It was the perfect 10am morning sun that woke me that day. I awoke well rested and ready to have a lazy day as it was school holidays. My brother, Jye, was already awake. I remember hearing the sound of tools being thrown around in the garage and knew that it was Jye working on our broken bike. When I open the front door, the morning light shines right into the house; it shone like a torch in a mirror. As I make my way to the garage to talk to Jye i stop before I get to the door and look over at the old, green car that is sitting in my driveway. I’ve never seen it before and no one in my family mentioned they were getting a new car. From what I could see from some distance away, the car had scratched paint all over and looked like it was older than my grandmother. I stare at the car, confused, before opening the garage door and walking over to sit on the blue milk crate I always sat on.
“Who’s car is that?” I asked Jye as I watched him put his tools away. “It’s Zach’s new car, mum bought it for him to learn how to drive a manual…we should take it for a spin.” Regretfully, I agree, not taking into account the consequences that would come with getting in the car with an unlicenced driver. I get to my feet and make my way back inside and into my room. I retrieve my wallet and phone, look at myself in the mirror and shrug. I’m wearing my comfortable leopard print pajamas, big slippers that looked like dogs and very messy bed hair. This is how I left the house. Little did I know we were just ‘taking it for a spin.’
Sliding into the passenger seat, I get a good look at the interior of this ancient looking car. It has dirty brown leather seats, one of which had a tear in it, a really old head deck and frayed seatbelts. Jye climbs into the driver seat next to me, puts the key in the ignition and drives. We set off in the direction of Queanbeyan. Half way down our long street, Jye’s phone starts to ring and he answers with an excited ‘Hey man, how you been?” I couldn’t hear what the person on the other side of the phone was saying and soon zoned out, looking out of the window to the paddocks we were passing that were full of green grass with so many sheep. “Alright man, see you soon.” Jye hangs up, turns to me and says “quick detour, we’re going to see Patty”. Now I’m feeling quite nervous. I remember thinking to myself ‘what if we get caught?’
Patty is Jye’s old friend from school. We only saw him for about an hour before deciding to head off home, just in case Zach was awake and saw his car missing. As we leave Queanbeyan, it started to rain. It wasn’t unusual for it to go from such a nice warm day one minute then to cold and rainy the next. We decide take the short cut, through the industrial area. My phone kept vibrating nonstop. My boyfriend at the time was going crazy, spamming me with messages because I wasn’t talking to him that much. I unlocked my phone and began to read the 10+ messages in frustration. Before I could get through all of the messages, all of a sudden Jye yells “OH S***!” and I look up, but before I know it, we