The Turn

My knuckles have already gone white with the strain.  I’m hanging onto the roof of a car and both front windows are rolled down, giving me a place to hang on.  My face, pressed firmly against the cold metal roof, betrays the slightest of smiles.  My left arm throbs painfully causing my overly strained fingers to tingle.   The car, which is speeding in ever-increasing circles, has started making squealing sounds.   Even with the adrenaline and the wind whipping at my face, I can tell the sound is emanating somewhere near the tires.   The scenery is nothing more than a blur, a collideascope of primary colors smeared across my vision.  

The numbness in my fingers spreads up my arm and for a heart stopping second I’m afraid that I might fall.  There’s nothing I can do, there’s no chance to readjust my hand.  That would only hasten the falling.  The best thing to do is hang on as best as I can and hope that Cody will decide that I’ve had enough.    

The right brain says stop while the left screams go.  I don’t want to fall.  Falling would hurt and probably end with a trip to the hospital.  At the same time, I don’t want it to stop.  I need it to go on.  I need the adrenaline it pumps into my veins, like my own personal form of speed.

 I am both alive and numb, purposeful and without meaning.

 With that, I fight the fear, clamping down as tightly as I can with my overly wrought hand.    My voice, which no longer belongs to me, screams the words my heart fears to utter.  “Faster,” I scream it at the top of my lungs.   I scream again and this time it’s a series of primitive grunts.   I cough and sputter at the end.  The air that’s supposed to feed my lungs slams forcefully into my mouth.  I cough again, choking on life and passion and need. 

I turn my face away from the wind, nestling it against my shoulder.  I want to scream again, tell the world I left behind that I need more but I can’t.  It is already too much.  

Sounds comes to my ears in short hurried spurts, the laughter of friends zooming in and out of perception, as I spin ever onward.  I’m no longer breathing and I notice it not with panic but with a sense of calm that seems to be radiating from my center.  I realize happily that I no longer need to breath.  I am a force, the will of chaos given form and substance.  I am the will of anarchy, breathed into the minds of feeble men that have no hope to understand it. 

I am weightless now.  The world around me is still, and hauntingly eternal.  Sounds erupt into a panicked frenzy.  The squealing of the tires reaching a climax and then dies, leaving hurried voices in its wake.   Pain suddenly erupts across my ankle, slamming me back into the world. 

I’m laughing now.  There’s nothing funny just laughing because it seems right.  Everything hurts but I don’t care.  For a couple of seconds longer I am badass once again and that is all that matters

Reviews

[Akroma]

Reading this piece, I felt the "wind whipping at my face", and "my overly strained fingers" tingling. I became a thrill seeker, a person desperate to feel afraid, in pain, alive...
You did an impressive job of transporting the reader into the reality you created. I enjoyed the line "I am both alive and numb, purposeful and without meaning."

Do you care to receive grammatical edits? If so, here it is. If not, let me know and I will avoid this type of critique in the future when reviewing your work.

First line: "white 'from' (not 'with') the strain."

"I'm hanging onto the roof of a car and both front windows are rolled down, giving me a place to hang on."
Should ideally not repeat "hanging" and "hang on." Many possible corrections, but here's an example: 'I'm hanging on the roof of a car. Both front windows are rolled down, giving me a place to grip onto.'

"Even with the adrenaline and the wind whipping at my face,..."
The adrenaline is whipping at your face? Can't say it's necessarily incorrect, just wondering if that's what you meant? Adrenaline is an inward force, not an outside one.

"The scenery is nothing more than a blur, a collideascope of primary colors smeared across my vision."
Excellent line, painted an image instantly.

"I need the adrenaline it pumps into my veins, like my own personal form of speed."
Should be some form of punctuation after "adrenaline". Could also be rephrased. Example: "I need the adrenaline pumping into my veins, like my own personal form of speed."

"I cough again, choking on life and passion and need."
I like this line as well.

"I want to scream again, tell the world I left behind that I need more but I can't."
"But" as a conjunction requires a comma before it. Could be one possible edit: "I want to scream again, tell the world I left behind that I need more, but I can't."

"Sounds comes to my ears in short hurried spurts, the laughter of friends zooming in and out of perception, as I spin ever onward."
Love this line, but it should be "sounds 'come' to my ears".

"I'm no longer breathing and I notice it not with panic but with a sense of calm that seems to be radiating from my center."
Edited: I'm no longer breathing, and I notice it not with panic, but with a sense of calm which seems to be radiating from my center."

"I realize happily that I no longer need to breath."
'Breathe' not 'breath'.

"The squealing of the tires reaching a climax and then dies, leaving hurried voices in its wake."
Parallelism: is a balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses. Edited: "The squealing of the tires reaches a climax and then dies, leaving hurried voices in its wake.

"For a couple of seconds longer I am badass once again and that is all that matters"
Make sure to end it with a period.

[Gabriella]

I love this piece, seems like the whole thing could be a metaphor for something but taken quite literally is still very strong. I myself have never tried a stunt like this but you do an excellent job of explaining why someone would, especially with the "I am badass once again" comment. It's so important for people how they viewed by their peers, but you seem to give your narrator (Is this a true story? Is it you?) another motive, he/she likes the thrill of it. Superb writing here, I look forward to reading more.