Chapter 1
I woke with a start to the sound of an old car backfiring. I pulled the covers off of my bed and shot downstairs. My mom was cooking breakfast in the kitchen already. "Morning Mom. What's with the noise?"I asked while sneaking a bite of toast. "Good morning Tori. It's your father working on a clunker again," she responded, somewhat peeved. I rolled my eyes. Being a mechanic, my dad always had a different car in their garage. I took a piece of toast and went to see what he was doing.
"Hey dad,"I shouted over the noise. "What're you working on today?" He jumped and hit his head under the car. I heard a low grunt. "Sorry!" I shouted. He emerged from the car, rubbing his head. "It's all right. Just another dent needed to be fixed now," he said,chuckling. I smiled. "Need some help?" I asked. He scanned the car, nodding. "Yeah, but after a break,"he said. He threw the oily rag on the hood of the car and walked over to the ping pong table. "Care for a game?" I cocked my head and pretended to think. "Well, I'll probably cream you right away but sure,"I said. He grinned. "You're on."
Halfway throughout the game, we heard the doorbell ring. "Honey!" my mom yelled down to my dad. "Come here, quickly!" She sounded kind of nervous. My dad put down his ping pong paddle. "I'll be right back,"he said. "Then I can beat you!" he said, running up the stairs. I waited a couple minutes but heard nothing. No muffled voices. Nothing. I opened the garage door and walked upstairs to see what was going on.