Metanoia.「skephalo」

02 | Red flags.

The high velocity of the wind caressed Zak's face during the entire ride to Zelk's house. He loved the sensation of being cradled by it so much that he almost argued with Vincent for taking the helmet with the broken visor, and from his point of view, it was worth it.

Stopping at a red light, his french best friend gave his leg two pats, catching his attention. Zak leaned forward as Vincent lifted up his helmet visor, resting his chin on the rider's shoulder.

"Gas is low, we'll have to stop at a gas station after the party. Is it a problem?" he asked once he turned his head to the short boy side, without looking away from the traffic light.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." the Junior replied with an usual voice crack.

"Zak, later will you tell me what's wrong? You avoided talking about it the whole day." Vincent added, his accent increasing along the Junior anxiety.

"Uhm, yeah, later." he quickly murmured in reply.

Wanting to avoid more questions, the short boy leaned back, surprisingly at the same time the red dot of the traffic light changed to green.

After visibly sighing, Vincent pulled the helmet's visor down and restarted riding, going faster than he should have, as always.

Zak's thoughts started twisting in his head, focusing more on the imminent party than Vincent.
Memories, mostly bad ones, of Zelk's and other parties would start getting bulky and heavy, causing him to struggle thinking straight.

'Am I doing the right thing?' he asked to himself, frowning uneasily.

Anxiety started kicking in, making his guts ache and his heart race.

"You'll regret this, Zak." he said quietly shaking his head slowly, as saying it out loud would make him more consciousof his choice. "You sure will."

Less than five minutes later, the two arrived in the alleyway outside Zelk's huge house, where a queue of badly parked cars occupied the sidewalk.

Some drunk Seniors and Juniors were already fighting each other right outside the front door, slamming each other against the wall or the floor.
The strong basses of the blasting music were audible even with the helmet on and the motorcycle still running.

Zak's anxiety increased even more, causing him to struggle breathing.

Too many red flags. Anywhere he looked at, he would find a new one.

'This is not okay.'

Vincent, stared at his friends with his eyebrows furrowed together as he already asked him to get off the motorcycle three times. Little he knew that Zak's anxious thoughts muffled every single surrounding sound, his voice included.

Confused, the french boy grabbed Zak knee, receiving a huge winch and a panicking glance in return.

"Oh, sorry, I spaced out." the older quickly excused himself, scratching the back of his neck.

"Again." Vincent emphasized with grin. "C'mon, get off the bike so I can park decently."

Nodding once in reply, the short boy hopped off the motorcycle and pulled off his helmet, turning his head back towards the huge white house, staring at it again.

Zelk's parents were both lawyers, always out of city for work, they didn't have any problems with leaving him home alone. Thanks to them being constantly away, the Senior was known for his huge parties, full of alcohol, drugs and chicks.

"Ready?" Vincent asked in a sigh, siding him.

"Yeah, let's have fun." he exclaimed, slamming his hands together.