Project Sarin

5 - Scratches

We arrive in a neighborhood with huge houses wherever I look. This looks like a very rich part of town.

We drive through the streets to a house a little ways away from the others, on the edge of a cliff.

They all pull up in front of the house. I'm last, thinking that I should park next to them.

"You're one to race", Dyer says when I'm getting out of the car. What do I answer to that? I don't remember if I've even driven a car or not before all this.

"Thanks", I say, simple, but not lying.

"We could use someone like you in our team, that is, if you can prove that you can keep this up".

"Hoho!" I hear CJ shout, "Dyer's never offered someone a place in the team after the first race".

"You can stay here a few days if you want to", Dyer says to me, "we have more than enough space here".

He walks up the stairs made of stone to the door and unlocks it.

Well, I needed a place to stay, but I didn't expect a five star hotel like this.

I turn around to look at Sarin. Now, I see the big scratches all over the dark brown colour. Of course, there should be since we were almost thrown off the road yesterday.

I should see if I could do something about that before people start wondering. Jed is closest to me right now.

"Hey, Jed, was it right?" He turns around to look at me, then he gives a slight nod, "do you know anywhere I can get my car fixed up?" He glances at the scratches in Sarins paint.

"Come with me", he says and starts walking toward the side of the house.

I turn back toward Sarin.

"Come on", I say in a kind of low voice. It follows me as I follow Jed.

Jed shows me to the side of the house, where there's a big door, big enough for a car to fit through, leading into the building.

He puts his finger on a small black box on the wall beside the door. A green light shows that the door is unlocked.

"Wow, hightech", I say. He just glances over his shoulder before he walks past the opening door.

Inside, there's a huge space with everything from tools to cars. There are no windows, since it's a bit under ground, but it's still well lit.

The floor looks like it's made of glass, but it couldn't be. It would break right?

Jed shows me to a a free space in the corner of the room.

"Here's everything you need", he says and points with his hand, showing the tools I'll need.

"Thanks, are you sure it's alright?" I ask while showing Sarin to the right place.

"Yeah, Dyer's more stuff than he'll ever need", he says staring out in space, he will never look me in the eye, "besides, it looks like you'll be part of the team soon."

"Hah, I don't know about that. We just met today." I laugh. I don't really know what this 'Team' does. Jed is still expresionless.

"Other racers have tried for years to get into our team. They still don't succeed. Dyer can see a good racer before he's ever seen them race."

"Really..." I say while thinking. I can't really see why he would see me as good. I did a lot of mistakes, and much of it was the car itself. I bend down to look at Sarin's side. I can see traces of the black paint from the Jeeps against Sarins dark brown colour.

"You look angry", I hear Jed's voice beside me. I look up to where he's standing. He's finally looking me in the eye.

Realizing what he said, I must've unconciously furrowed my brows.

"Well... I was just thinking of how to fix these scratches the best way." Jed looks away for a moment and the back at Sarin.

"Where'd you get 'em?", he asks, "At first I thought you'd gotten them in a race, but now they seem pretty bad." I sigh.

"There was a tough opponent..." I say, "no sense for a fair race". We're both quiet for a while. Both of us deep in thought, looking at Sarin.

It isn't until Sarin lets its engine roar because of the staring, we come back to reality.

"I guess I can show you a good way to get rid of so many scratches", Jed says.

"These many? Can you really erase them just like that?"

"Well, we have a good method we use here, makes the scratches disappear like they were never there."

"Wow, I'd like to learn that." I smile.

Jed shows me the method and when we're finished, the paint will need a few hours. I try to convince Sarin to stay still until I get back.

We walk around the house to the backyard.

"Pretty amazing you had the exact same colour here". I say.

"Yeah, sometimes it's hard to believe how many different things Dyer's collected over the years".

"He must have a lot of money".

"You can earn a lot if you succed in racing".

"I've started to realize that", I laugh. I can see a slight smile from Jed too, which I've understood is pretty rare.

After a moment of silence Jed speaks again.

"Your car is kind of special, huh?" he says while looking at the ground.

"Yeah, I guess so. I think it's great in many ways but it's also got its, more, unusual things you can't see in other cars."

"You think?" Jed asks.

"Um... we're... getting to know eachother. We're still new", I say, trying to not say too much.

"So, you've not know your car, Sarin, for that long?" he looks at me, surprised. Like it's the strangest thing he's heard today.

"No, not that long actually", I look down, "something strange with that?" I glance up at him, feeling unsure.

"No, it's just that, for having a car like that, it can't be that easy in the beginning. And you seem to get along so well".

"You think so?"

"Ehum..." before Jed can say anymore, we hear footsteps coming toward us.

"What've you two been doing?" we hear CJ say, coming out from the back door of the house. He walks down the stairs with a challenging smile.

"Excuse me?" I say, understanding the meaning behind his words.

"Come on, CJ", Jed says looking away again.

"Jed just showed me to the garage", I explain.

"You were gone pretty long", CJ continues with his smile unchanged.

"Well, I had to fix something with Sarin", I say a bit annoyed.

"Hmm, okay", CJ says and walks away laughing.

"He always does that", Jed says to me only loud enough so I can hear.