Lights Out • 1 • Formula One ✔️

Chapter 24

I know I said that I'd call Max and Daniel when I arrived back in the UK but I was just too exhausted. The plane touched down a little after eleven pm, however I was still on the Baku clock so it felt two am. The drive to my mums house (where I'd be staying for a few days) was an extra three hours from Gatwick airport however I did try an nap in the car. I wasn't allowed to drive just yet so Kudzai, bless her, drove us the entire way.

My mum was so happy to see us, as was Murray who had been staying with her whilst Damien was travelling. She was also very thankful for Kudzai who had been keeping a close eye on me after the accident.

"I told you it was dangerous!" My mum had said, shaking her head at me before I could even put my bags in my old bedroom. I knew that she'd react like that so I had made up many different lies to reassure her. Although she wasn't always very pleased with my career, my mum will always be supportive and encouraging which is why she's probably the best mum I could've asked for.

Kudzai and I stayed with my mum until the Thursday which gave me a few days for my aching body to heal. The day after the accident was by far worse than immediately after, I couldn't move my body for most of the day which made every little task impossible. It still gets painful now, especially my ribs. I went to another doctor just to get a check on my injuries and it turns out that I may have broken a couple of ribs. It was hard to tell without an x-ray but my chances of racing in France were getting slimmer and slimmer the less I improved. This was obviously very frustrating for me and I couldn't help but lose my temper even though I shouldn't.

On the Saturday, I had my first meeting with my personal trainer. Lizzie was very empathetic and really slowed down our workout so it wasn't very intense. My main issue was that I couldn't hold my weight for long on my right wrist which made pushups extremely difficult. We had to alter it so that instead of pushing from both wrists, I do a lopsided push-up so I'm resting on my right elbow instead.

"You do realise that before I clear you of being fit to drive, you need to hold yourself up for at least thirty seconds, right?" Lizzie had told me towards the end of the workout. We had arranged to meet again on Monday and Wednesday before heading off to France.

"With both wrists?"

Liz rolled her eyes. "Of course with both. If you can't, then I can't clear you as fit to race. Same goes with your ribs - if they're not healed enough then you'll have to sit it out."

"But I don't need my ribs to drive! I'll be fine." I argued, trying not to breathe to deeply or else it felt as if someone was stabbing me.

"But the G-Force affects your entire body so everything needs to be in shape." Upon noticing the disappointed look on my face, Lizzie continued. "It doesn't have to be fully healed - just enough so that you can't further injure yourself."

"I really wish I hadn't crashed that car." I sighed, folding my arms across my chest in a pout, wincing when I knocked one of my bruises ribs.

"Don't we all."

I trained as hard as I could over those few days, trying to improve the strength in my wrist and my ribs as much as I could. On the Tuesday, I had managed to hold myself up for 23s before collapsing against my mat, an improvement of eight seconds from the previous day. If I were to improve by the same amount today, I would be allowed to drive this weekend.

"Alright, ready?" Liz set the timer whilst I got into position, pressing to start button as soon as I pushed myself off of the ground. The first fifteen seconds were easy, however it quickly dropped. "Ten second to go." My entire right arm was shaking under the pressure, my face scrunched up as the pain that shot up from my wrist became almost unbearable. "Five." I've got this. "Four." Actually, I don't know if I do. "Three." Oh fuck. "Two." I'm gonna go. Before she could say one, my wrist gave out from under me and I painfully fell to the floor. I landed awkwardly on my ribs which meant that they were in pain too. But none of the pain could compare to the feeling of disappointment in my heart that I won't be able to drive. I couldn't stop the tears that fell as every possible emotion that I had kept bottled up over the last week or so came out.