Young Writers Society

Spoiler! :

Let's see... where did I leave off..? Oh yes... btw when "I" refer to something as "she", "I'm" talking about "my sweet truck", which happens to be a very big part of "my" life. Also, "confuzzled" simply means confused. It's one of my words

I looked at the boy inquiringly as we walked towards my sweet truck. A little bruised on the back bumper, wheels iced to where there was no friction at all, and a lot of snow on the bed. She was in good shape. Under the hood, there was nothing but engine, motor, heat. I slapped the hood back down and mentally made a note to thank my father for teaching me about cars when I was a little girl.

My dad would take me out to his garage, just outside the city, where we could work on old cars and fix them up. I remember having oil all over my body, smudged on my face. And when you heard an old car roar back to life, it's motor rumbling steady and reassuringly, you had a sort of satisfaction, like finishing a good book.

Now, the aroma of hot motor oil spilled on cold ice almost brought tears to my eyes.

That's where I got my truck, back in my dad's garage. She was my third car to fix, after a Corvette and a BMW "Slug-bug." I found that the truck was the most challenging, and I kept her as my own. I would never give that truck away.

The boy now looked at me with question, a sort of "What type of girl are you?!" look. I understood his confusion, I had just survived flying out of a moving car, hitting my head, and then simply got up and examined my car like I had been a senior greaser for years. He was clearly confuzzled. "So, Clyde," he started, "Are you going to ask for my name or do I have to introduce myself? Oh, I'll just do that anyways. My name's Jacob, but most people call me Jake." I noticed just the corner of his lips raised, giving him a crooked smile. I really wished I knew where my mom was so I could concentrate on him. You make friends in the weirdest places.

"Okay then Jake. I think you got my mother mixed up with someone else. See, this here's my truck, which she was driving home from my aunts house. Are you sure she didn't get carried off on a stretcher and hauled out of here? Did she turn into a zombie and waddle off?" I snorted. Sarcasm made everything a little better.

Jake gave me that look again, only this time it was more, "A zombie? You're full of suprises." "Yeah, she looked just like you only older and not as attract... young," His face got really red, "I think the paramedics came about ten minutes ago, right before you woke up. I don't know why they didn't see us. You see, I was in a crash too. I've been stranded here for three hours just trying to get a ride home. It's freezing, by the way." His eyes darted from my face to the keys in the ignition, as if implying that I get in the truck and turn the heater on.

I jumped into the driver's seat, turned the key, and listened to my truck roar to life. It's sweet, constant purr drowned out all worries for a moment, until I forced myself to come back to the present. Look what your Dad's done to you, Clyde. You're obsessed with a truck. Oh wow. A quick glance at the clock and then at Jake was all I needed to understand that he was right, my mom wasn't here.

She left in a truck. With sirens. And lights.

My mother was hooked up to an IV, probably, with a large bruise on her forehead and broken ribs. As I pieced things together, I figured that when the bumper was hit her airbag went off and mine didn't, and I vaguely remember hastily getting out of the car to run over to her, and pull her out. I more than likely slipped on the ice before I got there, into a snowdrift, hitting my head on the curb and blacking out for about fifteen minutes. That was long enough to stay unseen, long enough for Jake to find me, long enough for her to leave with the paramedics.

Long enough for my favorite song to end.

As I realized what had happened, I also realized that the only way to get home was to drive with Jacob in tow. I could tell he was stranded also, here, without his parents to drive him home. We were alike, and it was apparent that we were going to be seeing a lot of each other for the next forty-eight hours and a half.