Those full breasts.
Bouncing together with excitement.
I had to be careful.
This I sensed more now than before.
Something was not right.
Nia runs her fingers over the handles, down, all the way to the exhaust.
“Ducati,” she whispers.
She looks at me and smiles.
“Where did you get the money for this?”
Umf.
My sweetpea.
She always made me laugh.
I told her many times before where I got the money.
When she asked me about the wood for the chest.
The Philippines are a far way away she had said.
By boat or by plane.
She was strange then.
But I think she was simply overwhelmed.
At the gesture.
Nia could never really accept things from me.
I can’t explain.
She took them.
But it was.
I don’t know.
Perhaps I was the one imagining things.
Wouldn’t be the first time.
Umf.
Uhm.
“Uhm.”
I clear my throat.
“You know what they say about inheritance.”
I smile at Nia.
She smiles back.
Beautiful white teeth.
As if to say, oh.
But also as if to ask, who died?
Like she was not sure if she was supposed to be happy or sad.
Say what about Nia.
When she was alert.
She was aware of others feelings.
She didn’t wish to insult or intrude.
I enjoyed that about Nia.
But curious she remained.
Even if a subject seemed off limits or taboo.
She would want to understand.
Why.
Not to pry.
Simply to understand.
We all have such interesting stories to share.
That’s what Nia always said.
If we would simply open our mouths and stop caring what whoever else thinks.
Nia got a few people upset with that attitude.
Umf.
“Are we going to take it for a spin?”
Nia was excited.
She took the helmet meant for her.
It was yellow with two bold black stripes.
Nia chose it herself.
“You’re not disappointed that there’s no black stallion or pink unicorn?”
I look up at Nia.
Serious expression on my face.
Nia didn’t miss a beat.
“Those are for sissies. Give me a bike anytime. Woo-Hoo!”
*Wooooo-hooooooooo*
She does a rock on sign.
Umf.
That’s my Nia.
Fair Lady.
Likes bikes just as much as I do.
Umf.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever let her drive though.
If the way she handles the car is any indication to go by.
Let’s just say we will all be a lot safer on the road.
With Nia.
Not behind the wheel.
Uhm.
Ha-ha.
“V-twin cylinder. Desmodromic…”
“No return spring. Less cam drag and less wear…”
She says.
Nia didn’t miss a thing.
“Ducati traction control…”
“Much better handling.”
Nia smiles.
She knew her bikes.
She was always working on cars and such with her dad.
She serviced and repaired her dad’s tractor all by herself.
“The design more like the…”
“998.”
Nia finishes my sentence.
I loved that.
“Yes.”
I smile.
I get Nia’s jacket.
Leather.
It was yellow too.
With the words Born Free on the back.
That was Nia’s motto.
I helped her to put it on.
I let her zip the front herself.
My hands might just linger too long.
Like a pervert.
I didn’t want Nia to think that.
I put on my Ferrari jacket.
Nia zips it up for me.
She smiles as she reaches my neck.
She gently caresses my chin.
Runs her fingers over the day long stubble.
She puts her left hand to my right brow.
She carefully taps the tender bump.
How I got it.
I can’t remember.
No.
Nothing.
I enjoyed Nia’s soft touch.
Uhm.
This was no good.
I step back and gesture that it’s time to go.
Nia puts on her helmet.
I was about to start the bike.
“Sexy sexy sexy!”
Umf.
My sweetpea.
“Sexy blond on a hot, red bike. Woo-hoo!”
Sexy.
Did she mean it?
“Nicky Hayden. Woo-Hoo!”
*Wooooo-Hoooooo!*
She seems to drift off in her thoughts.
Even through the small opening of the helmet.
I could see it.
I’ll take that as a compliment.
Not only was he blessed with raw talent.
He worked exceptionally hard too.
Always polite and respectful.
I was one of his biggest fans.
Uhm.
“You think I look like him?”
I ask Nia.
Curiously.
She smiles wide.
“You do have the same look about you. Accept for the eyes of course.”
She seems to give it some thought.
“Yes and no.”
She seems uncertain.
“Good yes or bad no?”
I carry on.
Wanting to know.
“Let’s go.”
Nia laughs.
She puts down her helmet shield.
Gets on the bike.
Bit of a squeeze, but she snuggles tight against me.
Arms around my waist.
I took it in for the moment.
Then drove off in the direction of Nia’s Drive.
