-FIFTY THREE-

I steadied my hand on my thigh that was shaking uncontrollably.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I stared at the plate of fresh waffles in front of me but could barely make myself take a bite because of my queasy stomach.

I stole another impatient glance at my phone which was still showing no notifications.

When was he going to text me?

I tried to calm my mind and think of a game plan on how to approach the oncoming events.

My mind, however had other plans. It once again chose to replay all the events of the past two days.

After my talk with Jace in the hallway during the ball, I had tried to go look for Kade to talk to him but Darren and the rest of the Elites had found me mid-way and dragged me away. Then came Mae's girl emergency when she got her period all of a sudden and we went on a hunt to get her all the things she needed. That took a great amount of time and just when all that ended, I got a text from Kade saying that he was going to go to the Tracks for some last-minute emergency meeting with his sponsors and he would call me later.

After that, he was MIA.

His phone had been switched off since then and I wasn't able to reach him at all. None of the Elites knew where he was and I didn't want to create panic in the group so I kept my mouth shut. I didn't even know if it was the right thing to do but my thoughts were all over the place anyway.

Just to be sure Jace had been telling me the truth, I had chosen to call Lance, Kade's manager, to ask him about the Trench. I had been desperately hoping that what Jace had said was a lie. Apparently, even Lance had no idea about Kade's participation in the infamous street race and he was absolutely horrified when I told him of the possibility.

He had the contacts to get the names of the participants of the race and I was waiting for him to update me on the list and if Kade was on there.

Now, the best case scenario would be that Kade wasn't participating and all of this was just a passing nightmare I could forget about it and everything would go back to normal.

But in the worst case scenario...

I didn't even want to think about it. I didn't know what I would do then. All the ways I could imagine in my head were not ending well.

A ping from my phone caught my attention and I quickly grabbed my phone, my heart racing as I opened the message from Lance.

Lance (Ace's Manager): Ace is listed in the callout sheet

Lance (Ace's Manager): Fuck

Lance (Ace's Manager): And he is up against Spike tonight

My mind almost went blank for a second. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it would burst out of my chest. Lance's texts had just cut off any hope I had left of avoiding this situation and the thought itself made me nauseous.

I took shaky breaths in. Now was not the time to freeze. I didn't have a lot of time to figure this out and I needed to do something fast.

Me: What do we do?

Hopefully, Lance could have something in mind that I could follow.

Lance (Ace's Manager): I'm digging around for the address of the race today as we speak

Lance (Ace's Manager): The only way we have a chance of convincing Kade to stop is to go there

My stomach twisted uncomfortably. Lance's text reminded me of Jace's words. Since the Trench was illegal and extremely dangerous, there was no set location for the races. That is why the police had a hard time stopping them. Each location was apparently decided only a day before and told to everyone on the day of the race, which meant today.

Me: Lance, we'll be able to get Kade out of this, right?

There was no immediate reply from him and I desperately hoped that it was because he was talking to someone or didn't see my text. The thought of Lance not having enough confidence either would just make me lose mine.

I tapped my fingers nervously on the island in the kitchen, my right leg starting to shake once again. The waffles in front of me had already begun to stiffen but I could barely think of putting anything in my mouth right now.

After what felt like ages, Lance replied.

Lance (Ace's Manager): You better pray we can reach him in time because the location of the race is two hours away

An ominous feeling creeped up my body. I pushed it away as I typed my next question. There was still hope.

Me: When is Kade supposed to race?

Lance (Ace's Manager): At 8

My blood ran cold. My eyes flickered to the digital timer on top of the phone and then back to Lance's text. I shook my head and check it again. Please tell me this isn't true.

It was 6:17. Kade's race was in exactly one hour and forty three minutes.

FUCK.

***

I didn't know if it was a miracle or someone up there answering my prayers because Lance and I realised that he had checked the route from where he was, which was his house. The Trench was about an hour and thirteen minutes from where I was.

Which means I might have a chance.

Including the six minutes it took to order a cab and to quickly get in it, I would have approximately twenty four minutes to spare if I reached according to the time it displayed on the app.

Lance was going to follow and reach as soon as he could but we decided that I was the best possible chance to make a difference.

I was not going to lie. Going alone to a place I knew nothing about was intimidating as hell. I didn't even know the kind of people that would be there or how I was going to find Kade. It was terrifying going in there without any backup.

