The Eternal Sleep

It's 'replacing', not 'changing'

Luca rubbed his nose and pulled his jacket tighter, the evening wind a little chilly as grey skies threatened to rain down on unsuspecting people going about their normal evening. He rejoiced silently for another day of school complete, and one day closer to collage.

He took his usual route through the back of the apartment, where there was a generally empty underground parking lot for occupants. It was quieter and he generally enjoyed the extra walk from school when he knew he wasn’t expected home early. However, something interesting caught his interest.

To his surprise, Sean was leaning over his car, the sleeves to his jacket pushed back and a look of frustration on his face. Luca took in the tools scattered on the ground and a messy cloth resting on the open hood. He groaned softly and dug his heels into the ground, turning in the direction of his stepfather. So much for the thoughts on lying in bed for the rest of the evening.

He genuinely contemplated going by his stepfather, it would be much easier to continue his journey like he’d never seen the man standing near the car but his sub-conscious bothered him. Luca didn’t like the idea of leaving a frustrated person when there was a possibility that he could help them, even if that person was his stepfather that he’d been trying to avoid since the first day he met him. As long as Sean didn’t try to cook up any heartfelt conversations, Luca would try to not walk away from him.

“What’cha doing…uh, there?” He leaned over to glance at the inside of the car and ignored Sean’s flinch of surprise, mentally cursing at his inability to hold a normal conversation with someone.

“Oh, Luca, didn’t see you there.” He smiled, holding his hand out for a handshake glancing at the fair amount of grease staining his fingers and pulled it back awkwardly. “How was school?”

“Long.” Luca didn’t offer a better explanation, “So, you doing repairs?”

“Sort of, I’ve got most of the maintenance done, checked water and oil, wiped down everything.”

“But…”

“I’m more familiar with vans, jeeps, but an old car?” Sean sighed and gestured listlessly to the entirety of the car, “It’s like playing a game of operation.”

“For real?” Luca didn’t mean anything by it, he was just surprised as he’d assumed that Sean would be good at this stuff, “What are you changing?”

“The engine, the other one’s been dying for a while now.”

“Why not carry it to a mechanic?”

“I still could but I initially had a great idea that if I could do this for other vehicles, I’d be able to do it for this one to.” He grimaced and waved his hand to the large box near the tire crowded by oil and coolant in bottles

“Please, for my sanity tell me you didn’t carry that here yourself.” Luca whispered under his breath with a slightly horrified look on his face. He didn’t know why he was even bothering to pose that as a question, Sean could probably bench press ten of him without even breaking a sweat. Mainly brawn and the heart of a puppy.

Luca pulled back the sleeves of his jacket and stooped down beside the box, opening it and examining the contents. He was struck by a flash-back of Olivia and him on the day of the race, her careful guidance and instructions. The model was different, and the major difference was that the car was actually real, but Luca is certain that he’d be able to replicate the job himself and if all things went south, call Olivia.

He stood up again and placed his bag beside the tire, watching into the make-up of the car. Luca poked around the insides for a bit and rubbed his hands together, “Think I just might be able to help you out.”

“Really?” his face brightened, Luca winced and thought how it still wasn’t too late to respond to the calling of his comfortable bed.

“Yea… but it’ll be a lot of work.”

“Uh, how much exactly are we talking about?”

“Only around an hour or two… maybe longer but it’s the heavy lifting I’m worried about.” Luca prodded the hood, looking for the bolts that attached it to the rest of the car.

“Heh, not a problem for me.” Luca rolled his eyes at Sean’s over-enthusiastic voice, knowing that he was flexing his arms with a cheeky grin on his face.

“Alright ‘superhero’, see that?” he pointed to the bolts with his finger, his over hand propped near the head light to hold his weight, “We have to remove those and take out the hood entirely to get to the engine.”

“Oh, uh, okay… then what?” Sean had an odd expression on his face, kind of like he was taking orders from his commander rather than his seventeen-year-old stepson.

“Then you want to drain the oil and coolant.”

“Wouldn’t we need stuff for that?”

