Chapter 3
The next morning I get woken by my mobile ringing, choosing dance music as a ring tone is a big regret right now with the sound thumping through me. After ten seconds of gathering my thoughts I answer.
'It's Ray, last night was mad, what time we meeting tonight?'
'Hi Ray, not thought about it yet so not sure if can make it, give me a call later yeah?’ ‘Ok mate I added you on Facebook as well.' he swiftly hangs up.
I lay my head back on my pillow thinking about last night, it was fun and the adrenaline rush was intense. I look at my phone again taking in the time - 10.20. I close my eyes to get a few more hours’ shuteye when my mum calls up the stairs.
'James get down here now please?' shit! I thought to myself, what does she want now?
I travel down the stairs in a pair of shorts and a large vest hanging off my body, greeting mum in the kitchen.
'James I'm not happy about what you did last night, if you’re out it's your responsibility to make sure your mobile is fully charged!'
'Yes mum!'
'James I'm going to ground you, I want you to understand the importance of letting me know where you are and making sure I can contact you.' her voice is firm, I understand why she's grounding me but can't and won't except it.
'Ground me? Don't make me laugh I'm sixteen I can do what I want.' instantly regretting the disrespectful words that came out of my mouth.
'How bloody dare you talk to me like that!' her face glows red, I've never spoken to my mum like that before and can see the tears filling her big blue eyes. Feeling guilty instantly, I move in to give her a hug and say I'm sorry but she pushes me away and furiously points her finger at me.
'Don't you dare say sorry unless you mean it! Never ever tell anyone your sorry unless it's 100% and you'll never do it again, understand?' the guilt that I feel starts to upset me, I hold back the emotions and say the words.
'Mum I am sorry I won't ever talk to you like that again, I love you.'
'I love you too, but I'm still grounding you.' By this point I'm not too bothered about being grounded and just take it on the chin.
'That's fine I understand.' I give her a smile, which she returns and I head back up to my room.
My room is slightly messy with clothes and magazines thrown all over the place, I jump back into my bed and load up my laptop to log onto Facebook. Once I'm logged on I find Ray's friend request and accept.
I then inbox both Ray and Karl to let them know I won't be able to join them for the arranged shenanigans tonight. I also have a browse through the home page to see what everyone else is up to. Not much is going on so I log off, turning on the TV at the same time to see what's on. Nothing! Today is going to be one boring day for me.
A text come through on my phone, it's Karl - why are you bailing on tonight mate? I knew he would be funny about it, I reply with - I'm grounded mate, sorry. I throw my phone on my bed and head downstairs to see if there's anything of more interest happening there. I find my mum in the kitchen sorting out clothes.
'Mum, can you please let me go out I'm so bored, I promise I won't do it again and I'll be home by nine tonight?' she looks at me for a second I can see she's going soft.
'James, if I let you out I want you home by eight tonight you have school in the morning.' I smile at her.
'Thanks mum, I'll be home on time I promise.'
I run upstairs grab my mobile and call Karl to let him know the news. He answers after about three rings.
'Hmm, Mr let down.'
'Don’t be like that mate I can't help it if my mum grounds me, look she's let me off so I can come now!'
'Serious?'
'Yes mate, the only problem is I have to be home by eight,' at this point feeling excited about going out in the car again, there’s hell of an adrenaline rush from joyriding.
'Eight? Are you kidding me mate! Eight is no good, it will still be light by then and we can't do it until its dark!' his tone is abrupt and swiftly hangs up on me.
Karl is hot-headed especially when he doesn’t get his own way. I'm not too worried about pissing him off. Now I'm allowed out I come up with the idea to check out the car we burnt-out last night to see the damage. I throw on the same clothes I was wearing last night, rush down the stairs with excitement almost slipping on the last step.
'Be careful!' shouts mum from the front room.
'Sorry, just going out for a bit I got my mobile and it's charged.'
'James, come here please!' what now? I thought to myself. 'James make sure your in by eight please I mean it!' I can tell she's serious and I'll have to make sure I'm in on time, only being 15.00 in the afternoon I don’t think I'll have much of a problem.
On the way to the burnt car I drop Karl a text to let him know what I'm doing and replies immediately wanting to come. We arranged to meet at his house and walk from there, as it isn't far. Karl dashes out of his front door to meet me seeing me walk up the road.
'Hi mate, sorry about hanging up on you earlier, you know what I'm like!'
'No worries, let's go.' We walk back the route we came from yesterday to find the car still there. I can smell burnt rubber, the ground is wet and the car is starting to rust already.
'Did you hear any sirens last night?' I ask Karl.
'I hear sirens all the time don’t take any notice to be honest.'
'Looks like the fire brigade has been that’s all.'
'True mate, what do you think?'
'What do you mean?' not really sure what he's asking.
'About it all, scary but thrilling at the same time don’t you think?'
'Ha-ha yeah, I keep getting mixed feelings, one minute I'm excited, then I'm worried.'
'Well you're missing out on tonight.' with a gloating smirk on his face.
'Yeah yeah, there'll be plenty more.' Actually feeling slightly left out.
'Unless, we find a car now and blow off Ray?'
'Hmm not sure, how about we go for a walk and see what we come across?'
'Ha-ha.' He knows it's going to happen so didn’t really need to say much.
We walk down the same road the car was burnt and head towards the lake. After about fifteen minutes of walking, shoving each other into hedges and beating Karl with a big stick we enter the car park to the lake.
