Stalker

Samuel

I woke up in my bed where I had collapsed when I got home. Everything was quiet and I sat up stretching.

"Good morning." Mariah called out.

I jumped, "Holy shit!"

"So," her voice carried out slowly, "where did you go last night?"

I raised my eyebrows, "Huh?"

Her eyes followed down to my body which was fully dressed. Shoes and all. She wasn't stupid and she wasn't going to act like it either. She knew I had went out.

"I went out for a drive." I shrugged and kicked my shoes off, laying back again.

"A killers drive?" Suspicion layered her voice.

I snorted, "I wouldn't kill that prat Nick just yet."

"So you did go out and stalk him!" She jumped up.

I glanced at her, "Yeah. Sure. You could calk it that." I yawned.

"You can't go out and stalk someone. You could get caught."

I sat up and smirked, "Since when have I ever gotten caught, Mariah?"

She paused, "Okay, never."

"So why would I start getting caught now?"

"You wouldn't." She mumbled unwillingly.

"See, it would be impossible for me to get caught."

"Not impossible. Just unlikely."

"Impossible." She grumbled and stood, waltzing from my room.

"Unlikely." I grabbed a Sports Illustrated magazine off my bedside table and began to flip through it.

I wasn't interested in sports. I liked taking pictures. Normally they were of people around my school, but in secret they were mostly of Hazel. I had gotten pictures with her permission of course before. Homecoming week. I wanted to ask her to the dance so bad.

"I hear there is going to be some town ball." Mariah fixed her makeup in the mirror.

I snorted and kept reading, "The annual town ball. People dress up really fancy and go to it. It used to be a lot of adults and stuff, but now its just people in there teens and mid twenties. Its something fun to do."

"You don't sound like you think its fun." She glanced at me.

"Well," I looked up, "I never have a date to it so I've never gone."

"Aw, maybe we should go." She smiled.

"No." I looked back at the magazine.

She sighed, "Well, how about we do something productive today."

"I think my dad wanted me to help him in the garage with some car."

"I guess I'll just sit around then."

I stood and wiped my bangs from my face, "Yeah, sure."

I made my way out and into the living room and finally stopped. My dad was sitting there with my mom and I stopped Mariah and made her go back quickly before my mom ever noticed. Mom looked up and smiled.

"Sam! Sam, how are you? Are you having a good time?" She beamed a weak smile.

I get a twinge of sadness, "Yeah. Tons."

"That's awesome. I heard your gonna try and work on a car with your dad today."

"Gonna attempt it." I laughed.

Dad smiled, "Come on, you were a natural when you were younger."

"I handed you tools and heard you talk about Mom constantly. I could hardly say I was a natural." I smirked and saw Mom blush.

Dad laughed, "Alright, let's get working on the truck."

I went outside with Dad and watched Mom get into her car slowly. She seemed sick that was for sure. She was moving slowly and I could tell she had gotten some chemo done. I sighed and moved to the truck next to my dad.

"What are we doing on this old piece of junk." I kicked the front bumper.

He glanced at me in mocked shame, "Son, this is a 1957 FORD."

"Fixed or repaired daily." I mumbled.

"It runs, it just needs a new battery and ignition switch."

I smiled, "Oh, I see."

We joked around for a little bit and the time reminded me just how much I actually missed my dad. When Mom and him got the divorce I just wanted to leave and never see him. He had cheated on Mom and hurt her and there wasn't anyone except Hazel I loved more than the world. It was a hard blow when he told her. I was in the kitchen and I remember trying to attack him with a knife and I had blacked out. When I snapped back into it my dad was on the floor and I sliced him across the chest. I was put on psychotic meds not even three days later.

I sighed and looked away, "Hey Dad?"

He looked up from under the hood, "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say," I shuffled my feet, "I'm sorry for that night I attacked you."

"You were sixteen. I can't really blame you. I tried to shoot Pops when he cheated on Grandma." His face went back into the hood.

I took a deep breath and looked around. We had been at this truck for maybe two hours and nothing was getting done. I tapped my dad's shoulder and he moved, I moved some wires around and replaced a couple of switches and then wiped my face. I felt the grease smear and I chuckled. I motioned for Dad to start her up and he got in and cranked it. He started with a loud bang and he cheered. There was a clicking sound and a cloud of black smoke came rising up and hit me in the face. My skin stung and the smoke was hot but I coughed and backed up, getting a rag and wiping it from my eyes quickly. The engine banged again and the car came to a shuddering stop. I stared at it in disbelief.

"What happened?" I looked at Dad get out with a amused face.

He smiled, "That, Son, was the engine completely going to shit. I am gonna have to replace it."

"I just got black grease all over my face for a broken engine?" I felt angry.

"Don't worry, I have a restored 1957 engine in the back. We can just replace it and see how it goes."

My jaw dropped, "Why didn't we just do that in the beginning?"

"Wanted to see what you knew." He smiled at me and winked before wiping his hands and diving to the truck.

We removed bolt after bolt and tied the engine up so it hung just above the trucks now empty engine bed. We used all our strength and got it into the hole and I felt the sweat poor down my face. It took a lot of effort for me just due to the fact I wasn't a very muscular boy. We got everything into order and when we closed the hood I shot my dad a very concerned look.

"This better work." I wiped my wet hair from my eyes taking in deep breaths.

Dad laughed, "It will."

Dad got into the truck and started it. It sounded up as if it were brand new and I sighed in relief. Dad smiled from the driver side and I looked at the darkening sky. It was almost time to see what Hazel was up to. It was time to clean up.