It was a road that went all along the mountain.
The view from there was spectacular.
You could see across to the thirteen waterfalls that lay to the west.
I don’t remember us ever visiting there.
Then again.
It felt like we did.
Something was not right.
I sensed trouble.
With Nia’s arms around me.
I was comforted.
With Nia with me.
Things would be okay.
Uhm.
Relax.
Yes.
Dear Lord, please be with us.
iii
I stop the bike.
Takes a while to come to a complete halt.
It skids slightly.
We were travelling quite fast.
Needle just-just gave that last dial a sweet peck.
Nia held on tighter.
Almost like she was holding on for her dear life.
Umf.
Nia.
My sweetpea.
She can hold me like this anytime.
I put my feet down.
There was no way that we could go any further.
Nia gets off the bike.
She walks over to the edge.
Of the huge crack.
It ripped all along the road.
Some places the road was completely gone.
I park the bike and run over to Nia.
She sure could take chances.
What if the edge comes loose and off she
goes.
Or the road just collapses beneath her.
Oh, Nia.
As I approach her.
She gives me a glare.
That glare.
Drama queen written all over her face.
I smile and instead go stand next to her.
She takes off her helmet.
Runs her hands through her hair quick.
Then looks at me.
I lift up my helmet shield.
“What do you think happened here?”
Nia was almost sad.
Like she couldn’t understand.
Nia never really understood what was going on here.
Why I was always scared.
Or nervous.
She experienced Utopia different to me.
She could see things I didn’t.
Go places I couldn’t.
Sometimes we’d be completely in tune.
Other times totally not communicating at all.
There were times when I could completely be with her here.
Other times, I’d rather not be here.
Because of him.
Of course.
With me near Nia.
She would just be in terrible danger.
Uhm.
It was better not to be near Nia in certain places.
Yes.
But also because I was denied Nia.
In many places it was best that she be alone.
But it was exactly the places where she would want someone to be with her.
More than just friends.
A lover.
I of course wanted to be there with her.
Umf.
But there.
With her.
I only experienced pain.
Excruciating pain.
And it was always Nia.
Her caress.
In those places.
It was.
Yes.
Denied.
Her touch I was granted.
But only while experiencing that intense heat.
A deep pain that ached to the bone.
Sometimes it would just be a million stings wherever she touched me.
It was too intense to bear.
Though I tried.
I did.
I hungered for her touch then.
Just her sweet caress.
But all it did was.
Cause despair.
Uhm.
This was all part of what was going on.
I started understanding better.
Yes.
It was coming from all sides.
The fire to the left.
These cracks.
Probably some Utopia-quake.
I guessed that there would be more.
We would have to move.
But I didn’t know where to.
We could go back to the forest.
Take the road to the left.
Pray that we can get to the ledge that leads straight to the castle’s dungeons.
Pray that those traitors don’t get to the dungeons first.
I suddenly panicked.
Dare we really go back into the forest?
I didn’t like that idea at all.
Oh, Lord.
What shall we do.
I stare at Nia.
She smiles.
Still as if waiting for an answer.
She always let me drift off in my thoughts.
“Freak accident,” I say.
She smiles.
She puts her helmet back on.
“Guess we’ll have to take The Tunnel then.”
The Tunnel?
“I have wanted to see those stalactites and stalagmites again.”
What was Nia talking about?
“I could never say if they were blue or purple. Perhaps both.”
“What are you talking about, Nia?”
I ask concerned.
For her.
Was she okay?
Concerned.
For myself.
Was I okay?
Did I forget something?
Again?
“Don’t you remember?”
Nia comes closer to me.
“We went there last time, after we flew around with that huge thing.
The Abandoner.
Don’t you remember?
Right there where that furry critter was singing y’all know what this is.
Rap or sing.
Can’t be sure.
Frank-ly I was too taken by the light that was coming from the tunnel.
It was almost as beautiful as the moonlight.
Marble-light, as you say.”
Nia reminisces.
I couldn’t remember anything.
But if this is true, then we might have a chance.
A better one at least.
There were several secret passages to Nia’s Castle.
Perhaps this was one.
And if Nia remembers it with fondness.
It must be a safe place too.
I hoped I was right.
I get back on the bike and start it up.
Nia immediately behind me.
Arms around my waist.
Just as I was going to move forward.
A huge boulder fell a distance away from us.
Right in the middle of the road.
Nia’s grip tenses around my body.
