Drive

Watching this movie when its supposed to be watched, at midnight. My mom gave me some nachos. People think silence means nothing’s happening. That if you don’t talk, you don’t feel. But the quiet’s where everything lives. Regret. Want. Rage. Midnight doesn’t lie. It strips you down to what you are when no one’s watching. This city… It doesn’t sleep. It lingers. Waits in alleys and diners and behind the wheel of a ‘73 Chevy. It knows who you were. What you’ve done. You can drive for hours and it’ll still be right there in the rearview. I met people here. A woman. A kid. They looked at me like I was someone. Like I could be more. I don’t know what they saw. But when her smile hit me, it felt like maybe the world wasn’t just gears and blood and rubber on asphalt. Then her past came back. A man trying to be better, but already drowning. I don’t blame him. This place doesn't hand out second chances. Just quieter ways to disappear. So I did what I do. I got in. Handled the job. Made the mess. Tried to clean it with blood and silence. The thing is... you can’t fix everything with speed or fists. But sometimes... sometimes you can save the only good thing you ever touched. Even if it means leaving with nothing. Shannon wanted to be something more too. Told me I could race legit, be big time. But dreams don’t survive men like Bernie. And Nino? He thought the city owed him something. It didn’t. It never did. They’re gone now. And me? I’m still moving. Still circling the map like it’s got answers written in light. People don’t get it. They look at the jacket and they see a guy trying to be tough. But that scorpion on my back? That’s just truth. You help someone cross, and you still sting 'em. It’s in the nature. You can’t be the hero. You can’t be the villain. You’re just the wheel in someone else’s story. Until the moment you turn it your way. So I stay on the edge of it all. Between the streetlight and the shadow. Between the man I was… and whatever’s left. I don’t have a name. I don’t need one. I don’t speak much. But when the engine’s warm… When the road hums under me like a heartbeat… When the whole world feels like it's about to break… I drive.