No excuses, really. I'm sorry I didn't get this out last week, and then the rest of last week was nuts, and the weekend...yikes. Who can say migraine weekend? I can! So, yeah, real life has been a kick to the rear lately.

Enjoy, please! The Beast gets chatty. Yay!

And happy friday, everyone!

xoxoxoxoxoxo

When I woke up the next morning, it became very apparent that the sun had been up for hours. Blazingly bright light streamed in from both of the windows in my bedroom, illuminating the yellow painted walls of my room, and I winced at the intensity. When I looked over at the clock on my nightstand, I just blinked stupidly.

11:17 am

It wasn't rare for me to sleep in, but not even I could remember sleeping in this late. There was a silence in the air that was disconcerting. It was rarely this quiet, even though it was just me and my dad living here. Not for the first time did I wish I had a pet. Maybe a cat or a dog. Heck, even a fish. Nope, dad was very against having a pet. He wasn't a grumpy "must keep the house magazine perfect" kind of dad (I mean, have I described his den and the garage lately?) that was anti-pet, he was just anti-having-one-in-the-house.

Maybe I could talk him into letting me lease a horse. Or get horseback riding lessons.

Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I winced at the sharp stab of pain at my right temple and I rubbed at it. "Well, that should teach me to not get up at three in the morning," I stood up, arching my back in an attempt to get a kink out. My back actually felt a little worse after my failed attempt at trying to pop it. "But I doubt it."

Being that it was Sunday, I planned to fully enjoy today as much as possible. I wasn't looking forward to school tomorrow and...

My eye twitched. Damnit! I'd totally forgotten about the stupid essay for the stupid class that stupid Cleo got the class required to do.

"Idiot!" I muttered as I jammed a pair of flip flops on my feet. It was bad enough tomorrow was a school day and a Monday, now I had an essay to write up. "And I love writing up essays," I mimicked myself. "I could have easily gotten out of writing one, but no, let's be masochistic. It's fun!"

After switching my sleep clothes for a pair of shorts and a tank top, and having to remove and re put on the shoes, I left my room. "Dad!" I called it out as I walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. "Thanks for letting me sleep in, but I have things to do, one certain parental unit to..."

My words trailed off when I got into the kitchen. My dad wasn't there as I'd expected him to be.

"...to annoy," I finished my sentence with a frown. No coffee in the coffee pot (and he loves his coffee), no sign that he'd had breakfast. Nothing but the glass I'd put into the sink last night after seeing him in the garage, tinkering with the Beast.

Well, it wasn't as if he hadn't been known to sleep where he works. I left the kitchen to peek into the garage. The garage door was down and the Beast was in the garage (giving off creepy vibes, by the way), but there was no sign of my dad. Still and all, there was a ton of clutter in there. He could've fallen asleep behind a stack of boxes or something.

I'd like to say it hasn't happened before, but it has. So, I decided to wade into the crap and take a look.

There's a scene in one of the Star Wars movies where the characters are dropped in a garbage room. It's all gross and filled with water and questionable items floating in said water. There was also some kind of a monster in the water. That very same "a predator is stalking them" feeling I felt when I watched the movie was wafting from the Beast, and I had to walk right by the stupid thing.

"Just looking for dad," I muttered as I passed by it. "Just walking through, no need for small talk."

At first there was nothing from the Beast and it relieved me. I didn't need any sort of smart alecky commentary.

As I peered around pile after pile of junk, I made my way clockwise around the garage. I didn't see hide or hair of my dad, though I did see a few really disgusting spiders with even grosser trophies in their webs. Sick. I would love to get the shop-vac after them, but it was in a corner to the far side of the garage, covered with cobwebs, so...no.

Finally I found myself standing in front of the Beast. Hands on my hips, I stared down at it. So innocuous looking. No one could ever guess it was anything but a car, and that was what made me think it talking was all a joke my dad was playing on me.

It was when I had stopped staring at it and was walking by it, with an intent to go back into the house to check dad's office, that Trouble found its voice.

"He is not here."

"Whoa, there's some breaking news," I glared at the car. "You could've told me that before I searched this super awesome garage and spider motel."

"You would not have believed me."

Relaxing marginally, because the car didn't move or attack or do anything but sit there, I felt like what the car said was true. For a split second, it felt both incredibly bizarre and normal all at once that I was chastising myself for not believing what my dad's car was saying to me.

Got that? What my dad's car, a car, was saying to me. In perfect English. I mean, it's a Ford, so I guess English is what it should be saying. Not that I'd know what other kind of language a car might speak. If it was a Benz, maybe German? If it was a Lamborghini, maybe Italian?

But still, it was a car that talked to me. A car that I didn't trust, at all. There was no way I'd have willingly believed it, and I still would've checked the garage anyway.

"Okay, so point to you." Running a hand through my sleep-tangled hair, I sighed. "Do you know where he's at?"

"Do I look like someone who even remotely cares?"

"Wow, that was incredibly uncalled for."

"I beg to differ."

"Yeah, I don't picture you begging for much, pal."

"You are amazingly astute for a human."

That pissed me off, just a little. "I might just be a human, but you're just a car."

There was no answer from the Beast and I smirked. "Not so chatty are you now, huh?" I shook my head and carefully picked my way back towards the door leading inside. I'd just gotten a foot on the first step when I heard an angry engine rev from the Beast's direction. The harsh sound trailed off but didn't stop.

"I am not merely a car, silly little human. You would do well to remember that."

The words chilled me a bit, but I didn't back down. "Oh yeah? And what are you, exactly?"

The engine silenced itself. "You are not yet ready to know."

My eye twitched at the corner. "Or maybe I just don't care."

There was no reply from the Beast.

With an amused snort, I went back inside the house.

Stupid car.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

After going back into the house, I found dad, sound asleep and slumped over his desk. I could see the edge of a gadget he was working on, and I was tempted to go in and get a closer look, but the sight of the gauze wrapped around his hand held me back. Instead, I went to my room and got started on the stupid essay.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

I got a B on the essay, while noticing, as the papers were handed back to my fellow students, that Cleo got a C.

lol.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Two weeks passed before the Beast spoke to me again. I'm talking that I drove it, er, him many times, Dad drove me to school a couple of times, and just everything in between. But it wasn't until after I'd fueled him up at a gas station, on dad's request, that the car deigned me worthy of speaking to again.

"Do you know of some place private in which we may converse?"

Good old Beast; as formal as ever.

"I may know of a place..."

"Go to it. Now."

Rolling my eyes, I mentally brought up the directions and sighed softly. Putting on the turn signal, I took a right at the next light. Ten minutes later, I was pulling the Beast into the parking lot of a small wildlife reserve. Dad had brought me here before, which is how I knew of it, and we'd walk for miles along the trails in the reserve. It was a lot of fun and brought back good memories.

There were only a couple of nondescript cars in the lot and, on advice of the Beast, I parked far from them.

Slinging the Beast into park, I lowered the windows, only to be surprised as they rolled right back up.

"What the hell?" I tried to roll them down again, only to be met with windows that wouldn't roll down at all. "Come on, dude! I'll roast in here without the windows being down!"

"Leave the engine running. It will not tax me at all to leave the air conditioning on." There was a slight pause. "Besides, I do not want any other human to hear what it is that I am about to tell you."

"Top secret info?" I rubbed my hands together in anticipation.

"Hardly," The Master of Derision scoffed. "No other human is worthy of hearing this."

"Oh, well...cool."

"As it is, you are hardly worthy."

I glared at the steering wheel. "Jackass."

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, you are hardly worthy, but it is necessary that you are informed thusly."

"Why should I be informed thusly." I purposely phrased it as a statement. The car was giving off increasingly weird vibes and it was making me incredibly uncomfortable. I get snarky when I'm uncomfortable.

"Because you are being lied to and you are not even aware of it."

My eyes narrowed. "Lied to? By who?"

"By whom. Do they not teach sparklings proper grammar these days?"

Ignoring the sparkling comment, though whatever it was it sounded like it was an insult, I huffed out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, by whom have I been lied to?"

"At the moment, that is less important than what it is I have to tell you."

Moments passed, broken only by the sound of the a/c vents gusting on high. Finally I flopped back in the driver's seat. "Dude, when are you going to tell me your big news? Today or not?"

