LOCKDOWN
A short story written by Andreas Röding
PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
Thursday, 24th of December 2020
Eduard was still sitting on his designer couch in the living room section of his penthouse suite, when he finally put the documents aside. “Come on, boy! It’s Christmas Eve tonight! Can you please stop doing this and thinking about a different activity?“, he literally needed to talk to himself like one of those over-excitedly modern mum’s, that would try to convince their seven year old son’s to do something else instead of playing with the iPad, by allowing the kid to figure out the need for the change by themselves. Well, whatever! When he was much younger, the tone of his mother was a little bit different back then, he remembered. “You will stop this nonsense right now and right here! Do something fun! Do we understand us!”, the voice of his mother ringing in his ears. Eduard joyfully added, “Enjoy the moment, my son! Why don’t you have a blast in your Porsche? In the past you always wanted to get one for Christmas. And now that you have even two of them parking downstairs, you do not want to drive them?” Eduard seemed to agree with the imaginary voice inside his head. It was definitely time for him to release some pressure after this stressful day in the home office! He sprung to his feet, exchanged the comfy outfit for something more appealing, grabbed his leather jacket and off he went.
With a scream, the Panamera Sports Turismo sprung into life. “Finally!“, he could feel the Sports sedan whisper. Compared to the 911, it actually did not feel that much bigger on the road. But here in the underground carpark, it was a totally different story. Deep underground, it actually felt like a monstrous spaceship that demanded a very careful maneuvering process between all those concrete pillars and dangerously high curbs. Sure, the parking sensors were beeping the hell out of them, but really practical was only the visualization on the screen in the center console. Leaving the car park only moments later, the turbos could finally suck in the fresh air of the evening night.
“I think it will be the best if you just leave, NOW!“, Micheal finally started to say something. She knew that he did not mean it the way he had emphasized the word NOWWWW, but thought that it would actually be the best for them both. He would have some time on his own and she would finally be out of this awkward situation, taking a breath and maybe even coming down at little bit. Normally a typical win win situation, wouldn’t they both cry like little babies. With a careful placed hand, Anika tried to touch him on his shoulder a very last time, intending to show him how sorry she actually felt and finding a way, to properly saying good bye for the day. But Micheal waved her hand away so quickly, giving her no chance after all to carry out her strategic move! “Please, don’t!“, he said frustratedly, not even looking up at Anika who was standing right next to him.
And there she was, standing in the middle of the living room crying. “Her boyfr…, her what actually? Where they still together?” Thousands of thoughts shot through her head at the very same time. “Where are my God damn car keys?“, Anika still wondered. Hoping that they would be inside her handbag hanging in the wardrobe next to the main entrance. Silently she turned around on the spot, heading carefully towards the door. Step after step. “Should she say something to him? Something like: Ok, honey, I am really leaving now! Last chance to call me back! Or better just a good old classy: good bye?“, Anika was clearly as overstrained with the situation as Michael. After reaching the wardrobe precisely 21 and a half steps later, the house felt even larger than it normally was. “Thank god, the keys are in here!“, she sighed satisfied, wiping away the tear drops that were close to falling off her cheek. She put on her shoes, grabbed her jacket and handbag, took a deep breath and managed a good old “Ciao!“
“Ciao!? Who are you? An old Italian woman?“, Anika already started to question her last word intensely, not even having closed the door yet. “Three, two, one, closed!” The door fell into its lock. “Would he stand there by the window, looking outside and watching her driving off into the night?“, Anika wasn’t sure after all. As she walked towards her white Renault, which was parked around 20 awful long meters away from the house, she wouldn’t dare to turn her head and checking. But something told her, that he must be standing there in shock, watching his princes driving away into the cold night. An outcome he most probably did not expect when telling his friends and family about his awesome plan. “Finally!“, relieved that she had completed the walk of shame until her very car, she unlocked the door, throw her hand bag and jacket on the passenger seat and off she went into the unknown.
