Please leave a tip if you're enjoying this content! ❤️
Another build-up on the motorway. Zain winced as his dad honked the horn again and kept his eyes squeezed tightly shut afterwards. The general cacophony of both the cars outside and the panicked voices inside their car were already overloading him. He hugged Wolf, his soft toy husky, tighter and tried to concentrate on his breathing like his therapist had taught him. Feeling the control he had over the movement of his chest. In...and out...in...and out.
"For FUCK's sake!" His dad yelled out of nowhere and it felt like an ice pick stabbed behind Zain's eyes. His face was already screwed up with pain but he managed to wince again through it, even harder this time. The car was no longer moving at all. He could feel that with his eyes closed. That was probably what had his dad so upset. He had never seen him in this much of a panic before, not even when they’d run from the old country. They had been moving fast at his insistence all day, not stopping for snacks or drinks or to let the kids stretch their legs. Zain had even had to pee into an empty bottle because stopping for a toilet break was out of the question too. And now they were stopped. In the middle of the motorway. Where they really should not be stopped.
"Come ON what is the fucking HOLD up we all need to get moving here!" Zain's dad yelled at the other cars, despite the fact that the people in the other cars were not capable of hearing him and the only people being subjected to his rage were in fact his own family. He honked the horn, as if realising this, and Zain whimpered involuntarily. His older sister, in the middle seat next to him, glared at him as if him whimpering was the problem, and not the much much louder and more stressful noises their dad was making.
Zain tried to school himself into silence again, squeezing Wolf tight as if he could protect him.
From up ahead there came the sounds of screaming, unmistakable even through the rest of the cacophony. Zain winced again, and looked out the window to see what was going on, but he could see nothing in the darkness but the other cars.
"The fuck is that?!" His dad asked everybody and nobody in particular. Nobody dared to answer him. Nobody knew what it was anyway. "Don't all answer at once," he joked. Then huffed in annoyance. "Might as well go and see, it's not like we're going anywhere anyway."
He slammed the door as he left, and although the sound stabbed into Zain's head again, he breathed a sigh of relief when it was done. Finally he could get a little bit of peace and quiet. He savoured it, because he knew it wasn't going to last long.
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter