After the garage fiasco, Zack also got grounded. We were now forbidden to meet.
But after seeing that strange silhouette in the garage that night, how did they expect us to keep still? Something was wrong at the repair shop, and it was clearly connected to the Thunderbird.
That damn old car.
So Sunday came, and I stayed home the whole day while my parents enjoyed their light hangover by drinking beer and eating takeout. I was only visited for two hours by Lola and Lucy. They had come to work on a project for school, and while we spent time researching on Lucy's computer, I began chatting about what Zack and I had seen Saturday night.
"Are you sure you saw something?" Lucy asked while looking for images of California birds on her computer. "It might have been just a trick of your eyes."
"I'm pretty sure, Lucy," I said as I checked my texts to see if Zack had sent me a message. "I mean, it moved. Shadows don't move like that. Unlike when you go to sleep and see someone instead of your clothes."
Lucy shrugged and saved a few images.
Lola, meanwhile, was looking at herself in the mirror, testing if the dress I had been wearing the other night looked good on her. She turned and looked at us, her eyes begging for our opinion.
"You know it looks nice on you," I said, smiling. "You have a body none of us will ever have."
Lucy looked up and gave her a quick thumbs-up, going back to look at her computer. Lola then turned back to the mirror and sighed.
"I know, but I don't know if it matches my skin tone," she complained. "Can I still borrow it, though?"
I shrugged and said sure, so she put it in her bag.
"So if it was not a rat or a shadow, what do you think it is?" Lucy then asked, sticking the images in the presentation file.
"I have no idea," I said. "And a part of me doesn't want to find out."
"Perhaps it is the Devil," Lola said, sitting on the floor of my room.
"The Devil?" I asked, horrified. "You think?"
"Don't say that, Lola. That's so creepy!" said Lucy.
"I mean, you mention that death was connected to that car, and now people have died because of it. What if all that death brought the Devil to it or a demon?" Lola asked me, shrugging.
"Could that happen?" I asked her, hoping that was not the case. I had no desire to deal with a demon. I had recently seen those types of movies, and they never ended well.
"Well, I don't know." Lola said, "I'm just saying. My Abuela talks of demons and spirits attaching themselves to places and objects... But I've never heard of one attaching itself to a car."
Lucy then asked me what Zack thought. I told her I had no idea what he thought, as he hadn't called me since that night. In fact, I had become worried his dad had taken his phone away.
"He's probably just busy. I bet he'll call you soon," said Lucy. "Boys always do."
And as with many things, Lucy was right.
That night, around eight, while I lay in bed, distracting myself with music videos, I finally received some texts from Zack.
He greeted me and asked me how I was.
"Fine," I texted back. "Why didn't you text or call me before?"
He then sent an audio file that told me that since that night, his father had been very busy surveilling any interaction he had with people on his phone. Because of that, Zack thought it was better not to talk to me while his dad was around.
But now, he was in his room, reading for class, so he had the time to communicate with me. I then asked him if he had heard anything else coming from the shop's garage, and surprisingly, he said that, indeed, he had.
"Are you serious?" I texted him.
"I am. Steps," Zack texted back.
I then sent him an audio clip asking what he thought it was and what the hell he was going to do about it.
"I don't know X2," he texted back.
I looked at the message and smiled at his writing, but I was also scared. What if it was some kind of demon, like Lola said?
"Lola thinks it's the Devil," I texted him.
"Hope not," he messaged back.
"So, no more bike trips?" I asked.
Zack took time to respond to that one, then sent me an audio clip.
"We can still go biking around while we try to solve this. We don't need to stay away from each other just because our parents don't like when we are together."
"I know," I texted him. "I want to see you."
Then he sent me a heart emoji, making me blush a little.
I touched the emoji with my finger and felt a cozy warmth inside my chest like a small chimney fire. Even though I was afraid, Zack made me feel safe. I knew I couldn't let go of him, and if he had any problems, even if they meant facing the Devil himself, I would try to help him.
The next day at lunch, while we talked, I explained the situation at hand and the theories that some of them had.
"So, what you are saying is that you think the car that your Dad has been fixing at his shop is haunted?" asked Camilla.
I nodded and told her I was pretty sure the car had some weird presence attached to it.
"And Lola thinks it's the Devil?" Camilla then asked, in complete disbelief.
I shrugged, telling her it might be or not, we didn't know.
"In any case, that car has been giving me bad vibes since it arrived. I just realized it might have been more than just the car being old and creepy."
Lola then explained to Camilla what she had told me the other day, what her Abuela believed when it came to demons and spirits, and how it might relate to the car. Meanwhile, Lucy and I shared our lunches while listening to them talk.
"But what about the crashes and the police investigation happening right now? Camilla asked me.
"What about them?" I asked her.
"Do you think they're connected?"
"For all we know, there might be some crazy guy going around the city, killing people with the Thunderbird," I said, shrugging. "He might be attracted to the car because it's bad juju."
"The police are looking for the driver; why can't Tammy focus on this supposed haunting?" Lucy asked.
"Lucy is right. Let the police focus on the driver, and me on this weird thing. It might not bother my parents so much," I said.
"Okay, so what are you going to do?" Camilla asked.
"I'm thinking I might look online at how to get rid of a demon or spirits and tell Zack to do some rituals while Mr. Vinton is not looking," I said.
"Sure."
"I just wish we could know more about what this shape is. But something screwed with the security cameras," I said, scoffing, upset. "I wish Zack had some sort of camera that could see in the dark. Maybe if Zack and I save..."
"Oh, I got one of those," Lola suddenly interrupted me. "A Teddy cam. I can lend it to you if you want."
"What? A Teddy cam?" I asked her, confused. "What's that?"
"A nanny cam people use to spy on others. It's inside a Teddy bear," she said, chewing on her food.
"Why do you have one?" Lucy asked.
"My dad put one in the living room, among my sister's plushies, to see if I brought boys home," she said, and we all rolled our eyes.
Lola's dad was so extra.
"He thinks I don't know about it, but I'm no dummy."
"So what do you do? If you want to take Armando home, I mean," Camilla asked Lola.
"I'll just let the backyard door open so he can sneak in," Lola replied.
"That would be great!" I told her at first, excited. But then I thought giving the Teddy camera to Zack would be difficult if we were grounded. We would have to get together somewhere else.
"But how do I give it to Zack?" I asked.
"What if we go to Lola's this afternoon, and you can call Zack to pick it up," Lucy said. "Nobody will suspect you."
"That's a great idea, Lucy!" I exclaimed, thanking her.
So, after school, I called my parents to tell them that Lucy and I would go to Lola's house in Boyle Heights to work on our project and that I would be coming home late. As my parents knew that I had that project for Friday, they agreed, and Dad told me to call him so he could pick me up from the bus stop.
Afterward, I left a message on Zack's phone, telling him to come to Lola's to pick up something I had for him and the address of the old-looking green wooden house where she lived with her family.
That afternoon, while Lucy and I worked on our presentation in the dining room and Lola made out with her boyfriend inside her room, the doorbell rang. Lola walked to the front door and asked who it was.
"It's Zack. It's Tammy here?" said the boy behind the door.
Lola opened the door, and Zack was wearing his oversized shirt and pants like always. I walked to the door and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. As I pulled away, I saw that on the sidewalk, there was a tall black boy dressed in a basketball shirt and jeans, and a shorter one dressed in a tracksuit. They were waiting, leaning against a car.
I waved at them and asked Zack who they were.
"Oh, that's Andy and his older brother Mike," Zack said, pointing at the two young men. "They drove me here. We are going to Mickey D's later."
"I'm Lola," Lola said and shook Zack's hand. "You must be Tammy's boyfriend."
I blushed, my face twisting in horror, and nudged her, whispering not to say that.
"What's wrong?" Lola asked.
"We are just friends," Zack said, laughing awkwardly. "So what do you want to give me?"
Lola opened her eyes wide, remembering the Teddy cam, and told us to just wait on the porch while she went to look for it.
I walked out of the house with Zack and sat on the white railing. Meanwhile, he placed his hands on it next to me.
"So, what did she go looking for?" he asked me.
"A nanny cam. I thought you could use it," I told him. "Maybe take it out from the plushie and place it somewhere in the garage?"
"That's a good idea. Although the electrician already fixed ours." He said, covering his eyes from the sun. "One more camera wouldn't hurt, though."
"Well, this one has night vision, I heard," I told him, swinging my legs. "So it might be even better than your father's security cameras."
"Awesome!" he exclaimed. "We might see this thing in detail."
"Zack," I then asked him, and he looked at me.
I sighed, worried.
"What are we going to do now? This thing might be evil. And what about the Thunderbird being taken? Do you think it's connected?"
"I don't know," he said, sighing as well. "Let's just stick to see what this thing is, and then we'll connect the rest of the dots."
"Okay," I said and smiled.
Zack then walked past me and crossed his arms. He seemed to be staring at the horizon, past the other houses, into the hills.
"I like the view from this house. I'm so used to seeing industrial land everywhere," he said. "It's nice to see the hills and the palm trees."
"Yeah, it's really nice," I told him, moving out from the railing. "I've always liked to come here."
