Now I Drive Alone Past Your Street Novels & Stories

Living alone allows you to act as if nobody's watching, and in my case, that might not be a good idea since my reckless, young, and somewhat loony side gets to run rampant. The sweet shop is located on the other end of Main Street from the parking lot. Because I didn't feel like parking my car and walking, and then once I'm done walk back to the car only to turn around and drive down the way I came to get home, I just walked. It's not that far anyhow from here to my house. When nobody's looking, I can strip my shirt and fly anyhow.

As I'm staring at the wall I hear the door open. I can't bring myself to see who walked in. Being alone is my new life now. I don't want my hopes up when someone comes to drag me out of the room, only to be left alone in the end. The door closes with a loud click and feet make their way towards me. I close my eyes in an attempt to stop the temptation of looking to see who's here. Please just leave me alone.

I mutter to myself, gripping the steering wheel tighter than necessary. Soon, I'm driving out of the firm, and I'm now on the road. The drive home is a blur. I don’t remember the traffic lights. I don’t remember the turns. I just… arrive at my house. The house greets me with silence….. heavy, suffocating silence. I drop my bag on the table and kick off my heels, the relief almost painful. For a moment, I just stand there in the middle of the living room. I'm alone, completely alone, and the quiet presses in too loud and too much.

And the soft footsteps in the street. Standing at the curb, jaw clenched, jacket unzipped, unmoving for a long moment. Then, without looking, I crossed the street, climbed into my car, and drove off. The silence was deafening; I could hear my own heartbeat. I tried to think of what to say when I see her, but nothing seemed to come to mind. What was I doing? She didn’t want to see me, yet I wasn’t turning the car around. I kept on driving in her direction.

"Just this once. I swear I'll be the perfect driver from now on. I'll never be late, I'll never bring her near the car, and I'll do whatever you want." His voice dropped very low, so low that only I could hear it. But every single word that came out of his mouth was so profoundly delusional it was almost funny. I stared at him for a few seconds, and then I actually laughed out loud. "Hayden, where do you get the nerve to say something like that to me?" Hayden stiffened. Panic flashed through his eyes, and he instinctively threw a nervous glance back at Casey. "Ms. Gray." Hayden panicked, lowering his voice even further. "Please keep it down…"

I press the accelerator harder, leaving her behind in a cloud of gray dust and exhaust fumes. I don't drive back to my house. I can’t face the silence, and I certainly can’t face the ghost of my Sydney's presence that seems to haunt every corner of my mind. Instead, my hands automatically guide the steering wheel down the highway, heading straight toward the towering, ultra-secure gates of Tobias’s private estate.

“Look how empty the roads are at nine pm. Manhattan could never.” I laughed out, “that's why this is the suburbs. Everything is calm and cool. A simple lifestyle for simple people.” “How close are we to your home?” “Pretty close,” I replied, driving into the next street. I halted the car right before my gate. “Here we are,” The place I dreaded the most.

I think the universe is playing with me, or she safe me. She safe me from my wedding, well, it’s good news for me because I have three or six months living on my own. No Ben, no work, no parents, what a piece of great news, I maybe can bring my phone in there and wasting my time watching YouTube or reads a lot of fun stories every single day. “Please, pull over next to the grey house, Sir” I say to the driver. “Alright Miss” He replies. We pull in and I off of the cap, I make my way into my house.

Helpless. When I finally turn the key, the car hums to life. I drive, I don’t even know where I’m going. I just drive away. Away from the building, away from his silence, away from myself. The sky turns soft orange, then bruised purple, and still I drive. The city lights blur past me like streaks of gold and red.

“I can walk the rest.” I didn’t even tap the brake. She noticed. Of course she did. “I said you can stop me.” “I know.” She raised an eyebrow, the scar on her cheek catching the passing light and turning silver for a second. “You taking me all the way home or are we joyriding until the sun comes up?” “I don’t know.” My fingers tightened on the wheel until the leather creaked under my palms. “I just… don’t want to be alone right now.”