pansy- !!!" A gasp escapes from Prim's lips as she slams the brakes without warning, causing my face to nearly kiss the glove compartment.

Our karma has gotta be kicking in for sure! Thanks to my sister's negligence, an unsuspecting deer is about to ascend to the little barn in the sky...

Is what is in my head, however, catching a quick glance ahead reveals something else. Something much more... abstract.