“Yes, and fortunately for you, my learning mechanic, this complex,” Luca pointed to the roof, referring to the apartment building, “Allows for this kind of work, they have a couple containers in the storage rack under the stairs and a ‘cherry picker’ I think they call it, I’m not sure but I know what I’m looking for, and they take the stuff to auto part stores to be recycled. If you’re planning to go through with this, all I have to do is tell them, no fee.”

“You can do that?”

“Yep, then we have to detach a bunch of stuff and disconnect and some more fun stuff, but I’ll explain along the way instead of confusing you now. So… you still planning to do this?” he leaned his hip on the car and folded his arms, unconsciously mimicking the sassy stance Olivia took on when she was talking about either her real-world car or race car.

“Yea, if you’re helping me out.”

“Goodbye my sweet bed, until we meet again.” Luca closed his eyes sorrowfully, pressed two fingers to his lips and raised them up, ignoring Sean’s burst of laughter.

It took them over two hours. Replacing an engine in real life, as Luca had to unpleasantly learn, was a lot messier than in a game that made the impossible possible. Within the first ten minutes, he’d ditched his jacket in the car and ran his hand through his hair till it stuck out in different directions.

Sean, however, seemed to be having the time of his life. He asked questions tirelessly and handled the heavy lifting like a professional. Luca was slightly tempted to ask if he was drinking some sort of energy drink when he wasn’t looking.

Olivia’s instructions were flawless, though some tweaks were made to the plan due to the difference in models, Luca knew he had to get her something in return. He wiped his face again and tighten the last of the bolts to the hood, slamming it close.

“Alright, try it!” the car felt like a purring cat under his hands, he smiled tiredly and gave Sean a thumbs up in response. Sean left the car running under Luca’s instruction, coming to sit next to him on the hood. Luca ignored him and listlessly rubbed his hands with a cloth.

Working with Sean wasn’t as mind taxing as he originally thought. he was actually quite pleasant, keeping a steady stream of chatting like they did this sort of work every day instead of trying to avoid each other. Luca didn’t particularly like the idea of feeling closer to Sean but he was glad to learn some of the skills that Sean possessed and he general personality when he wasn’t trying so hard to impress.

“Oh, and you generally say ‘replacing’ an engine, not ‘changing it.”

“Why…”

“I dunno, I never question Olivia, besides, it just sounds right.”

“Either way, nice job, mechanic.” Sean nudged him, Luca grunted and leaned back on the hood, a hand behind his head. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Friend of mines, her parents let her borrow a car for school, so I got her to teach me what she knew.”

“Amazing.” Luca braced for more questions, expecting him to ask about his friend but none came. “You made this thing look so easy.”

“Yea, well, tech and cars I know.” Luca pulled himself off the hood, picking up bottles and placing them in the box, clearing away the tools. “Where’d you even find a place that just sold you the engine without offering you a mechanic or something?”

“No… they offered. I just didn’t realize how much work it was.” At Luca’s slightly scandalous face, he rushed, “A shady place in Crantof caves, friendly workers and good prices.”

Luca’s heart stuttered in his chest, it couldn’t be possible, “Say that again?”

“…Friendly workers and good prices?” Sean frowned and leaned forward, trying to catch Luca’s gaze.

“No, no, no, the other thing.” His head buzzed as he tried to recall the lines of the poem, the ten cards.

“A shady place in Crantof Caves?” Sean reiterated, his hand stretched for Luca’s shoulder, just hovering. “You know the place?”

“’Ten cards, ten places, dangerous faces and mortal cases, shady, hasty…” He muttered under his breath, ignoring Sean’s confused stare. Luca didn’t give him a chance to rest his hand, grabbing his wrist and shaking it sub-consciously. “That’s it, we’ve been over-thinking it too hard, it could be just as simple as it looks, shady could be caves!”

“Luca what are you-?”

“Sean, you’re a genius!” Luca grabbed his bag and jacket, pulling them on roughly and nearly tripping over his feet to get to the stairs. He didn’t notice Sean’s hand outstretched to him, a frustrated look on his face.