"So impertinent."

"So annoying."

"Approximately one year prior to your birth, I crash landed on a planet its inhabitants had named Earth."

I blinked twice. "Say what?"

The Beast chuckled, a mirthful sound that rumbled all around me. "Ah, yes, now I have your full attention."

"You landed on Earth?"

"Correct."

"As in you fell from the sky?"

The car instantly sounded exasperated. "I did not fall from the sky. May Primus save me from underclocked organic processors." There was a slight hitch in the a/c vents, almost a sigh of wind. "I landed on Earth after following a relatively normal re-entry process through Earth's considerable atmosphere. I landed as planned. What happened a few hours after was...unexpected."

My jaw gaped. "You're an alien?"

"Your father must be so proud of your intelligence."

"Okay, insults to my brains aside, what are you saying?" I stared at my surroundings, at what I'd thought was just a car not two minutes ago. "You're an alien? Or something?"

"I managed to elude my enemies until a time prior to the military forces of the Autobots and Decepticons colliding in battle in a human city called Chicago. I was taken prisoner by my enemies and put into a forced stasis."

The battle of Chicago was something that just about 99% of everyone on Earth wanted to forget (there is that paranormal one percent that is weirder than everyone else). Alien robots attacked one of the major cities in the USA, thousands of people were killed or injured, and the majority of the central business district in Chicago had been decimated. The city was recovering, but slowly.

"Are you saying you're one of those robot things?" A shiver ran down my spine. "That killed pe...people?" The last bit came out in a whisper and I wondered if the car would kill me.

"I did not take a single human life," The Beast said, though it wasn't reassuring in the slightest. "I was placed in stasis only after being forced into this shape I am in now. I was set free by..."

"Wait, you don't normally look like a car?"

He sounded annoyed. "I normally stand..."

"Stand," I interrupted him yet again, but I was oblivious to his growing irritation. I shook my head at the thought of the Beast, a car, somehow standing, much less landing on Earth after being in outer space. "No, I don't... I don't believe you."

"It does not matter if you believe me or not. It is the truth, which is unchangeable. Now, if I may finish the rest of my tale..."

"No! No, you may not," For a third time, I interrupted him, but I was so done with listening to him. "I don't believe you, I don't. It's ridiculous."

"How is the truth ridiculous?"

"Because this kind of thing doesn't happen to me! I'm a little nobody living in Florida. I live with my dad, who hasn't had a decent invention in years and..." I broke off, partially due to an emotional swell, and partially due to irritation. "Just...I'm done and I'm going home."

"I am not finished."

"Well I am," Angrily, I twisted the key in the ignition, resulting in an angry growl from the Beast's engine. "I think you're just...I don't know what to think, but I highly doubt you're an alien robot." I turned as I put the transmission in reverse, and looked carefully around me as I backed the car out of the spot. Sitting straight in the seat, putting the Beast in drive, I shook my head. "No, there's no way you're an alien. This is just a trick, a joke my dad is playing on me."

The Beast's voice sputtered around me. "You would do well to heed me."

"No, I'd do well to heed myself," I said forcefully, as I guided the Beast back onto the road and merged with traffic. "Now, please, shut up so I can concentrate on driving."

Luckily, the car was silent the entire drive home. I needed to focus, and I couldn't.

What the Beast had said to me would be on my mind the rest of the night.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Later that night, I'd just gotten done with the last of my social studies homework when dad popped his head into my room.

"Hey, Kai, you feeling okay?"

From my seat at my desk, I looked over at him and shrugged. "More or less. Why?"

He slunk into my room and leaned against the doorframe. "Nothing in particular. I just noticed you've been down tonight ever since you got back from the gas station." He raised one eyebrow. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"No." I closed my textbook and shoved it back into my backpack.

"Ooookay."

I looked back at him, surprised to see he was still standing there. "Anything in particular you want?"

"Finished your homework?"

"Yup," I tossed the pen I'd been using onto my desk.

"Want to watch a movie?" He grinned. "It's that Tom Cruise Ghost Protocol movie. I figured we could laugh at the technology they use."

