• Something, somewhere, went terribly wrong.
    100, 0000 ft up in the air, Zala Harried lost control of the vehicle.


    wahmbulance “AAAAHHHH!!!” The ship plummeted. wahmbulance
    “PULL UP! PULL UP!” shouted David over the roar of the engine, but Zala was didn’t hear. He reached over her and grabbed at the stick, missed and got elbowed in the face by on of Zala’s flailing arms. He cringed back holding his bottom lip and Zala screamed even louder at the sit of the blood.
    “STOP!” yelled David. The sky simulation around them faded and the Auto rocked to a halt. After a few minutes Zala calmed, she glanced over at David and blushed at the site of his bloody mouth.
    “You ok?” She asked.
    “Yeah” he replied.
    “Sorry” Zala’s voice was hardly above a whisper.
    “It’s ok, it’ll stop in a minute, and if not Sara will fix it” David’s voice was muffled by his hand. He didn’t notice, but Zala’s face froze over at the mention of her friend.
    “You don’t always have to go to her” she muttered fiddling with a thread hanging from her sleeve.
    “What?” Asked David, his head was resting on the back seat and his face was tilted upwards. Zala was glad David wasn’t looking at her as she blushed.
    “Oh! Um…I said ”I just can’t get then hang of this” ” she said, gesturing to the inside of the auto.
    “You will” said David, opening the door and getting up, As Zala got out she cast a quick look at David. She didn’t understand why she had felt so angry when he mentioned Sara.
    “You wanna get something to eat an’ try again?” Asked David stretching.
    Something inside Zala jumped.
    “Sure” she replied.
    All the way through the meal Zala couldn’t help staring at David. Why did she suddenly want to touch him? Feel the need to run her fingers through his hair and feel his arms around her? David was two years older than Zala, but they’d grown up together, he was like an older brother. So why was she suddenly feeling these, definitely non-sisterly, feelings towards him? They had lost contact after school, and five years later Zala was the legal age to drive so she had started to go to lessons, and guess who was teaching her?
    Zala started as David touched her arm, and she felt her heart stop.
    “Zala? You listening?”
    “What?” She mentally shook herself, better not think about that...
    David laughed, she smiled, his lips formed a nice shape when he did that, stop it she scorned her self.
    “I said “you want to go back to the lesson now?” “ He repeated.
    “Oh! Yeah” she nodded her head enthusiastically.

    David drove her home. She liked it in David’s auto, she felt safe, warm. She also liked that David’s auto was small so they had to sit close together.
    “Er…” said Zala as the sailed past her apartment building. “Where are we going?”
    But David just grinned at her and said nothing. Ideas exploded in Zala’s mind. Where are we going? Is he taking me to the lake? Is he going “somewhere quiet”? What if he’s taking me to meet “some one very special”? This last though made her stomach quiver.
    After 15 minutes Zala started to get bored.
    “Where are we going?” She asked again.
    “You’ll see” was all David said.
    Zala fell asleep after another hour. She woke with David shaking her arm. Could have woken me more romantically she started to think but stopped her self. She looked around, it was still dark, but a light blue haze was appearing on the horizon.
    “Here” said David, reaching behind him. He brought out a flask, he handed her a cup and she took a mouthful, thinking it coffee. She choked and spluttered half of it alover David.
    “Oi watch it!” He yelled
    Zala’s eyes widened, and she put the cup down quickly, as if she could burn herself on it, she probably could too.
    “I’m not old enough, besides, we need to get home” She protested meekly.
    David just grinned, rolled his eyes and shoved the cup of black G back into her hands. Zala accepted the cup, and sipped in reverently.
    “Where are we?” She asked after a while. David didn’t say anything, he opened the auto door and got out.
    “Hey!” yelled Zala, but David suddenly appeared outside her door, he opened it and said:
    “Shove up”
    Zala undid her belt and scooched over.
    “Right” said David, getting in and closing the door again, “you know you said you would never get used to the simulator?”
    “Yeah” said Zala carefully.
    “Well, I thought, maybe it would help to drive a real one” David looked her full in the face and grinned. Zala frowned.
    “Wha…?” Zala was confused. What did he mean?
    “You honestly don’t know what I’m getting at?” He laughed when she shook her head. Something occurred to her then, Zala looked around the car, she was in the drivers seat, and David was un the passenger seat, like in the simulation. Her head snapped to the left and she stared at David her eyes glittering with excitement.
    “You mean… I can drive your car?!” She asked incredulous.
    For an answer David reached over and started the engine. Zala turned forwards and gripped the steering stick. She let out the grav-lock, pressed lightly on the push paddle, she heard the engine rumble into life, and felt the automatic rise beneath her feet.

    She did drive better in a real auto. She didn’t get as panicky when things went wrong, it felt real, it was real. She knew that all the buttons and paddles actually did something. She could feel David’s eyes on her, she glanced his way and cursed herself for grinning so stupidly. But she couldn’t help it, she was driving!
    She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as David leaned towards her, she turned round, eyes wide with surprise.
    “Watch!” His voice jolted Zala out of a kind of daze, just in time for her to swerve to the right to avoid a lamp. She felt her face heat up. He hadn’t been leaning towards her to kiss her; he had leaned forward to warn her about the corner. And what had she done? She had just stared at him, eyes wide, expecting something else. David reached across and took the stick, Zala didn’t protest as he steered the auto down to the ground and parked it, near some trees. He got out, and she moved into the passenger seat. She didn’t look at him when he got in, she didn’t look at him when he started the engine, she didn’t look at him at all, she sat there, with her hand in her lap. So she didn’t notice that he wasn’t taking her home.
    She looked up when she felt the auto pull to a stop, she looked around her. She looked at David, and opened her mouth to ask where they were this time, but stopped. David reached out and lifted her hand from her lap, he didn’t look at her. Zala’s mind was reeling. Where are we? He’s holding my hand! But he’s not looking at me… Cautiously, Zala lifted Davids arm, and wriggled under it, she looked up at him. He glanced down at her, and quickly looked out the window again, his arm tensed. Zala entwined her fingers in his, her heart racing. heart
    This is what she wanted; she wanted David to hold her, she wanted David to stroke her face… David’s other hand was gripping the side of his seat, Zala took it placed it against her cheek, it was so cold… She wanted to run her fingers through his hair, she wanted him to pull her close and kiss her… She sat up and turned to face him. He looked away, then glanced back at her, then looked away again. I’ll do it myself then… she reached over and pulled his head around to face her, she leaned forward, their lips met, Zala closed her eyes. OK, so his not riding up to me on a gleaming stallion and sweeping me off my feet, but he’s not pulling away. His arms unfolded themselves and enclosed her. She leaned into the curve of his body, his arms squeezed her, her fingers ran through his hair, he stroked her face, her arms, her back, she grabbed the back of his head and forced herself nearer to him, he did the same, the sat there, arms entwining each other. Zala felt tears running down her face, his or hers it didn’t matter, she didn’t know why but it didn’t matter. This is where she wanted to be.
    Nether of them saw it coming, the big auto-truck. It had been running late, it was supposed to have been delivering groceries. It was dark, the driver was tired, he took his eyes off the road for a second – just a second… but that’s all it takes.