With reluctance and relief, Kyle’s driving lesson was coming to an end. He proceeded down Catherine Avenue ready to turn left onto Elwood Drive. Seeing Adam in that strange car affected him more deeply than he thought, but it had an unexpected outcome; Kyle was more aware of the other cars and their drivers. At the moment, he wanted to get home without encountering Adam. As they approached their house, his mother hit the remote to open the garage door. Kyle was careful as he pulled forward up the extended driveway into the darkened space. Somewhere in his mind he heard his mother’s congratulations, but it seemed far away. His mind was stuck on Adam. He didn’t remember shutting off the car and entering the house, leaving his mother behind to close the garage door. The phone was ringing, and he rushed to answer it. It was Vance.
“Kyle, I’ve been trying to call you forever. I saw Adam walking down the street over an hour ago.” Vance said sounding frantic.
“You did? Well, you won’t believe this. I just came back from a driving lesson with my mom and…,” Kyle heard his mother enter the house and close the door. “Hold on, my mom’s here,” Kyle whispered.
“Kyle, where are you?” his mother called out.
“I’m on the phone, mom.”
“Why didn’t you close the garage door when you left the car?”
“I’m sorry. I guess I was distracted.”
“You know part of driving is properly putting away the car when you’re done, right?” she scolded.
“Yes, I know. I said I’m sorry.”
He listened to see if she had any other words for him but there was only silence.
“You still there Vance?” Kyle whispered.
“Yeah. What were you saying?”
“I saw Adam driving somebody else’s car downtown near the courthouse.”
“YOU WHAT?”
“He was driving somebody’s car. I’ve never seen him drive before, ever.
“Did he see you?” Vance asked. The pitch of his voice skipped a couple of octaves.
“I don’t think so. I was sitting at the traffic light on Jefferson, and he was on the other side of the street going in the opposite direction. I didn’t know what to do, but I really didn’t want him to see me. When the light turned green, he pulled off, but he didn’t look over at me or nothing.”
“I wonder whose car he was driving? I didn’t know he could drive. Maybe he stole it? I don’t know Kyle. This is the strangest stuff yet.”
“I know, man and I don’t like it. I’m almost sure Adam might be possessed. He hasn’t been right since that accident. I don’t know if I should tell my mom or not. You know how they are. If we’re wrong, they’ll never let us live it down,” Kyle griped.
“Yep, you’re right. I’m getting tired of being bitched at all the time. So what do we do?”
“Right now, nothing, I guess. Let’s wait and see what happens next.”
“Okay. I’m going to finish my homework. Let me know if you hear or see anything else.”
“I will. See ya,” Kyle said.
“See ya.”
Kyle hung up the phone and, oddly, felt his mother’s presence, but when he glanced over his shoulder, she wasn’t there. Unsure of his facial expression after that phone call, he entered the kitchen and apologized to his mother, once again. He was positive he knew what she would say next, and that’s just what she did; she asked who had called. He told her it was Vance, but lied about the conversation, stating simply it was about homework.
As he walked up the stairs to his room, something Vance said struck him: Could Adam have really stolen that car? If so, how did he do it? Where did he learn to drive? He’d never heard Adam talk about driving at all. It’s as if he didn’t want to learn, or didn’t care. Now that was another fact that didn’t add up, and this one bothered him to no end. With all this on his mind, he knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his homework. He used his television as a quick distraction. He switched it on just in time to watch an updated news report about the gruesome murder of the female today. The announcer stated it was a horrific crime scene, like something from slasher films. Then he added that she was a former juror in the Brian Kinkaid trial. From the announcer’s carefully edited description, he knew whoever did it wanted her to suffer. This creep was really sick in the head. It almost sounded like something Kinkaid… He stopped thinking for a moment out of fear that his mind might take him to a place of extreme terror. There was no way in hell it could be true. First off, there’s no proof, only speculation, and even that was iffy. Was he grasping at straws that don’t exists? He switched the channel searching for anything light-hearted. His mind needed to be freed from the heap of shit piling up on him.