I walked toward him and placed my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me, and we both smiled. Then Lola came out of the house, and we both turned. She had a plastic bag with the words "Gracias" on both sides. Inside was a hairy, brown Teddy bear.
She gave the bag to Zack and told me that if anyone asked, she had lent me the Teddy for the project.
"Hopefully, it works," I then said to him. "Call me tonight if you manage to use it."
"Sure," Zack told me and thanked Lola for the Teddy. Lola said it was not a problem; her father only checked on it every few days.
"Hopefully, it's not the Devil like my Abuela says," she added, to which Zack looked at her, smirking.
"Hope not!" Zack exclaimed.
After Zack left with his friends, Lola and I went back inside her house to work on our project, and although we progressed a lot, I mostly remained thinking about how Zack would use the nanny cam to his advantage.
Ultimately, I would find out that night as I lay in bed, waiting to fall asleep.
In the middle of the darkness, I heard my phone ring.
I turned to my side table and picked up my cell phone. It was Zack, he was calling me. I accepted the call, and after greeting him, I asked him what was happening. He responded by telling me that he was calling about the nanny cam.
"Oh, so you did use it?" I asked him.
"Yeah, but just the recorder. Is like a little box with a card and a camera," Zack told me.
"I hid it on the driver's uniform that Dad keeps as a wall decoration."
"Great, so what happens now?" I asked.
"Hopefully, it will manage to record something," he said. "I'll take it out tomorrow after school."
"So, if you cannot see it now. Why did you call me?" I then asked, confused. "It's pretty late."
"Yeah, I know, but I heard something on the radio," he said. "It's probably nothing, but it might be that thing, you know?"
I asked Zack to place the walkie-talkie close to his cell phone so we could catch some sounds from the garage. I then heard muffled crackles against his cell phone speaker.
"Can you hear it?" he then asked, whispering.
I stayed quiet, trying to hear anything coming from the other side of the line. What I heard was mostly soft static, but I could perceive the sounds of the neighborhood dogs. They sounded pretty distant, though. I told Zack that, and he said the barks were becoming commonplace.
"Maybe it's a sign. They always bark when the car gets taken," he told me.
"Maybe they can sense something bad is going on?" I asked him.
I was going to ask him if he thought animals could sense evil, but then he shushed me, and I had to remain silent for the next few minutes. After a minute or two had passed, Zack whispered back at me, asking if I had heard it.
"No, what was it?" I asked him.
"They were steps, I'm pretty sure," he said. "Probably you didn't hear it because they were not close enough to the walkie-talkie."
"I guess," I said. "Let's just be quiet and listen for a while."
I lay there waiting for something to happen while Zack did the same on the other side of the line. As time passed, I became distracted with other thoughts, like whether Zack was lying in his bed, was he wearing pajamas or just his underwear?
Before the thoughts of his boyish chest overwhelmed me, a noise was heard. It sounded like the distinct metallic creak that occurred when an old car door was open. It was a quick, distant sound. I wanted to ask Zack if he had heard it, but I knew I had to remain quiet in case it was not the only sound.
A door had opened, but was it about to close?
Then it did.
I gasped, and Zack asked me if I had heard that.
"Yeah," I said.
Then, immediately, we were both interrupted by the roar of an engine and then a soft melody that, for me, was too subtle to truly hear.
"Oh, shit," Zack whispered. "Is that music playing?"
It was the car's radio. The thief was there.
We were hearing him about to escape with the Thunderbird again.
"What do we do?" I whispered to Zack, "Should we tell your dad?"
"No," Zack suddenly said, his voice a bit harsh. "We need to let it happen so the camera catches something."
"But what if this time he doesn't come back?" I asked, scared.
I got what Zack was saying. It was true. We needed to let the camera catch something. But a part of my mind was thinking, probably out of sudden panic, what if everything we had done lately was just silly kids' stuff? What if the shadows and the noises we heard in the garage were just tricks our minds played? What if nothing was happening except some crazy dude stealing a car? Our parents' jobs could be put on the line if something terrible happened to that car.
"He always does," Zack told me. "Let's just hope this is like one of those times."
"Zack," I sighed. "I don't know."
"We need to let it happen, Tammy," He said firmly. "We need to get footage. If it's good, it will be the last time we do any of this."
So we did. We let it happen.
We heard the sound of the large garage door opening. We listened to the sound of the car door closing and the slow fading of the engine into nothing as the car drove out and left.
I felt panic fill my chest, and for a few seconds, I thought I couldn't breathe.
I quickly said goodnight to Zack and returned my phone to the table. As I took deep breaths, I stared at my bedroom ceiling and prayed to god for the Thunderbird to be there the next day.
Hopefully, it would, and we would have enough footage to finally decipher the truth.