BackLash by Szilvia N. Adler (hardest books to read .TXT) 📕

of the car for the rest of the day surfaced and boiled.
“Where are you going?” asked her father.
“Away. I will be back.”
Her mother used to do it this way. Her father would ask no more questions regarding her whereabouts. If this trick worked for her mother, it unquestionably would for herself. It did. Her father looked at her as she got into the car, but had no more comments at his daughter's quick and obtuse response.
It was shortly after five thirty. Her heart raced, and there were no engines, which could slow it down. Adrenalin was at a high dosage in her body, her pulse rose and her blood pressure balanced the slow driving speed she adopted at the vehicular traffic.
She got to their meeting place ten minutes before six.

* * *

“You look drained,” commented the Man.
“I had a terrible examination period. I had a very hard semester too. Now I'm working. Basically, I had no time to relax, no time to catch up with myself. Not that I’m complaining. But the worst is that I cannot bring myself to sleep,” exclaimed the Girl. He examines her. “It was last Saturday, when I could sleep a bit more, but that is only because it rained and I couldn't do anything else. From three to six in the afternoon, I was asleep. Until Saturday, I was a complete vegetable. Even now, I’m kind of that. One afternoon is not enough to refill.”
She enjoyed the scenery. The up-beaten road with gravel and huge stones make the trip a romantic gateway. The road behind them was dusty and sandy. The hot air sizzled around her, and she wished she'd brought more comfortable clothes.
Suddenly the Man pops the question, “Do you want to drive?”
She looked at him, puzzled. Of course she wanted to drive. She wanted nothing more. She loved cars, and she loved to take control. Anything that moved and had engines moved her.
“I want to.”
In a minute, the Man stops close to an intersection, looks at the Girl and they switch seats. The Man get out, the Girl doesn’t. She moves her body over the gears and emergency break; without encircling the car she places herself in his seat. When he arrives at the passenger door, he rolls his eyes, raises his eyebrows and shoulders and questioningly he moves his hands in the air.
“I couldn't help it!” A huge smile brightens the features on her face. “I didn't need to get out of the car.”
He nods acknowledging. “I see.” He gets in beside her. “Driving this car isn’t hard,” he comforts her. Then shows her the different functions from all-wheel drive to two-wheel drive, and even front-wheel drive, how to shift gears and when to do so. The Girl has the perfect opportunity to try out and drive a Suzuki Samurai, which turns out to be easier to handle than their Golf.
“I like it.” She finds shifting gears swifter, but without power-steering, a bit harder.
“With this car, it’s not the speed, which matters, but the feeling.” The bumps and raggedness confirms his statement. “I want you to go off-road.”
She is shocked, confused and lost at the impossibility of his statement. “You are kidding me! I don't want to go down!” There is a parallel road down, where she points toward. However, the embankment is at least four meters high.
He is calm, tender. “Don't be afraid. I am right here. I will tell you what to do step-by-step. I've done it before and nothing's going to happen. I can promise you that.” The Girl, still under the spell of turning off from a “safe road” to a “not-so-safe one,” obeys the Man. When he says stop, she stops. He changes from two-wheel to four-wheel drive. “Slowly, turn the wheel so you are facing downward,” he calls out to her. The Girl's hands and feet obey. “Roll down, slowly.” The car approaches, then rolls down the hill.
She manages it easily. She enjoys it and she’s proud of herself. She exhales. “This was great!”
“Let's stay down here on this field and just drive. Enjoy the scenery and the bumps!”
She drove on an alfalfa field. The sun was low on horizon, no clouds blurred the skies. The air was humid; dust and hair stuck on her face. She was sweating slightly, but she turned her attention to the car and to the view of where she was. She went through the field; treading the alfalfa.
She was only on foot on these fields before. It was effortless with a car and rejuvenating. A group of deer were in the nearby bushes at one side of the pasture. With protruding ears, they anxiously looked at the vehicle; they were ready to tear along.
“I’m alive! I’m reborn!” shouts the Girl.
“I want you to drive up there,” he points to the embankment, “but before you do it, I want you to turn the car around.”
She lets out a faint, desperate cry. “You are crazy! I don't know how to do this!”
“You need to step on the gas. The rev has to reach two thousand and you have to keep the car straight.”
“All right.”
She stepped on the gas. The car had a twenty-six degree deflection. However, right before it reached the top, she turned the wheel. The car glided instead of climbing up. It squeaked and rolled down. She was in frenzy. She kept holding onto the wheel. She heard him say all right, this happened because of turning the wheel too soon, but the feeling of the backward movement was still in her head, hands and feet, even though they came to a stop, close to where they started from.
“It is all right,” his calming voice resonates in the car once again.
“Oh,” still short of breath.