The lake is called, Trine Lake named after some guy who died in it back in the sixteen hundreds or something. It's about the size of six football pitches, with a coffee shop and an outside seating area. At the moment there's about twenty or so cars parked in the car park, it's always popular in the summer.
Karl nudges me half way across the car park pointing to a black 7 Series BMW.
'Look the window is wide open, good head start!' Whispers Karl. We slowly make our way over to the car. It's brand new, with plush red leather seats, built in SatNav, looks amazing. I look at Karl who is staring into the car grinning from ear to ear.
'What is it?' I ask.
'Mate, the keys are still in it,' trying to whisper but releasing a squeal with excitement. 'Jump in!' he says looking around to make sure no one is watching.
Karl starts the car, slowly pulls off with ease. I was surprised at how well he was driving this car although it is an automatic. We make it out of the car park and onto the road where we just came from. Karl puts his foot to the floor, the car sounds like a jet engine and throws me back in my seat. Adrenaline streams through my body putting me into a trance of joy and adventure. My eyes are fixed on the road and we must be going about 70mph at this point. I glace over to Karl and he returns a smile. The engine is still roaring, the road is coming to a junction and Karl begins to slow.
The car feels expensive, the dash is smooth and everything looks as though it's built with perfection, I wish I could keep this car.
We've now been driving around for an hour through country lanes staying away from the main roads. Karl’s foot is flat to the floor with the engine roaring, I then notice a
car coming up behind us fast flashing their headlights.
‘Who the fuck are these idiots?’ shouts Karl looking out of his comfort zone. I peer at the Speedo to horrifically see we are doing 100mph. I glance back at the car behind who are so close I can see the eyes of the driver. He looks mad, I quickly come to the assumption the car we are in may belong to him or someone he knows.
Still steaming down the road at 100mph Karl looks sweaty and red-faced the nerves have now got the better of him.
‘I’m going to slam on the breaks!’ he shouts. Before I have a chance to respond, he does. I feel my organs move inside my body and then there was an almighty crash with glass smashing and the sound of twisting metal. Then the car turns on its side ploughing into a tree. It comes to a halt and takes me a few minutes to come round to what’s just happened.
I check myself over to find I don’t have single scratch on me although I have an intense pain in my stomach. Karl is covered in blood just lying there not moving, I nudge him and he lets off a slight groan, at least I know he's still alive.
I lay still and wait for help, I hear footsteps walking up to the car and a hand reaches in that violently pulls me from the wreck. I take a quick swift look over my shoulder to see a black mess of what used to be a stunning new car and wonder how on earth am I still alive. I suddenly sense survival and pull from the grip of whoever it is holding me. I turn my back and run for the hills without even looking back. I hear a loud bang, followed by another then another. Bullets whiz past hitting the trees around but thankfully they all miss me.
I scramble over a four-foot fence leading into a field and continue to run as fast as my legs can carry me. The ground was thick hard mud and difficult to run on however I don’t think I've ever ran as fast as I am now, taking deep breaths every split second I just keep going. It’s amazing what a cocktail of fear, adrenaline and pure survival can do.
I finally make it to the other end, stop and lean up against a wired fence. I look back and pray that Karl got out too. I keep staring into the distance wishing and hoping to see Karl but there's nothing. I don’t even know why I would think he’d get out he wasn’t even moving. I look at my phone it’s now six o'clock so I still have a bit of time. I slowly walk back in the direction I came from hoping to see Karl emerge in the distance - I must still be in shock.
I try ringing him on his mobile, which rings through to his voice mail. I stand there in the middle of this large muddy field, sun beaming down on my face. I close my eyes and pray for Karl to suddenly call out my name. I open my eyes - nothing. I walk back over to the wired fence and sit on the grass next to it to wait - with only faith.
I've now been sitting in the same place for over an hour with still nothing from
Karl, I've tried his mobile over and over again and can't get hold of him. With only an hour left until I have to be home I decide to make a move still trying to get hold of Karl. I decide to give Ray a call who answers instantly.
'Ray, have you heard from Karl?'
‘No mate, why?’
'Just wondered.'
'I wouldn’t worry mate he’ll be fine.' Ray then hangs up abruptly. I start wondering, does he know something? I quickly text my mum to let her know I'm on my way and head for home.
All the way home I go through today’s actions in my head. Trying to work out what actually happened. The whole thing seems like one bad dream with the image of Karl lying there in the car wreck covered in blood, gives me shivers. I find it hard to think positive and only fear the worst – Karl’s dead.
I finally walk through the door and my mum is lying on the couch watching some crap black and white film. I feel a sense of safety now I'm back in my own home.
'Hi mum.'
'Hi love,' in a croaky voice, 'thanks for your text.'
'That’s ok. I'm going to go up to my room, see you in the morning.'
As soon as I get into my room I burst into tears, I bury my head into my pillow and frantically punch my bed in frustration. It’s only going to be a matter of time before the police are knocking at the door telling me Karl's dead.
It’s now eleven o'clock so I decide to call Karl’s mobile again. Someone answers.
‘Karl!’
‘Karl is no longer with us Ha-ha.’ Says a voice in a deep husky tone, the phone goes dead so I call it again.
‘Karl is gone my friend, unless you want to be next I suggest you make yourself disappear!’ I feel a pulse of electrical fear run through my body.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Ha-ha run boy or I will find you!’ the phone goes dead again. I sink down onto my bed holding a pillow across my chest in utter fear.
***