THE ULTIMATUM

Piling into the back of a Mini, I settled in the seat for a ride.

Scrolling through social media, I kept my head down, lifting it to look out the window every so often.

‘Thanks so much for giving me a lift,’ I shyly smiled at the driver, Jay, then 18.

My friends had known Jay and had all got lifts with him before, so I felt at ease jumping in his car to go to London.

Saving both time and money, instead of using the train.

I hadn’t met him before now, he seemed alright though, if a little strange.

Only, I didn’t really make an effort to speak to him.

At just 15, back in 2019, none of my friends had passed their driving tests, so Jay started to become our go to lift.

We were never really that