When the Car Hits the Tree
Scott had bought the GT with the second paycheck as a junior partner. The first had been used to catch up on some credit cards. It was his pride and joy (the GT, not any of the credit cards). It was midnight blue with two wide stripes across the top. He had a poster of one just like it in his room with he was a kid.
One night, after a properly boozy young professionals night at the Carriage Inn, Scott climbed behind the wheel and took a life. Don’t worry — it wasn’t anybody’s innocent child or adorable dog or anything. It was a tree. A big oak tree with thick grey bark — probably close to 100 years old.
The GT slammed into the big tree and cracked its truck across, dropping the entire canopy to the ground like a giant broccoli crown. Below, the roots recoiled in pain.
Scott poured out of the GT and threw up a little. He was frantically muttering curse words under his breath as he worried about his ruined baby and the chance of anybody seeing him in this predicament (a helpful cop or a gossipy tow truck driver would be equally bad for his reputation in a small town).
He stumbled around to the front of the car, bracing for the worst, but he couldn’t find a single scratch on the hood, buried in the trunk of the oak as it was. No plastic was chipped. No fluid was leaking from underneath the engine. It might as well have been in the showroom — other than the fact that vehicles are generally not staged for sale in trees.
Scott wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his suit jacket, climbed into the driver seat, and turned the key with a prayer. The GT fired up and went into reverse without any problem. He pulled away and drove home, the car purring like a kitten all the way
About a week later, Scott was driving home from work and flipped on the air. The GT made a deep whirring noise, and a colored fog started coming out of the vents. Scott barely had time to register what was going on before he was knocked out by whatever it was. The GT flipped and slid into the shoulder on its roof.
After a few hours, Scott came to and realized he was upside down. He shimmied out of his seatbelt, popped open the door, and crawled out onto the pavement. As he turned around to face the wreck, he realized that the GT was once again totally unscathed — just upside down.
Scott called the most discrete tow truck driver he knew to right the car. He was a little confused as to why Scott wanted him to tow it back to the garage to check the air conditioning system, but he obliged. Everything was fine with the car — it was immaculate, actually — but the cabin air vents were absolutely filled with leaves.
Not long after, Scott was pushing 90 on the highway when he felt a big bump and lost control of the GT. It swung over the rumble strip and slid down into a ditch, predictably sustaining absolutely no damage.
The very discreet tow truck driver rolled his eyes a little while explaining that there was part of a pretty good sized branch lodged up in one of the wheel wells. Blocked the tire. Would’ve been pretty hard to miss. He busted it out and noted the pristine condition of all the surrounding parts.
Scott still loved the GT, but he was starting to entertain the idea that it had in fact been damaged somehow by that tree — just not in ways he could see with his eyes. He decided that the smart thing to do was get rid of right away. It was in cherry condition, after all, and would make a great trade-in.
At the dealership, the salesman walked around and quoted Scott a number he didn’t think was good enough. Wanting to get the best possible price, Scott decided to show the salesman how special his GT really was. He got behind the wheel, revved up the engine, and drove into the exterior wall of the dealership to demonstrate the car’s indestructibility.
The GT burst into a massive fireball. The salesman ran to help, but of all things, the impact had broken the locks on the doors, and Scott was trapped.
This story is part of 13 Ghost Stories in 13 Days. Each entry in the series was written and published in a single day during October of 2020. This idea was completely stolen from Mark Macyk.
Day 1: The Devil’s Diphthong
Day 2: The Podcasting Ghost
Day 3: The Portal Potties
Day 4: The Household Accident
Day 5: The Scarecrow Competition
Day 6: The Cursed Father
Day 7: When the Car Hits the Tree
Day 8: Thank Christ It’s Halloween
Day 9: The Greek Halloween Myth
Day 10: The Ghost & The Cockroach
Day 11: Pampered