"Because your tech is sooooo much better," I rolled my eyes, but inside I was delighted at the thought. Dad's inventions were quirky, sometimes out there, sometimes didn't work, but he seemed to have a knack for the really technologically advanced stuff. Not that I really knew if it was or wasn't technologically advanced, but it seemed like it could be.

"Of course it is!" He swung his arms back and forth a couple of times, like he wasn't sure of my reaction. "Sooo, you wanna?"

"Yes, I wanna," I got up, shoving my chair away from me. "C'mon, old man, let's go."

He immediately looked far more excited than I thought he would've. "Okay, but I'm putting extra butter on the popcorn."

"And after that, I'm topping it with cheese powder," I smirked at him.

"Not the whole jar, okay? Let's save some for the next time."

Not like it was a true worry. We both loved our buttery cheesy popcorn.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

The movie sucked, of course. I mean, yeah, it had its good and bad points, and Tom Cruise was as actiony adventury as ever, but meh. It was just meh.

After helping dad load the dishwasher, I made my way to bed at a somewhat unreasonable 11:44 at night. A school night. My dad was just full of awesome like that. So, teeth brushed and flossed, hair brushed, I slipped under the covers.

If I'd had realized the kind of nightmare I was about to have, I probably would've stayed up a little longer.

But, you can't fight off sleep forever.

My surroundings were dark, so dark that I could barely make out the person standing in front of me, but I knew he was there, knew he was male. I was standing, but my arms were held up above me with my wrists in some kind of a pair of cuffs. A band was wrapped around my waist, holding me in place to the pole behind me, and my feet were also bound by my ankles to the floor. It was uncomfortable, but bearable...for now.

"You do know why you're here, don't you?" He was a tall figure in silhouette and his voice was smooth, very cultured. He was holding something metallic in his hands that was both slender and long. Its surface reflected the scant amount of light in the room.

The sight of it worried me a little, but I set that fear aside. "I'm irresistible," I quipped, as I tried to free my hands.

The man snorted. "Hardly." He came closer, but his features were still masked by the darkness.

"Even if I wanted to say what it is you wanted me to, I wouldn't say it. Especially not to you." We were almost at the same eye level, he was a little taller than me, but it was easy for me to glare at him. "Do your worst." Then I smirked with far more bravado than I actually felt. "I can take it."

He smiled in a pleasant way that sent chills along my spine. "Oh, I quite intend to."

Suddenly, I could clearly see the item in his hands. He held it in front of me, turning it end over end. It was a long metallic blade. I tried to be discreet in swallowing down my fear, but I think my mask might have slipped a little.

"I don't need you conscious for this, but your being awake lends a delicious air to things. Don't you think?" A soft light flicked on near us and I could see the blade more clearly. He held the long blade in his left hand and smiled at me again. The blade looked exceptionally sharp, and very clean other than a slight reddish brown color staining the edge. "And, wouldn't you know, my little friend has brought friends of its own."

Two more blades, smaller, seemed to appear in his right hand. These were smaller, yes, but looked every bit as lethal as the first. And there were two of them. He placed the long blade down on a small table near us. I hadn't seen the table until he did so, but now that I saw it, I could make out other items on the table other than the long blade. It looked like something out of a Saw movie.

Fuck.

As he walked behind me, it dawned on me that I probably wouldn't survive this interrogation. If I did, at the least I'd be seriously maimed. My every instinct wanted me to fight, to at least struggle, but I knew that I couldn't. The bonds around my wrists, torso, and legs were very efficient. I settled for taunting, hoping it would stall this man from what he was going to do to me. "You can try, but you won't..."

My words turned into a pained shriek as he drove one of the smaller blades into my back, along the right shoulder. He twisted it, shoving his weight behind the action, and though I tried to buck away from him, every movement created new waves of pain. I could feel heat running down my back as blood streamed from the wound.

"Still feel like keeping quiet?" A chuckle. "Other than the screaming, which is positively delightful."

"F...fuck...you," I spat out, feeling lightheaded from the pain.

The insult didn't phase him. Instead, he smiled even broader. "Suit yourself."

Seconds later, a second pain blossomed in my back, joining in with the pain from the first. My left shoulder was a mass of white hot agony. It felt like he had driven the blade in and dragged it down. I could feel my own blood trickling down my back and along my legs.