It must have been an hour or so since the last time Eduard had checked the clock on the top of his center console. It was only half past seven, but actually felt more like the middle of the night. After blasting over c-roads for long enough, he finally decided to take the Autobahn route back towards the city center where he lived. Effortlessly the Porsche hammered around the corner, accelerating towards the magical 300 km/h barrier.
“God is it cold in her!“, Anika realized one minute into her journey. “Where do I actually drive, now?“, she asked herself in shock, realizing that she had spend the last year at Micheals place, only. “Kathrin!”, it shot into her mind. “Of course! Kathrin had told her that she would spend the evening with her husband at home. “Did she knew?“, Anika’s mind went crazy. “Micheal and her, baking this cake probably two days ago? He must have mentioned something! God, why hasn’t she told me? I could have come up with so many stories why I wouldn’t be free for the evening with Michael! But now, it is too late already! In the end, he most likely did not even tell her! He simply had known from his own experience with her birthday present last year, that Kathrin can not able to keep any secrets for herself!” Anika’s mind sprung from one thing to the other like a happy kangaroo. “I will just drive towards the city center anyways and decide over there right on the spot, if I want to actually interrupt Kathrin’s Christmas celebration or not. In the end, I can also just take a hotel room for the night!“, she thought. Having a destination in mind, she finally stopped driving around the very same block over and over again, heading towards the nearby Autobahn.
“At least there is no snow tonight“, she came up with suddenly, looking at the trees that were standing close to the road near by. “What Michael would do right now?“, she wondered. “Destroying the furniture of his house with a hammer? Probably not! Rather the complete opposite. Cowering underneath a blanket next to the fireplace. Poor guy! Really! I mean it!“, a tear went down her cheek again, when her thought got suddenly disrupted by a thunderstorm like flashing of bright icy lights coming from the back. In fact, the inside of her car was as bright as in the midday sun! It took her a second to rearrange her thoughts and actually focusing on what was going on. She was driving in the left lane without any reason, even slower than 100 km/h! No wonder the car behind was freaking out! “Sorry!“, she said out allowed, as if the other driver would hear her and moved into the right lane.
An angry engine sound suddenly appeared behind her back, as a silver shining sports sedan accelerated only seconds later into the night in front of her. It wasn’t a Porsche, but instantly, she had only one thing in mind. “Eduard!” The Porsche guy she had met two years ago on this very part of the Autobahn section, heading home from her second date with Micheal in the opposite direction. Anika started to smile a bit, “If that would have been Eduard, I would probably find myself pushed out of the tracks right over there in the middle of the forest next to the road!”
Still surprised by the way this car performed in a straight line speed, Eduard let go off the accelerator pedal, allowing the car to cool down before reaching the outskirts of the city. Happily he moved a little bit around in his seat, trying to make it more comfortable for himself and his arching back. Now, that the tension in his body had suddenly ceased away, he felt how much he actually stiffened up his whole body due to the excitement of rushing through the night. He had grabbed the steering wheel so tightly, his left hand had started to hurt a little bit. “God, I missed this car!“, Eduard told himself happily, while inhaling unique Porsche interior smell.
Reaching the first speed limits anytime soon, the city was already in sight. Bright lights were illuminating his way, as the street lamps started to reflect themselves in the wheel arch right in front of his windscreen. “This view will never gets old!“, he thought and switched the car back into its normal mode. Minutes later he was already passed the city border, cruising down the empty streets towards home. Indeed, the traffic on the Autobahn was nearly not existent. At least, he couldn’t remember the last time the traffic situation looked like this on a Thursday evening. But for sure, life had changed a lot due to the COVID 19 situation in Germany. As the car was sailing towards the red traffic light in front, it seemed as if the trend of not many cars on the roads would be continued. He saw just a couple of cars crossing the road and this white car standing next to him. As he moved his head a little bit further, trying to make out which car model it was, he couldn’t believe his eyes what he had seen.
To be continued tomorrow in PART V.
See you next time!
dream | act | succeed 
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