Simpler Things

Part 17: Automatic.

                 I was so tired. I could practically feel my eye bags getting darker. I closed my eyes, they stings from the florescent lights. I opened them to see my father walking toward me, passing each cafeteria table. I straightened my back as he sat down across from me.
"This isn't your fault." He said, concern laced his eyes.
"How do you know?" I said, my hopeless attitude snuck it's way into my tone.
"Because the Alyson I know, would never do anything to cause this." He said, suddenly stern.
"Are you going to investigate this?" He shrugged in response. "Do you at least have any suspects?" I asked feeling more hopeful. He looked at his hands.
"Just one."
"Who?" My tone instantly got higher.
"You." He said, looking up at me.
I headed back to my mother's room. My father didn't think I was guilty but I was connected to each victim, my mother now making that list. Charlie didn't look at me, he hadn't left my mother's side. They had always been close. I sat down. After a few silent minutes I said,
"I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I promise you." He looked up at me,
"I...I'm...I didn't mean what I said-"
"It's okay. I understand where you were coming from." He rubbed the back of his head and I smiled.
"Thanks." His tone was sincere.
"Momma's boy." I mumbled.
I spent a couple hours by my mother's side. I looked around the room for the 100th time. The light green walls smiled at me, the florescent lights winked at me. My father entered the room. Both me and Charlie turned.
"I'm going to go and investigate the crash site." He said. I stood up and kissed my mom on the forehead. We both looked at Charlie.
"I'll stay with mom." He tried a small smile.

The crash site was brutal. I was suprised that Charlie wasn't hurt more. My mother's car was crumpled. The frame was the only thing that looked similar to the original state, the entire front of the car had hit a tree close to the side of the road, the airbags were deployed.
"How did she loose control?" I asked.
"They were driving home, maybe sleep deprivation caused the crash..." He said tapping his pen to his cheek.
"I thought we were looking for vandalism?" I said, looking up at him. He walked around the vehicle, leaves crunched under his feet. I stayed standing next to the drivers door. He looked in the front of the interior, and began to tap his cheek with the tip of his pen.
"The engine light isn't on." He said.
"The car is dead-"
"That doesn't mean it shouldn't be on." He walked to the front of the car and tried to pop the hood open. I budged open the drivers door as he struggled.
"You didn't choose the hood," I said, pressing the opening hood release button on the inside of door, "the hood chose you."
He ignored my remark and looked into the inside of the car.
"The break lines. They're cut," he pointed, "Not all the way, but enough to slowly let the brake fluid drip."
"But what about the engine light not working?" I asked.
"The OBD code reader... but he'd have to do it within 20 kilometers of here."
We both looked at each other.
The gas station was 10 minutes away.
"It's certainly sketchy enough." I said, as we pulled in. The open sign flickered a fainted red.
"At least pop the gas lid Mr. Slick." I said. He rolled his eyes but did as he was told.
"Stay here." He said as he got out. I began filling the tank as he walked into the store. A couple minutes later dad walked out defeated. He got into the car, and closed the door behind him. I opened my door and stood there,
"Anything?"
"Nothing." He rubbed in between his eyes.
"And that's it? You're just gonna give up? We haven't even paid for the gas." He looked over and cursed under his breath. I walked around the car,
"Here, I can pay for the-" I tripped over a sewer grate, the lid slid out into it's place. My dad got out to help me up,
"The lid must've been taken off recently. Stupid lid." I growled. I looked back at my father, his eyes began to widen.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"Follow me."
               We marched into the store, a large man stood behind the counter on his phone. I glanced at the screen and saw Candy Crush.
"I'm on level 75." I said proudly, pointing at his phone.
"How'd you beat 25?" He said.
"Luck." I felt superior. My father cleared his throat,
"What do you know about the sewers around here?" He turned off his phone and set it on the table.
"That depends, I only speak to paper."
My father rolled his eyes and rummaged through his pocket. Dad pulled out a leather case, the man smiled. Dad flipped it open, revealing his badge and I.D. the man's smile disappeared. He hesitated,
"They put new ones in, but they never got rid of the old ones." My father incouraged him with a nod, "The local teenagers use the old ones as dares, mostly, they say it's haunted." Dad scoffed. I asked,
"How do they even get down there?"
"There's an opening, in a barn, 10 km down the road. Abondoned," he pointed out the window, "You can't miss it."

           We pulled to the side of the road, our doors slammed in unison. The barn was there, abondoned like he said. It was a deep rust colour, and barley standing.
"And you thought the gas station was sketchy." My dad said.
We stepped in. the first thing I saw was a huge sewer pipe, exposed through the the rotting floor boards, rubble created a small pile in the pipe, I looked up, wondering where the light was coming from, and saw part of the ceiling had fallen down and fallen into the large tunnel.
"You ready?"
I was close, I could feel it, I was close to James and Ms. M's killer.
"No. I never will be." I said, as I stepped closer to the tunnel.