"I, of all people, know how sensitive a back can be," The man walked around to face me, eye to eye, and he cupped my chin with his hands, hands that were slick with my own blood. "Especially yours." He picked up the bigger blade and traced my jaw with it. "Care to reconsider?"

"Go to Hell," I snarled at him, as the adrenaline from the situation I was in gave me a bit of strength. "No matter what you do to me, I won't help you, and you can bet the others will come for me and..."

The rest of my defiance exploded in blinding pain as the man slammed the blade into the left side of my head and, despite my earlier convictions, I nearly begged for him to stop. But the pain was so intense that I was unable to do anything else but shriek in pain.

The blade felt like it was twisting in my head, which pounded at the intrusion. Blood poured down the side of my head, falling along my chest in a torrent.

The torture felt like it went on forever, with more knives and other things adding to my suffering. Everything began fading to black, even though my screams had degenerated into pained whimpering. The haunting sound of the man laughing at me followed me straight to the point when I woke up. My eyes snapped open and I could swear I heard an echo of his laughter in my room. I felt a lingering whine of agony try, and fail, to escape my mouth. The most I accomplished was a brief bout of coughing. I wanted to bolt upright in bed, but I felt paralyzed. I squeezed my eyes shut, something I could do, forcing myself to relax.

My heart was racing, pounding in my chest, which matched the pounding of the headache that seemed to spring out of nowhere. Though given the nature of my nightmare, I had to wonder if the headache inspired the nightmare, or vice versa. It took a four minutes before I could move. I knew this because I had opened my eyes and had been staring to the left at my alarm clock. I'd been unable to look away.

At precisely 3:05, I could move, but it was realizing how my body was positioned that almost froze me again. It was exactly like in the dream. No, the nightmare. My hands were up, against my headboard, with my fingers curled tightly into fists. The topsheet was tight across my waist. My legs were weighed down by my body pillow. How the hell had that gotten down there?

A deep sob worked its way from my mouth, and I shoved my hands over my mouth to keep it there. Turning over to lay on my side brought its own pain, this time in my shoulders and slightly in my lower back.

"What the fuck," I whispered hoarsely, almost crying from the sudden spurt of pain. "What is going on?"

Wincing, I forced myself to sit up and creep out of bed. I needed aspirin in the worst way. As I stumbled down the hallway, using a mini-flashlight for a light source, I wondered about the nightmare. I'd had nightmares before, of course. Who hasn't? This was the first time I'd had one where I was tortured and possibly killed.

My reaction to the nightmare made me glad that dad was a heavy sleeper. I didn't need him asking me if I was okay or whatever. It would've just made me feel worse. I'd been bitchy lately because of the Beast. It wasn't fair of me to take out my irritation on dad, but he was there. He took it, without complaint, and he was so easy going. Damn, I was lucky to have a dad like him.

Once I got to the kitchen, I turned the lights on. Dad slept with an eye mask and earplugs, plus he kept his bedroom door shut. He'd never know I was up. Filling a glass with water from the tap, I washed down three aspirin, then I grabbed a cookie. Didn't want to get a tummyache along with my headache.

As I stood there, enjoying the slight chocolate rush provided by a Keebler Grasshopper cookie, my thoughts turned to the events of the day and evening. There was the Beast, telling me he was an alien robot stuck in the shape of a car, then loads of homework, then dad asking me if I wanted to watch a movie...

Of course, I snorted at my own stupidity. The movie! I bet it influenced my nightmare somehow. Spy movie, regardless of what happens, triggers other spy things. Spies get caught, they get tortured for information. Sometimes they don't make it. But I woke up, so I made it, right? I'm sure it was just a nightmare.

But as I put the glass I'd used in the sink, I felt apprehensive and uneasy.

I really didn't want to go back to bed.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

"Do I have to go to school today?" I was seated at the kitchen table, but slumped forward, resting my chin on my arms. "I had a horrible nightmare that kept me up all night." True. I last looked at my clock at 5:56, and ended up dragging myself out of bed an hour later.

Dad, who had looked utterly uninterested at my whining, looked over at me when I mentioned the word nightmare. "What about?"

