Layla

Chapter One: A Missing Piece

1980

Love Her Madly by the Doors was playing.

"Finally!" Peter thought in relief while he turned the volume up, before placing his hand back on the steering wheel.

Nothing great had been playing on the radio, and Peter was consistently tuning the radio back and forth, till he heard a decent song. Now, he could finally relax again on his drive back to Charles's manor. Yes, he had been late, really late actually, about returning Charles's car back to him. He meant to give it back to him sooner.

Honest.

Well...maybe.

Maybe, he did take advantage of Charles's nice car for a bit. It was a nice car, and Peter liked it. Besides, it wasn't like he stole it. Charles's let him borrow it, and besides Charles never gave him a specific return date for the car. It only took a year for Charles to get his car back, and he never called Peter about it asking for it back. Also, if Charles wanted the car back badly, he could have picked it up himself, but that day never came. For a while, Peter thought of keeping the car, but he had no license. Not that he would get one because what was the point in that when he could run faster than any car. While it was nice to have, Peter needed to return the car. He preferred running than driving, and he could only sit for so long. How he managed to sit  so long in this car on his way to the manor, Peter didn't know. Not even an hour into the drive, and he was getting antsy. Come to think of  it, why had he kept the car this long? Yes, Peter liked the car, and thought it was nice, and it was even better when he drove it, but the only time he drove it was to get back home. 

After that? 

Peter drew his eyebrows together looking at the winding road with confused, narrowed eyes. 

"Why, did I keep it this long?" He wondered to himself. 

For some odd reason, Peter felt the urge to look in the passenger seat. He turned his head to the seat next to him, but no one was there. Turning his attention back to the road, Peter felt like something was missing. He tried to think of what it could be; tried to remember, but there was nothing. Peter looked back at the passenger seat again, but this time he felt panicked. There was something wrong, but no one was there. Looking back at the road, Peter's eyes widened in shock when he saw a car driving in the wrong lane. 

No!

He was in the wrong lane. 

"Shit!" He thought, quickly jerking the car back to his lane. The car honked past him, disappearing around the corner. Peter gripped the wheel firmly, trying to reposition the car, but he had driven close to the edge of the hill on the other side, and the car began to flip down the hill. Worry filled Peter, and he looked back over at the passenger seat. Why, he didn't know, he just felt the need to look there. He tried as best he could, but he couldn't keep track of anything. All he could see was the turquoise sky, and ground swirling endlessly around him. Glass flew around him, cutting his hands and face. Something sharp lodged into his arm, and then his skull smacked against the side window of the car, and everything went black.

Peter's eyes fluttered open slowly, and he let out a low grunt. He looked down at the roof of the car, and found he was sitting buckled upside down in his seat. The car was done for, and it was a mess. Broken glass was everywhere, and tiny shards were sitting on his jacket sleeves, and black pants. The need to look over at the passenger seat summoned Peter's attention again, and he looked over. 

Again.

This time, though, he saw something that confused him. There was blood on the passenger seat, and bloody glass covered the bottom of the car on that side. The blood was smeared on the seat of the car, and its side.