The Blackout ⤖ George Russell

T H I R T E E N

Nora and her team entered the track. The sun was burning on Nora's skin. It was warm in Abu Dhabi, perhaps warmer than Britain in the summer, but it felt pleasantly warm, summer warm, holiday warm. Unfortunately, Nora had to wait three more days, and she could call it an end on the Formula 2 chapter.

"Last round, Nora. Let's make it the best round of them all," her engineer said.

Nora looked at him and gave him a smile. "Absolutely," she answered. The last track walk with the team, it had mixed feelings. "Are there things I need to pay extra attention to?"

This wasn't the first time Nora would race at Yas Marina Circuit, she raced here last year too in GP3. George won the previous year, she was the runner up. But this year, this would be her year.

"Calm down, Nora," her engineer smirked, just like more people of her team who were walking with them. "Everything on its time. Relax. I will tell you when you need to pay extra attention, but take it easy."

"Sorry, but I'm hyped. I can win," she enthusiastically said. "I will win, I can feel it." Her eyes were scanning the area. "Alright, I will focus."

The first six turns of the track were discussed, along with other essential parts. It took some time, but it was necessary. And the fact a lap in a car would only be 1.40.000 on its max, made walking it a long day.

"Good, turn seven, also the hairpin and the first DRS zone, tough corner." The team looked around to inspect the area. "You will be able to do this perfectly, Nora, but pay extra attention to it. That's all I have to say unless you have something to add." The team looked at Nora.

She slowly shook her head. "Nope," she replied.

Nora's eyes flew open. She was breathing heavily. It was dark in her room, it made her roll over to her side to have a look at the clock. For a second, she thought she was still at the hospital, but she quickly realised she was home, in her own bed. It was three in the morning. Her arm reached for the nightstand, she turned on a small light. She rested her arm next to her, and she pressed her face in the pillow. It felt like she had been through a tough workout. Nora turned on her back and took a deep breath. It was just a dream...

Wait, what if it wasn't a dream? Nora was not a big dreamer, and most of the times she forgot them after she woke up. She replayed the vision in her head, she knew every detail of it. Her eyes rested on the ceiling. It was almost too frightening to think it was a real happening, but it was. Nora was in Abu Dhabi, on the track, discussing the weak and strong points of Yas Marina Circuit.

It was a flashback, it was a real happening. This happened before the coma.

Nora let out a breath, and a satisfied smile grew on her face, she remembered something. She bit her lip, and her eyes wetted, I remembered something. The last thing she remembered was the captain speaking on the plane to Abu Dhabi, so it meant she was 50 per cent sure she didn't fell in a coma because of a plane crash. Maybe the plane crashed on the way home, but she was almost sure the plane didn't crash. But if it isn't a plane crash, what else could it be? Because it is an accident, I can feel it, but I have to keep the options open.

It was frustrating for Nora to be in this position, she had no clue what happened to her, and she couldn't investigate the last days before it happened - everybody calls it it, but what was it? There was still a rule about devices: no use of devices, tv or other objects for no extra, unnecessary stimuli. There was nothing more than one search on Google what she wanted, one search on Google to find out what happened. She had been guessing and making conspiracy theories on the accident, but she couldn't get a conformation since it was a guess and not a memory.

She was curious. And it didn't stop her. She sat up, every single centimetre hurt of her body, her muscles were stiff. Nora yawned and managed to get herself out of bed. She was regretting it, she almost was not able to walk around. With pain in her legs, she slowly walked to her desk. Her limbs were still asleep, at least, that was how it felt. Nora grabbed a stack of paper and some markers and pens.

"Alright," she mumbled and sat down on the ground in front of her bed. She leaned against it and let her head rest, give me a moment to recuperate. Thanks.

Nora was impatient and started to write some things down on a paper. 'CAUSE OF COMA' was the first thing she wrote. On a new paper, she made a list of possible causes: accident, cerebral haemorrhage, heart attack and plane crash. Luckily she could cross off the last reason, because that wasn't it. She got blank papers and wrote down the names of George, Lando, Alex, Aubrey, Victoria, mum and dad, underneath their names she wrote down what they were to her. One thing she knew for sure: they weren't involved in whatever happened. 'Injuries: memory loss, bruised ribs, bruised wrist and concussion' was the next thing she wrote down. Nora grabbed a new paper and started to summarise her flashback in a few words: Abu Dhabi, track walk and turn seven?

With difficulties, she got up and walked to the wall. She ignored the pain and pressure in her muscles. Nora removed photos from the wall and hung up the first paper on the wall with some tape. It was the paper with the cause of the coma and underneath it the possible causes. Her breath was heavy, and her body screamed for rest, but Nora ignored it. She added all the papers around it and sat down at the end of her bed.

"Jeez," she mumbled.

It looked like she was stalking her own life with all the clues she had. Something had happened, but what? Her eyes were scanning the wall, it looked crazy. There was so much information what was missing, but maybe it would speed up the process of getting her memory back.

A yawn left her mouth, this was too much effort in the middle of the night. Nora crawled back under the sheets and kept looking at the wall, she was missing information.

"May I present you the wall of Nora's investigation," she sighed.