Take This Life / Daniel Ricciardo

Chapter 5

The next few days in factory went pretty fast. They weren't the most enjoyable ones cause I still had in mind Christian's words and I couldn't concentrate on my work, but I was trying really hard. Unfortunately few people, including Daniel, spotted that and tried to take the info from me why I did become so stressed and weird, but all I was saying was that I was tired which was actually true - I was quite tired. And the fact I was coming back to home today wasn't helping either.

I was currently sitting with Daniel in simulator talking about things that needed improvement from the last race. I had my face in my palms as I was looking at the various screens and telemetry graphs from Dan was driving now. I groaned quietly as I looked at the hour and that there was an hour remaining.

I swear, I seriously loved this job, but it had gotten really hard to concentrate on things. Last few nights since Monday I spent sleepless, not able to fall asleep. The only reason why I was actually functioning was the amount of coffee that I was pouring into my system. Also since I couldn't sleep, I had gotten constant headaches that maybe weren't the strongest, but the lightest they weren't either. Also I started to look worse - I had really dark circles under my eyes, I became really pale. My hair was looking unhealthy too.

I was looking blankly at the screen and drifted to my thoughts that I didn't realise Daniel was actually calling me. I immediately shook it off and tried to listen to what he was saying.

"Sorry, can you repeat?" I asked, clearing my voice that was quite raspy and dry.

"I said the car was good and everything seemed alright and if we could end a little earlier cause I have a flight to Monaco in 3 hours from now" he chuckled.

"Yeah, it's alright. I have a flight to catch soon too, so it's ok" I nodded. I heard him getting up from the car, so I prepared the towel and water for him that were lying on the table next to me.

I handed him the water and towel and he gladly thanked. We chatted for a moment as he was drying himself up when he stopped talking and looked at me interested or concerned. He also came to me closer and crouched to look at my face. I felt my blood getting cold and my heart speeding. I started to feel uneasy and maybe even scared cause I had a bit of an idea what he was gonna say.

"I don't know what has happened or what Christian has told you, but I, well everyone, can see that something is not alright. Just so you know, even though you're my car engineer, I treat you also like my friend - everyone here at Red Bull is like a one big family, so you can tell me everything. I will always listen and be there" he said slowly and almost whispering. I closed my eyes not wanting to open them while he was looking at me and being so close.

He got up after a moment and left the room while saying a quiet goodbye. I wished, well mumbled, him good days off and decided to gather all my papers and leave the room too and prepare for flying home.

———

I exited the Frankfurt airport and stopped for a second to text my mum I was in Germany. It felt weird to be here in home once again, but pretty much nothing had changed since the last time I was there. The good old Frankfurt. The airport looked the same, the air was the same.

"Just landed, will be home whenever the bus arrives" I texted her.

After that I decided to go and find the bus stop to get back to home. I was walking carefully with my suitcase searching for B13 sector. Fortunately I found it quite easily after few minutes of searching and walking around. I checked the timetable and the nearest bus was in 10 minutes. I sighed in relief and sat on the bench. Surprisingly there were bunch of people waiting for the bus to come, so I wasn't alone. Probably people were visiting their families or something.