The Driving Instructor

01: "Murderer"

Mother & Father - Broods

[01]

A L E X A N D R A

Propped up on the kitchen counter, I listened to my mum flicking through the local newspaper. She started to read an article about buying a patch of the allotment near the basketball courts. I had no idea why she was telling me, it's not like I would ever help her if she did end up buying a patch of the allotment. But she carried on telling me until she found a new article to read out to my ears.

I pretended to be interested, but I found my concern for a hangnail far more interesting. My mum detested when I didn't listen to her so I tried my hardest, not wanting to be shouted at by my mother. She got angry far too often, and I suspect her more than a woman's daughter should. Who wouldn't be suspicious if their own mother 'stays after work for a few extra hours' almost every day?

My head snapped up when I heard one word that made my stomach turn. I wasn't expecting those words to fall from her lips but when they did, she played with her bottom lip that was dry with no liquid come into contact with it.

Murderer.

"W-What?" I looked at my mum. She was wearing a bubblegum pink silk dressing gown over her lilac pyjamas. Her face was turned into a mixture of fright and shock. If I was being completely honest, I didn't think my mum was that shocked, it looked more like an act. Maybe she wanted to make me come to terms with the news?

She looked at me and gulped, playing with the ends of her dark hair. "Alexandra," She said, looking back down at the article she was reading from. "Let me read you the article, again." I placed my head in my hands, not wanting to hear the next words that came out of her mouth with a drip of amusement. I didn't understand why she found this funny but it must have happened before for her to find some kind of humour out of it.

I, Alexandra Sarah Austin, was not prepared to hear this news article. I already knew what it was going to be, just from that one word. There was no way to block out my mother's words now, especially as I had asked her what it was. She was already talking before I could tear away the article, her hand gripping it, making her knuckles turn white.

"On the outskirts of town, many people have been found murdered in their homes. No fingerprints were found, no evidence at all. The murderer seems to be working it's way down a list. He or she is doing it the opposite way; starting with "Z" and ending with "A". So if your surname starts with a 'Z', I would start packing. Nothing like this has ever happened to our small town but it seems the murderer has been studying all of us for awhile. How they got information about all of us, no one has a clue. We are warning you all to get out as soon as possible. You could be next."

I widened my eyes. There was no possible way we could get out all together. My annoying younger sister with her obsession over The Jonas Brothers, my granny didn't have a car, my father who chopped down trees in the woods, my grandad who could barely stand let alone drive.

There were only five spaces in my father's car. He was a lumberjack so he didn't get paid that well. He had three jobs, though. I almost always wondered how he kept on top of it all.

Five spaces meant I would not fit. Which meant I either had to stay behind and sacrifice my life or get a car. The thing was, I couldn't get a car. I had no idea how to drive. Unless I took driving lessons within the spur of the moment.

I pictured a light bulb above my head and felt like I was going to burst out laughing if I didn't stop myself. Which I did, of course. Laughing whilst someone is talking about a murderer is never a great idea.

"I don't know what to say, mum." I spit out as my mother bit her bottom lip anxiously. "Except from you better start packing now. Like, right now. Austin, mother, we still have time."