Confidence

I'm going fast. I'm going without looking to the sides, because how can you drive and look around? Am I racing? Yes, but I don't care who I'm racing against. It doesn't matter, because when I see a long, straight stretch, you push yourself to the limit. Only when a corner approaches do I slow down to avoid going off the road. Some people don't have time to brake before a corner and end up going off the road. I'm not perfect, it happens to me too. It's just that I strive to be perfect when others don't care, so I'm less likely to go off the road. I enter a corner, slow down slightly, and keep my foot above the brake, just in case. I lightly press the gas pedal with my other foot to avoid losing speed completely. After a long drive, I've come to the conclusion that this road is incredibly winding, so whenever I see a long, straight stretch, I don't intend to move at a snail's pace. The faster and more forcefully I seize that moment, the further I'll go. Right now, I'm squeezing this simple moment to make the most of it. When I look in the mirror and see myself leaping away from the others, a smile spreads across my face. I'm better, I'm the best. I bask in this success and, for a moment, forget that I should slow down. When I see the bend too late, I slam on the brakes, but it's not enough to stop the speeding machine. I lose control of the controls and swerve off the road, plummeting. There's nothing I can do, so with my eyes closed and teeth clenched, I await the worst moment. The impact is so hard I lose consciousness. I'm gasping for air, unable to even move, and I feel excruciating pain. The pain of moral decay, the pain of betrayal of my values, the pain of self-contempt. As I become more accustomed to this pain, I open my eyes. I've fallen very low. So low that I can barely see the outline of the road I've been traveling so far. I still can't get up, can't even move, because something heavy is pressing me into this gloomy pit where I lie. I try to scream, to say something, or at least whisper, so that those above, still riding, can hear me, notice me. And although I think my voice is audible, no one slows down. No one has heard or even noticed that a man who has overconfident himself has just fallen.