"Stupid stuff," I muttered as I nudged my glass of orange juice. "I really shouldn't watch spy movies before I go to bed."

"Did you kill a bunch of people and get away with it?"

Sitting up, I glared at my dad. "No. Why would you think that would be a nightmare?"

"Why would you think it wouldn't be a nightmare?"

"Of course it would be a nightmare!" I scoffed. "Killing is stupid. Doesn't solve the problem."

"So you didn't kill anyone?" He cocked his head to the side. "Or if you did, did you get caught?"

"I didn't kill anyone in my nightmare," I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"So what happened?"

I fixed him with a look. "You're actually interested in a bad dream?"

"Yeah."

"I don't wanna..."

"If you talk about it," he interrupted me, "it can make it easier to deal with. Obviously it's still affecting you."

Absently, I reached up, rubbing at my shoulder. "I think that in my dream, nightmare, that I was a spy or something. I wasn't very good, since I got caught."

At his non-committal sound, I continued.

"I was tied up to a, to a pole, or something. A man was there and he tortured me. Stabbed me in the back and," I rubbed at and then lightly tapped at the side of my head, feeling a phantom dream pain. "Right here. It hurt like a bitch, but I died. I think I died. I mean, how can you survive a knife getting shoved into your head? And then he got me with other knives, and other stuff. But I died without telling that asshat anything that he wanted me to."

Dad's eyes hadn't left me once when I spoke. "He was torturing you to get information?"

"That's what they do in spy movies, right?"

"Well, yeah, but..." He trailed off, then nodded. "Right, right, the movie."

"Uh huh, it took me a second to remember that, too," I shrugged. "Spy movie, spy nightmare. I wanted to destroy that guy in the worst way though. Barring that, I wasn't telling him a thing other than to go..."

Dad looked at me. "Kai? To go what?"

"I told him to go to hell," I said brightly. "So, can I stay home?"

"Not a chance, kiddo," Dad stood up, grabbing his mug for a coffee refill. "You have to go to school and I have things to do." He put his mug under the Kureg and popped in another k-cup. "I'm real close to a breakthrough and, once I do, things should start to go a lot smoother."

"Really? That's really great."

"If you want, you can take the Beast to school today."

For a split second, the thought of taking Mister Chatterbox to school with me was the last thing I wanted to do. Then I realized that the school parking lot, with its multitude of teenaged drivers, and eight hours of mindless sitting around in said parking lot, could be a lot of fun. For me, of course.

Plus, I was hoping I could bump into Drake again. I'd seen him a week after I saw him at the store, and he'd actually acknowledged me. In front of other popular kids.

Still, I had to tease my dad a bit. Don't want to get rusty, you see.

"Sure, why not rub a little more salt in my wound of life?" I said it dramatically, pressing the back of my right wrist to my forehead like the diva I was. "Not only do I have to go to that hell hole, I have to do so in the very worst Ford had to offer eighteen years ago."

He was unimpressed. "You can always take the bus," he said dryly. "I hear it's supposed to rain."

"Fiiiiiiiiiine, I'll go get ready," I grumbled with only slightly mock irritation. "Leave the keys on the table, next to ten dollars for lunch." I breezed out of the room dramatically.

"You're not allowed to leave school grounds," he called after me.

"Leave a note of approval next to the keys and the money!"

xoxoxoxoxoxo

When I'd gotten back to the kitchen, it was to see a note next to the demanded keys and money. The note offered permission for me to go off campus, so long as I bought my dear old dad something to eat as well. As if anything from any fast food place would survive in a high school long enough to get home. And that was if there was even a fridge available to a student. And there wasn't.

Dad was already gone, locked in his Den of Doom, as he whiled away at whatever invention, or inventions, his sometimes boss had ordered. That there was even an order at all was amazing. He was happiest while he was bringing his inventions to life. I was content with his happiness. I'd deal with the discomfort of school, of taking the Beast with me, if only to see him happy for a little while.

As I walked out to the driveway, I continually pressed the unlock button on the remote, and the Beast continually ignored me. I stopped at the driver's door, irritated with the already high amount of humidity in the air. "I know you're doing this on purpose," I glared at the robot in disguise. "Is this payback for all the times I called you stupid?"