The only thought that kept me going was that I could possibly be saving Kade from harm.

I didn't know if I should have told the Elites about the situation. Hiding this from them was eating me from the inside but it wasn't like they could help.

Last I talked to everyone, the boys excluding Chase had another away training game in another town. Chase had already left with his parents to visit his grandmother this weekend. Madison had gone with Parker and Mrs. Dubois, the head of the dance club to check out the arrangements for the dance competition that was in two days and Allison had compulsory closed training with her swim coach for her upcoming swim meets.

That left Mae and knowing how bad her periods could get, I didn't think it would do any good to bring her along either.

None of them were in a position to abandon their responsibilities and help me out. Moreover, even if I told them, there wasn't a single person who could have come with me on such a rushed notice either.

Each one of them was further than I was from the location. I was probably the only chance of stopping this.

I tried to calm myself as much as I could and tried to gather all the information I had up till now.

According to Lance, as popular the Trench was, there was a certain level of security that the event had to prevent anyone who could possibly report the event from entering. There was a guest list that had names of people and the access level they had and each level was identified with a certain kind of stamp. And each level was determined by the money you spent on betting and sponsorships.

Basically the more you spent, the more access you had.

Since I didn't have any way to enter on my own, he had pulled some strings with a guy he knew and got me entry into the event. Then came the tricky part. The stamp would only allow me to enter the area since I was going to get a regular pass.

Because of no permanent locations, it was also going to be hard to know the area beforehand.

This also meant that I was going in there blindly. Just by my experience at the Tracks I knew that there was going to be no way I would be able to go meet Kade directly. This meant that I would have to figure a way to do that as I reached.

My mind was already a mess trying to sort the situation at hand.

To calm my nerves, I plugged in my earphones and played a couple of songs to distract my mind. As the location of the Trench neared, my heartbeat raced.

My eyes found their way back to the cab's app and heart thumped loudly when I saw the timer drop to seven minutes. I clenched my fists to contain my anxiety and focused on the lyrics playing through the ear buds but all I could hear was a jumbled mess that I could barely comprehend.

Instead, my eyes seemed to be focussed on the surroundings. It was getting more and more sparse by the second and that was not helping my case one bit.

It wasn't until the car started slowing down that I realised that I had probably reached. I pulled out the earphones and turned my attention to the driver. "Are we here?"

"Yes, miss. Unfortunately, the location that you put in is a walking path from here so this is as far as I will be able to go," he said, turning to me a little.

I nodded, thanking him and quickly paid him. I had to stop myself from physically flinching when I realised how much the ride had cost me but I quickly shrugged it off.

The driver barely waited a minute before driving off and I was left alone on a pavement that seemed to be leading nowhere. I took a minute to look around. There was a park to my right and a huge cemented bare land up ahead that was essentially a dead end.

What was unsettling about the area was the lack of people there. Wasn't a street race supposed to be loud and filled with people?

A chill ran down my spine when a thought crossed my mind. This was the right place, wasn't it?

I really hoped Lance hadn't accidentally sent me the wrong address, essentially leaving me stranded in a place I didn't even know. I shook my head, pushing down the dreadful feeling and instead chose to walk to the exact place, like the driver had mentioned.

I fished out my phone and quickly opened Maps and typed in the address. It was a ten minute walk through the park on my right.

I hugged my denim jacket tightly to my chest and walked through he muddy path. The park was totally unkempt and the autumn leaved were all over the place. The grass was overgrown and there were broken swings in one corner.

It looked like something straight out of a horror movie. And with the night approaching, it looked even scarier.

This kind of a place was perfect to bury a body or for drug addicts and muggers to hang out.

Not the time to be thinking about this, Kyra. I scolded myself.

Just to be on the safe side, I typed out 911 on my phone's keypad for a quick dial in case of emergency and quickened my pace. I was about two minutes away from my destination when I heard it.

I jogged my way to the sound. The closer I got, the louder the cheers and music was.

It was exactly one minute later, when the view cleared and I saw what was right in front of me that I realised something.

Whatever I had imagined about the Trench, this was ten times worse. And I was just about to walk into it.

*****

Heyooo

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Things are getting a little... wild?

Q: Would you rather know the exact time you die or how you die?

A: I think the time for me. If I knew the way and it was anything but natural, I would be terrified of that particular thing all my life. And what kind of a life would it be if I lived it in fear?

Thank you for reading! See you all next week!