Saorsa

Unexpected

I'm unable to contain my smile as I speed down the curved mountain roads, Serena next to me as our hair blows in the wind.

I have a girlfriend, a beautiful one at that.

I look over at her, her ethereal face illuminated by the soft glow of the moon above.

"I'm not going too fast am I?" I tease, returning my attention back to the road as I focus on driving along the narrow cliff side.

She shakes her head, that look of pure adrenaline glimmering in her eyes. "Accelerate," She instructs when we finally get off the mountain and onto a straight road.

We're moving so fast that our surroundings are bearly visible as we speed past, all the trees just looking like a blur of brown and green.

She squeals and that's when I realise she enjoys the rush of danger just like I do. She's perfect for me.

I'm driving for around twenty minutes, traveling the same amount of distance I would have in an hour if I was driving the speed limit.

Serena spends the majority of the drive gushing about our date but the conversation is cut short when she stops talking, her body tense.

"What is it?" I ask worriedly, slowing down slightly so I'm able to check on her. "Serena are you okay? Does anything hurt?" I urge when she reminds silent, scared we may be having a repeat of that medical emergency.

"Yeah I'm fine it's just.. that car," She frowns, adjusting the rear view mirror to get a better look.

The car is very close to us, which wouldn't be so concerning if we weren't going three times over the speed limit. It's also just strange in general to see anyone out here, we're in such an isolated area and it's past midnight now.

Although the car seems harmless enough it leaves me with a bad feeling. I want to slow down so I can access the situation but the car is so close behind us that I wouldn't be able to do so without crashing into it.

"It's probably nothing," I say dismissively, only to ensure Serena stays calm. She nods but with the way her eyes are still firmly trained on the rear view mirror I doubt she believes me.

I continue driving until I eventually find some back roads, taking numerous random turns to test whether the SUV will follow.

"Shit," I mutter, realising we're being followed. "It's following us isn't it?" Serena questions quietly, her voice laced with anxiety.

"Yes can you get my gun out," I instruct, motioning towards the glove compartment. She rushes to grab it, her hands nervously placing it on her lap.

I had created enough distance between me and the car to slow down. Obviously it would be beneficial to go as fast as possible to get away from the car but with how fast we were going we were more likely to crash than escape.

"Serena I need you to-" Just as I start my sentence I'm interrupted by the car slamming into our bumper, sending us hurtling into our seatbelts.

"Fuck," I curse, my hand gripping the wheel so tightly my knuckles start to turn white.

The car slams into us again, sending us swerving slightly.

Serena's breathing starts to pick up, her body shaking. Shit. I can tell she's on the verge of a panic attack.

"It's okay, we're going to be okay," I try to comfort whilst simultaneously trying to keep us on the road. She stares down at the gun in her lap, her breathing still too rapid.

"Serena, baby I need you to calm down you're going to hyperventilate," I plead, my eyes drifting between her and the road.

Suddenly the car comes slamming into us again, sending our car off the road.

My arm instinctively flies in front of Serena's body, acting as a second seatbelt as our car flies into a patch of trees.

We crash into a small tree, the whole front of the car being caved in. Luckily we remain relatively untouched except for a few bruises from the seatbelt.

"Are you okay?" I question frantically, quickly assessing her body. She nods unsurely, a terrified expression etched into her features.

"Okay I'm going to need you to stay here and don't come out until I come get you, okay?" I say in a exaggerated calm, grabbing my gun from her lap.

"Lock the doors," I instruct, opening my car door and climbing out. "But-" She says, her terror being replaced with worry.

"Now Serena." I interrupt her, closing the door and accessing my surroundings.

I slowly walk out of the patch of trees, approaching the road with my gun raised. Adrenaline courses through my veins as I prepare to do anything to protect Serena.

However, to my surprise when I get to the road it's completely desolate, the only sound coming from the crickets hiding deep in the woodland.

My eyebrows draw together in confusion as I stand out in the open, checking in every direction for any sight of the car.

It doesn't make any sense. I had assumed this was an attempt to kill us by someone related to the mafia but no one with training or even common sense would just crash our car and leave us.

If they were planning to kill us then they would have ensured we were dead especially since the crash didn't even look fatal.

It doesn't even make sense for it to be a message either since we don't even know who was behind it. The attack was either completely random or perpetrated by someone who's completely incompetent.

I do a last scan of the area before heading towards the car, pulling out my phone and phoning my uncle who has a house not far from here.

"Are you okay?" Serena practically jumps out the car when she sees me returning. "Are you hurt? I couldn't hear anything," She asks worriedly, looking me up and down.

"Yeah I'm fine, they must have left," I shrug, still completely baffled. She lets out a sigh of relief, falling into my arms.

I hold her for a moment, finally able to relax now that we're seemingly out of danger.

"So how are we getting home?" She asks, softly laughing as she stares at the now totalled car. "I've called my uncle, he should be on his way," I tell her, taking her hand and leading her back to the road.

"Could this get any worse," Serena laughs, holding her hand up and catching some rain droplets that are now falling on us.

I laugh too, wondering how our perfect night somehow ended with us sitting on the side of the road, freezing and getting rained on.