"Along with the times you have kicked me, slapped me, shoved empty food wrappers under my seats, and used icy cold water to wash me?" The Beast sounded all sorts of snide. "Yes."

"Yeah, well dad told me to take you to school today."

"Your high school? Absolutely not."

"You don't have a choice," I tugged on the handle, which remained locked. "He said I take you. So let's go. Let's do this."

"Well, if he said so, then by all means, come inside."

I heard the doors unlock. "Really? Okay..."

As I grabbed onto the door handle, I heard the doors lock again.

"No, not really."

Looking at my surroundings, I saw Mrs. Johnson, from two houses down, pick up her paper from her walkway. The woman waved at me, so I plastered a fake smile on my face and waved back. Once she was inside, and no one else was around, I glared at the car. "Listen, asshole, I have to go to school now, so open the fucking door!"

A second later I heard the doors unlocking and I yanked the door open. Luckily it opened. A couple of times, from way before the tree kissing incident, I'd thought the door was open but it wasn't. I've broken quite a few fingernails thanks to this car. Who is actually an alien robot...or so he thinks.

Slipping inside, I dropped my messenger bag on the passenger's seat and slammed the door shut. Jamming the key in the ignition, I twisted it harshly and was rewarded with the roar of the engine.

"You know, it does hurt when you are rough like that."

I blinked. "What, you can feel that?"

"Regardless of your personal feelings towards me, I am sentient and I do feel everything within my body."

I blinked again. "Okay, when you put it like that, it's gross."

"Try not to be so rough next time."

"Yeah, okay, I'll try." I reached down to put the a/c on and was rewarded with that familiar chill (after a little warmth - it was in the morning but still...Florida...). It was when I went to put the radio on that shit began hitting the fan.

A man's voice filled the car's interior. "Your cheatin' heart, will make you weep. You'll cry and cry, and try to sleep. But sleep won't come the whole night through. Your cheatin' heart will tell on you..."

"What the..." I switched channels as I drove, but station after saved station (and I could see that the digital numbers displayed the correct stations) played nothing but country music.

"Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuue mooooooon I'm sooooo lonesome for yooooou..."

"I dug my keys into the side of his pretty little souped up four wheel drive..."

"They'll call you a hero or a traitor but you'll find out that, sooner or later, nobody in this world is gonna do it for you..."

"Dude!" I exclaimed, while stopped at a red light and mashing preset numbers. Still just country music. "What gives?"

"Another cold water bath like the last one, and I am afraid my radio will no longer play the popular candy sweet tunes you so emphatically sing along with." The smug tone of voice grated on my last nerves. "Poorly, I may add."

"And you know I hate country music." I frowned, thought mostly at the comment about my singing. I'm not that bad. The American Idol karaoke game said so. "I'm beginning to think you're one of the bad guys. You know, if you really are an alien car robot. Carbot."

"I am merely a being looking out for his wellness." A pause. "No more cold water?"

"Yes, fine, no more cold water," I eased the car into traffic as the light turned green. The thought of having a country song stuck in my head all day was terrifying. "I promise."

"Your word as your bond."

"I swear on my sanity that I will wash you with water at whatever temperature preference you desire at the time of washing!" School wasn't that far away, and I needed something to get the country music out of my mind! "Please, put on something good!"

"Many people consider country music to be quite good and..."

"Just play whatever my favorite station is playing! PLEASE!"

The music changed to Kelly Clarkson's Heartbeat Song and, while it wasn't great, it wasn't country. I relaxed instantly. "Oh, thank you, thank you!"

Then the school parking lot came into view and I heard the Beast muttering softly to himself.

It kind of sounded like a prayer.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Songs used:

Hank Williams "Your Cheatin' Heart"

LeAnne Rimes "Blue Moon"

Carrie Underwood "Before He Cheats"

Garth Brooks "Do What You Gotta Do"

xoxoxoxoxoxo

So, real life is blah right now, and it's possible that I might not get a chapter out next wednesday, but I'll try my hardest. I'm trying to get a research paper done. It's my first, so, I know mistakes are gonna happen.

I really hope you all liked this chapter!