“You have to keep it straight. I will tell you when to turn the wheel!”
She stood in front of the task once again. This time, she did exactly as she was told and within no time the jeep stood on the rim of the embankment. She was relieved. She never dreamed of doing such a maneuver.
“Do you know what I usually dream of?” she asks him.
“No. What is it?”
“I'm on a hill and I try to climb it, however, I always fall back. Somehow the hill curves, so when I'm about to get to the top, I always fall and tip over.”
“That's not going to happen, as long as I'm here!”
“It is nice of you to say that.”
The horrific sense that accompanied those dreams lingered in the Girl's heart and mind. His words swiped it away.
The setting and the day was beguiling. The woods hugged them. The sultry air and the wind refreshed not only the memories, but the moments. He didn't beguile her, but sometimes he made dubious comments, whereby she couldn't respond to; she smiled and blushed.
She talked about her relationship with her current boyfriend, the examination period and how she ended up finishing the exams. She lavished a month for the pathology comprehensive exam; however she finished the three major exams within one and a half weeks. It was record timing.
She had nothing and wanted nothing to hide. Unexplainable by all means, she felt she could chat openly about herself, her world and her feelings to him.
She wasn't able to talk to people explicitly. Her world was wrapped by motherly guide and the essence of her family. She was a closed book, afraid to open up to people. She was never unscrupulous. She thought the information she'd provide might be used against her. She never felt safe.
But not with him. She wanted to talk and get feedback. She needed someone who would bring her back on the track she lost control over – if she ever had – a long time ago. She didn't want anything else, but her lonely soul to be understood. She was waiting for the right person to come around.
“Do you want to eat pizza with me?” inquired the Man.
“It sounds good.” The veil of her thoughts is transparent to him. “How old are you?”
“I just turned thirty. I got a bit scared at the number. I was born in the year they appointed as national child's year. I guess I'll always be a child.” A soft smile crosses his face.
“Do you feel any different?”
“No. How about you? How old are you?”
“Twenty-five.”
“You don’t look your age.” The Girl doesn’t ask back if he means it as a compliment. She looks younger. It’s a fact.
She let him guide her through numerous little villages. There was a small, but well-decorated and renovated Catholic church along the way. In a little town, beside the main road was the selected restaurant. She parked the car, but left the lights on. He turned it off. Then he showed her the way to sit down, across one another. They waited for the waiter, and looked through the menu.
“I want a small pizza,” she uttered.
“Me too.”
“Pepperoni pizza sounds great.”
“I’ll have a bologna one. I know this place and the owner. Sometimes I bring my mom and my sister here. What do you think about the waiter?”
She’s stunned at the question, “He seems nice.”
“He has couple of degrees, including a medical one. Would you have concluded this when you looked at him?”
With mouth agape, “No way! He seems nice, but a doctor?!”
They talked about the Girl's family and her youngest sister, Beanie, who was still in high-school, but whose world and experiences seemed to fly far above. She had her way; she had to. She was the first in the family who was brave enough to go against their mother's will. She was a fighter; but inside she was emotionally vulnerable.
She envied Beanie. She had the power and the guts of saying yes, when their mother said no. The Girl couldn't bring herself to do the same. She was to please their mother, mostly, if not all the time.
She studied hard, followed her mother's footsteps. She was comfortable and thought she was independent. To her sisters, she was a second mother.
In the last couple of years, she shifted toward behaving more as a friend. At least, she tried to. If she’d scold and yell at them, she would only alienate herself. It was easiest, if she listened and when needed, advised them otherwise.
She focused on staying open. She wanted to listen to every side of the story before actually coming to her conclusions. Sometimes, it was hard.
The Girl has known the Man two summers back, but only from a distance. Two years ago, she worked for the company for the first time. She was an assistant at the quality department translating documents, helping the guys with administrative work, enlightening their days.
She wasn't as outspoken as she was now. She would be sitting in her chair, following orders, listening into conversations. She was afraid to add remarks or blurt out ideas. Back then, both her parents worked there and she didn't want to cause trouble, in case her candid words had an impact deeper than intended.
She got the job through her mother and her incessant stubbornness. She would have done everything for her daughters. Crimson started working at the company before she did. Crimson managed to work part-time, besides studying in high-school. The Girl only came to work during the summertime; when she was free of studying and summer practice at the hospital.
Crimson was the first who dated the Man and the Girl had no intention of knowing the Man better two years ago. They said hello, asked each other