Are you scared?

4. It's my fault.

I sat at one of the tables, looking at the white table. "Lightning, hun', what's goin' on?" Flo was at my table with coffee and pancakes. She knew me maybe too well for my own good."It's just~ I invited a co-worker; he's a racer too." I signed and nodded when Flo gave me a cup of coffee. The hot liquid with more milk than coffee was smoking and making me even more miserable. Maybe it wasn't the coffee. However, having a culprit for this foul mood eased it a little.

"I think that Sally likes him more than me. His name is Francesco Bernoulli." Flo grinned, and her blue lipstick got even more visible. It complimented her dark skin very well. "Aaah, yes, I know him." She said dreamily, making my appetite disappear. Of course, she would like that nudist as well. "Let me guess, 'Francesco is great because he's not hiding anything'." I put money on the table and walked to my car on the other side of this little town... right next to the motel.
Fuck me.
My blood boiled in my veins as I angrily sat in my car. It took a second before I slammed the wheel. "Francesco, Francesco, Francesco." I murmured and looked at Sally's little store with souvenirs. I saw two silhouettes laughing and having fun without me. Yeah, why not, huh? I was a ticking bomb, and all those times when Francesco won or made fun of me flashed through my eyes. My vision got distorted by tears of anger, making everything look disfigured.

I gunned the engine and took off. I didn't see where I was heading or on which road I was. I was angry, frustrated, and sad.
They'd forgotten me the moment they saw each other! I was just naive! And Flo was after him too? Oh god! "Why!" I yelled, halting in the middle of nowhere. My breathing was ragged as if I just ran a mile.

"Why?! Fucking World Grand Prix! Fucking Francesco! Fucking ME!" I punched the klaxon so hard my hand started to hurt. Tears of anger slipped out of my eyes, making their way down my cheeks. "It's my fault." Laying my head on the wheel, I signed full of anger and this bitterness I couldn't name. "If I just didn't have to~ If I didn't~ If I wasn't an idiot." I looked around and found myself on the edge of some cliff above Radiator Springs.

After walking to the edge, I sat down, letting my legs tangle above nothing. "Just a naive boy~ I'm just a naive boy." I was looking in high way far away from all of this. I took a deep breath and lay on my back, legs still hanging from the cliff. I closed my eyes, my heart still racing, and my thought wanted to catch it. "A little nap won't hurt anybody."

I opened my eyes to see stars and the night sky. "Oh fuck." Was it already this late? I sat, remembering that I still was on the cliff. The Radiator Springs was shining, looking like an oasis in the centre of a desert. I just hoped that I would find my way home. My car was the only means of transport in the area of fifty miles.
As soon as I sat in it, I could feel calmer. "Yeah, nap helped." I started the engine and took off.

When I arrived, the first person to stop me was Sarge. "Oh god! Soldier!" He said and opened my door. The shock absolutely stunned me when Sarge pulled me out of the car. "You frightened us! You know that?! Where were you?!" I was mute at that second, but I shook it off. "I was angry and took a ride." He was looking at me with his stern gaze. The initial shock dissolved as Serge hugged me. "Flo said you ran away. We were reaching out to you, even that Italian nudist." I blinked. "I'm sorry." He sat me in his jeep with a look that told me I couldn't compromise my way out of this. Seeing how he towed my car to his, I understood the depth of the shit I was in.

"You will have to explain it to everybody." I signed and then looked at him. "Don't force me to, please. I admit that I acted like a child. I was feeling miserable and couldn't handle myself. Don't make me talk about it." Sarge looked at me and signed. "I know one tree hugger who might make you feel better, but don't let him give you something you don't know."