The sudden tares and cracks had me worried too.
No other way but to go.
I drive us forward fast.
I see as more boulders start rolling down the mountain side.
Nia held me tight.
Again as if fearing for her life.
iv
Nia tugged at my side.
As if telling me to stop.
We were now at the edge of the forest.
*Peek-a-boo*
I bring the bike to a complete stop.
Turning 90 degrees so that we faced the road to our left.
What was left of it anyway.
Nia took off her helmet.
She was breathing fast.
I could feel her heart pounding as we were driving.
Avoiding the boulders.
Manoeuvring along the tares and wide cracks.
But I was now more nervous than before.
“Where’s The Tunnel?”
I ask.
Impatiently.
Nia didn’t seem bothered.
“Right there.”
She points with her finger to our right.
I park the bike and take off my helmet.
Get off quick.
Nia with me.
She was heading to the edge.
There where the mountain and forest met.
I was not too sure about this.
“I see you.”
I heard it right in my ear.
I look over to the forest.
It sounded like it was coming from there.
We were out of time.
“Are you sure it’s here?”
I ask.
Trying to hide the tension I was feeling.
“Whisper.”
In my head.
Loud and clear.
What was going on.
“There it is,” says Nia as she rushes between a few trees.
She was right.
There was an opening between two trees.
Smaller than the usual forest trees.
*Whisper*
I didn’t bother to inspect it any further.
It was our only way.
I start running towards the bike.
“Come, Nia!”
I put on my helmet and hop on the bike.
Starting it.
All in one go.
Nia quickly, tight against me.
Even through the noise of the engine as I revved hard.
I heard it.
“I see you.”
I drove into the forest and stopped a dis
tance from the tunnel entrance.
It was quite large.
I was however not sure what to expect once inside.
I felt the need to ease us into the tunnel gently.
But I had a bad feeling about that.
I think we should simply drive in fast.
Guns blazing!
Yes.
I rev hard and the bike skids off.
Nia holds on tight.
We were not too far from the trees now.
I saw them.
They were not trees at all.
I wanted to break.
I saw them face us as we came closer.
They looked familiar.
Those things in the forest.
Yes.
It was two of them.
Disguising themselves.
They had hair that were like branches.
The faces had chiselled features.
Almost like they were elves.
The eyes slanted sharp.
The noses small and pointy.
But I sensed no good from them.
These were menacing things.
I saw they’re red eyes as we were now approaching them at full speed.
Almost about to reach the entrance.
The one jumped right in front of us.
I swerve past it.
Just bracing the trunk.
Or leg.
I was not sure what to make of these things.
It screams.
A splintered, angered scream.
The other knocks me in my side.
We go off balance.
But I manage to gain control quick.
Managing a wheelie as we narrowly escape.
Both things’ screams echo down the tunnel.
They were not going to leave us.
They were now behind us.
Nia holds on tighter.
As I speed up.
v
It was dark in the tunnel.
But there was a blue haze to the walls.
Perhaps purple.
I couldn’t be sure.
The tunnel curved sharp to the right.
I make the turn.
It was close.
The things right behind us.
As we enter the strait, the tunnel opened wider.
Till there were no walls any more.
Just open space.
Stalactites.
As if they were chandeliers.
Giving off the haze that was about us.
Some were brighter than others.
Some hung so low.
We could easily drive into them.
I had to concentrate.
Have my wits about me.
At this speed we would surely crash hard.
Perhaps the drone of the engine will make them all fall to the ground.
I focused.
Now was not the time to start worrying about things that were out of my control.
I just had to drive us through this.
We wouldn’t make it otherwise.
The forest path was definitely out of the question.
Even if we did manage to escape these things.
I swerve quick.
Almost hitting it.
Huge stalagmite cluster right in the middle of the way.
Suddenly the ground to our left and right was gone.
I glanced down.
Just darkness where you looked.
The path narrowing to the front.
I was now more alert than ever.
Any sudden movements and we could topple of the sides.
I felt Nia press harder against me.
Heart beating like a hummingbirds.
She must be afraid.
Perhaps even exhilarated.
Nia did enjoy getting her heart racing.
But the tensed grip around my waist told me otherwise.
She must be praying that we make it out of this alive.
I heard their screams rush past us.
They were right on our heels.
I was amazed.
These creatures sure were fast.
We were at top speed.
Never did I manage to get it above 290 before.
I swear we were doing 300.