Time's Up Psycho

Chapter II - Neutral

It has been six months since the family moved to New Jersey. Larry and Natalie decided to take the youngest two kids, Nathan and Nick, on a vacation to Bangladesh for a month. It was very quiet in the house since they left and the older three were becoming much more communicative to each other. Neil and Sue barely talk to each other, but even they started talking since their parents and brothers left. Sue even makes tea for Neil even though he doesn't ask for it. These little things have had a great change in their relationship. Natasha and Neil haven't argued about anything either since their parents left.

One Sunday, their cousin invited them to their house and Neil agreed. Natasha couldn't go because she had work. Neil took the Dodge Journey for an errand first and then came back home. Fifteen minutes later he and Sue got into the Journey, but it didn't start. The battery was dead. Neil thought to himself "How could the battery be dead when I just drove it?". Nonetheless, they ended up taking the Toyota Highlander to their cousin's house. On their way back home, Neil bought a portable jump start kit for $90 so he can jump start the Journey. However, the jump start kit was not working properly. All it did was take power away from the car's battery instead of giving power to the car's battery. Neil had to think of something else. He realized that if he can put the Journey on neutral and back the car out of the driveway and in front of the Highlander, he can use jumper cables to jump start the car instead of the kit.

After scouring for thirty minutes on YouTube, he found a video that gave good instructions. It took him a while to put the car in neutral, but he was able to do it. Now, he thought "How am I going to push this thing back?". Neil got out of the car and gave a slight push and to his surprise it actually moved quite a bit. Then, he realized that he needed Sue's help. He was going to have Sue push the car while he held the car from the trunk so it doesn't go too far. Neil put the car in park and went to the house. Sue was in the kitchen and he said "Hey, I need your help with the car" and she replied with "Ok coming". It wasn't even ten seconds and Neil went back outside. THE CAR WAS MOVING BACKWARDS TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOR'S WHITE CAR!!! Neil sprinted as fast as he could. He never ran that fast ever before. He positioned himself behind the trunk of the Journey so he can try to stop it from hitting the neighbor's car. But it was too late. The Journey had too much momentum and Neil didn't have enough force to stop it. There was a loud TSSHH as the Journey's rear bumper hit the neighbor's left passenger door. Neil pushed the Journey forward and positioned it right in front of the Highlander. That is when Sue came out the house, so she didn't see any of it. All this happened within a span of less than thirty seconds. Neil yelled "Come behind the Journey and hold it as hard as you can!". As Sue obeyed, Neil ran to the Journey's driver seat and saw that the gear was back in neutral. "But how can that be when I just put it in park before I went inside the house? This is not the time to think about that" he thought to himself. He put the gear back in park immediately and then looked at the neighbor's house. There was movement and the lights were on. They were sitting around the dinner table. They obviously didn't hear the cars colliding since no one ran out of their house. Neil looked at their white car. There was a huge dent on the passenger door. He took a quick glance at the Journey's bumper and to his amazement there didn't look to be any noticeable damage. "C'mon be smart and fast, don't f****** panic" he murmured to himself. He ran to the house and grabbed the Highlander's keys and the jumper cable. He knew the Highlander was not close enough yet so the cables wouldn't reach. He brought the Highlander as close as he could to the Journey. He popped the hoods of both vehicles and connected the jumper cables. The cables were just enough so they can reach the positive and negative connectors. He went into the Journey to try to start it. Nothing. He waited thirty more seconds while looking back at the neighbor's house incase someone came out. He tried to start it again and the engine turned on! He rushed out the car and took the jumper cables out and closed the hood of both vehicles. "Take the cable back into the house" he told Sue and she did. Neil parked the Highlander back where it was as fast as he could and then went inside the Journey. He reversed into the driveway with the hood facing the neighbor's house for two reasons. First: If there is any damage on the Journey's rear bumper, he didn't want the neighbor to spot it right away. Second: If the Journey's battery dies again, it would be much easier to jump start it and avoid anything similar from happening again. Then, he got out of the Journey and inspected the rear bumper with his phone's flashlight. Barely any scratches at all. He was fairly happy. He ran inside the house and grabbed a spray bottle filled with warm water, paper towels, Turtle wax, and Goof Off spray. He used them all multiple times on the bumper just to remove as much as he could. It removed almost all of the very faint scratches. Luckily, there were no dents or scuff marks on the bumper. As Neil walked back into the house, he was playing out all of the possibilities in his head. "What is the neighbor going to do when he sees the damage on his car? Will he come straight here? Well, even if he does there is no proof. I can't even tell there was damage on the Journey. I just hope there isn't any cameras outside his house".

Neil was 95 percent sure he was going to get away with this. However, one thing kept him guessing. "How the hell did the gear go back to neutral? I remember I put it back in park. I f****** know it"