Mutual Friends | Lando Norris

Chapter 45 - In Loving Memory Of

Zak's Final POV

Anybody who knows me knows not to talk to me about you...

The afternoon temperature had already begun to drop when the greying tombstone came into view. Old flowers, with their delicately fragile petals fraying, stood at the center of the modest vase, barely revealing the name etched on the stone. But I didn't need names or coordinates, they were not necessary to find you at your final resting place.

I decided when I woke up that morning that it would be the day to come and finally see you again. I recognised that it had been far too long since I made my way down these grassy paths but still, no guilt, shame or championships won could keep me away from being reunited with you.

The cemetery appeared deserted, except only for a few faceless people tending to the landscape. A man dressed in simple blue overalls stopped for a moment to admire the gleaming McLaren parked a short distance away. I quietly hoped it would end at that, I wasn't in the spirit of taking pictures and having small talk with admiring fans today.

It takes only a few seconds for him to continue on his interrupted journey. I can almost picture you scolding me and saying I should've known better than to take a flamboyant car. You always did have a thing with cars. This silly thought puts a small smile on my face as I tenderly empty the dead flowers into a small paper bag and replace them with the freshly blooming ones.

I gently move the vase to the side, just how I imagine you would've wanted it.

In loving memory of...

The old signet ring on my pinky finger shines in the fading sunlight, bringing back fond memories of when you first gave it to me. I can't quite tell you how or when it happened but after a while, time went unnoticed and before we knew it, the day came where things just started to move forward.

Life no longer waited for those who were still backpacking in their mourning, and to be quite frank, neither could those of us who'd managed to survive the hurricane.

Standing there, a sudden change in the atmosphere caught my attention. The air crackled and seemed to come alive with the unmistakable scent of oncoming rain. It was as if nature herself was acknowledging my presence there.

"Crazy isn't it?" I murmured, scratching the growing stubble on my face. "A man talking to a loved one's grave about death itself. I can almost hear the wind howling in laughter at the rustling autumn leaves in the cemetery."

At least there was something to laugh about. For a while there, I had started to think that you'd taken all the chuckles in the world with you.

In that moment, my thoughts were laced with the beauty of a changing season. It was as if the soft breeze whispered new life into forgotten promises.

But it was four years ago today, in a hospital prayer room in Abu Dhabi where I sank down to my knees and cried into the flames of a flickering candle until there were no more stars left in the night sky. A familiar doe-eyed face, came up behind me and offered a gentle rub on my shoulder as the first rays of dawn appeared in the morning horizon.

I tried to wipe away my tears at the sight of having her beside me but she gently shook her head. "There is no need for that here. We left whatever fractions of our egos we had behind at the racetrack and besides being here isn't about me and you and how we feel about the way we look when we're hurting," she says letting a devastating tear trickle down the map of her face.

"Even the skeletons in the basement envy every pained breath we take."

The young woman took a heavy sigh and continued. "Now is about praying for Liv to have a little bit of more time. It doesn't have to be perfect or an eternity but just enough time so she may live a healthy, long and fulfilling life." Zoey's nose was red and eyes puffy but like always, she managed to find a way to comfort someone else too.