Fridays are trash days in my neighborhood, so like I do almost every Friday morning, I was gathering up everything that needed to go to the curb. As I was removing the trash bag from our kitchen trash can I thought to myself, “I need to remember to grab my keys and start my car so it’s warm for Aubrey.”
I should mention here that I have a remote start device on my car which I have had since 2005 when I bought the car. It has always worked great and I haven’t had to get into a hot (in the summer) or cold (in the winter) car in years! So spoiled. All I have to do is press the start button on my keychain twice and the engine fires up.
As I was tying the strings on the trash bag I heard two very familiar, consecutive beeps. I froze, and like a slow motion scene in a horror film right before something really bad happens, I turned my head to look in the direction of the sound. There, hanging on the hook where I always put them, were my car keys.
I walked over to them slightly hesitantly and picked them up. The graphic display on the remote told me that my car had indeed just started…on it’s own.
“No freaking way.” I walked out the front door to witness first hand that my car was sitting in the driveway…engine running.
Despite the adrenaline pumping through me the logical part of my brain said, “I wonder if there is a short in the car and it has been running on and off all night.” That was easy enough to check because two things would be immediately evident. I had gotten gas on my way home last night so I would be able to see if my gas gauge had moved and the car should be warm, right? As I made my way to the car suddenly I had the thought, “What if someone is in the car?”
I have tinted windows and while you can still see into the car, you really only see silhouettes of people. As I strained to see into my car in the dim early morning light, my heart started pounding as if it was trying to fight it’s way out of my chest with each step. I whipped the driver’s side door open to discover an empty, cold car with a full tank of gas.
Of course then my illogical brain decided to join the party with thoughts of, “What if something started your car as a sign that you need to leave for work RIGHT NOW.” I know, someone has seen way to many supernatural/scary movies. But never-the-less, I was especially aware of everything going on around me for the entire drive to work, half expecting, half dreading something happening because I had waited another 20 minutes to leave the house simply because, well frankly I was a bit freaked out about getting into a car that just started itself.
If only my brain worked like Brandon’s. I’m sure his thought process would not have taken him to the possessed automobile conclusion. He probably would have thought his car was a Transformer, which would definitely by a lot cooler.
