- WhiteBird -

- Chapter five - Discovery

Casey absentmindedly brushed his fingers along the buttons on the console near the shifter. The sudden presence of the light had shocked him. The car had never done it before, but he had longed guessed thats was what it was, a light. He only wondered why it started working now.

Casey let out a soft sigh, not wanting to face the day. On Mondays he came into work at twelve instead of seven, as it opened a little later at the beginning of the work week.

He brushed his fingers once more across the buttons, pushing one this time, that was colored blue.

As usual it made a beep, but with a massive shock, the monitors that never worked on the dash suddenly came on, displaying a camera view of what lay in front of him.

Casey was a little beyond surprised. The car had a camera that could display on the monitors?

He looked down at the unmarked buttons, and pressed a yellow one directly beside the blue. It beeped, and on screen came what was behind the car.

The row of buttons came four across and six down. He guessed each set of four did certain things.

In giddy curiosity, he pushed another one in the same row, and it displayed a view from the drivers side, the last button displaying a view on the passengers.

Casey was practically jumping in excitement, nothing about the gadgets in the car had ever worked, and he had long thought they were fake.

He reached to press the next row, but a panicked deep voice called from around him.

"Stop!" It called.

Casey let out a short squeal, the voice having scared him. He shot up, searching for the source of the shout.

Not a soul stood around or behind the outside of his car, and after a long moment of silence, he began to wonder if he had imagined it.

"Impossible" whispered Casey. He had certainly heard a voice. It was strong and loud and as clear as day.

"Stop what?" He asked, hardly above a whisper.

He half hoped for a reply, but when none came, he let out a long breath he didn't know he had been holding.

Casey looked at the monitor, which was still displaying a widescreen view from the passenger side of the car, where the large trunk of a deprived oak tree rose up from the dust and hard clay.

With a small surge of adrenaline, he reach again for the buttons, wondering if perhaps the car had more tricks up its sleeve.

"Don't you know English?" The voice growled again, coming from every direction.

Casey's eyes shot up like an arrow, his mouth agape.

Karr was greatly struggling with his limited options, he could become dangerous if left at the hands of such an inexperienced kid. He could do dangerous things if they weren't properly explained. He could crash through a cement wall without so much as a single scratch.

He knew right away that Casey had been a little frightened at Karr's sudden decision to speak, but his many button did many things, and they were dangerous to be pressed when they weren't meant to. By luck he had only discovered the camera's when Karr wasn't paying attention.

"Who's there?" Casey whispered again, his eyes wide and unsure.

Karr regretted instantly his decision to talk, and he wished he could have gone about preventing Casey from pressing any more buttons in a different way.

Karr switched himself to auto control, restricting all functions to his disposal only. Casey couldn't even drive the car now.

"First.." Karr signed out loud. Still unsure of himself. "You must not be afraid"