The Ghost of a Lost Racer

LA West

*North Las Vegas Speedway* (A Couple Months Later)

"WAIT!" I yell but no one hears me, except LA who just turns to me with a grin.

Alexa flings down her arms, starting the race and right before I nail the throttle, LA looks at me and yells, "I ain't done yet".

It all happens in slow-motion to me. LA's chuckle, the rear tires of Camaro smoking, my hand shoving the shifter into first, my feet flooring the throttle and popping the clutch, the G's pushing me into my seat. Then all of a sudden, its regular time and both of our cars are evenly flying down the quarter-mile track.

We shift at the same, accelerate at the same time; its like we are one being in a single motion. Yes, a single motion being a Japanese rice box and an American muscle car, but both are moving in exactly the same matter. Shift, accelerate, shift, accelerate, shift, blast of Nitrogen Dioxide, accelerate and pass the finish line. The two very different cars pass the finish line at exactly the same time, at the exact same speed never once did they overcame each other.

We turn ourselves around, LA then me, and make our way down the track again towards the crowd. We stop a few feet away from Hao and step out of our cars.

"Who are you?" I demand, walking around the hood of the Eclipse.

"What do you mean, 'who are you'?" LA asks dumbfounded.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Fetzer" I say inches from his face.

"Bro, get out of my face or we are going to have a problem" LA says, those familar cold eyes replace what I had just seen a few minutes ago before the race.

"'We are going to have a problem'? What the hell do you mean, 'We are going to have a problem'? We already do have a problem! How can you fake your-" I start but Hao interupts by stepping inbetween us.

"OKAY!" Hao echos throughout the parking lot, "I just got the results back and-"

"I don't give a shit about the results, I wanna know who this guy is!" I exclaim, shutting Hao up.

"I already told you, my name is LA West. Lukas Alexander West! Jesus Christ, who the hell do you want me to be?" LA asks me frantically. Surrounding us is a huge crowd and right in the front is Alexa, JD, Pony and Ace.

"Your name is Bert Fetzer and you faked your death, I swear right in front of me, two months ago!" I yell.

"Dude, get out of my face or I will put you in your place" LA says to me.

"What are you gonna do about it, Fetzer? Huh? What are you-" I yell into his face but, I get interrupted by a fist connecting right in my jaw. I fling backwards and land on the passenger door of the Eclipse.

"I warned you, asswhipe. The name is West, not who ever the fuck, 'Fetzer' is." LA says then pleasantly turns to Hao. "Now, who won?"

I hold my jaw, as Hao in shock slowly starts what he was going to say. "Well... Um... You guys tied at 8.344 seconds. We've never had a tie before, so here's $250,000 each." He hands us both a few huge wads of $100 bills.

"Thank you" LA says sternly as he takes his half of the $500,000 and opens the door to his Camaro. I slowly stand up and wipe the trickle of blood that streams from my bottom lip. LA slides into the drivers seat and slams the door. I come up to his window as the muscle car starts up.

"Look. I know you are Fetzer. You can't hide it, you act just like him and drive just like him. LA, we all know who you really are"

He simply says with out turning his head towards me, "I told you once, I'll tell you another thousand times", then he turns and looks straight in my eyes. "I am not whoever you are talking about. Just get over him, he's dead. Fetzer died when he was shot and went over that cliff. Get over him!" he exclaims and flies out of the parking lot, almost running over my foot.