I notice cars that sit unattended for long periods of time, and after a sufficient amount of time has passed, I take a peek inside of them. Here is one such vehicle.
It’s likely my imagination, but I got kind of a chill as I approached.
There were two baby seats in back, with a child’s sweatshirt bunched up in one of them.
In front, a wadded-up women’s sweatshirt sat in the seat, and there was an open can of Dr. Pepper in the console.
It’s not an old car, like what you typically see in these situations. It’s not one someone would be likely to ditch because it died. They’d get it fixed or sell it.
And yet, it’s sat there for quite some time. It was clean on the inside, apart from minimal clutter, and obviously in regular use. It has some damage from shopping cart collisions, which I determined from its location at the bottom of a steep slope on the outer edge of the lot, as well as watching numerous carts sailing past it.
It’s as if a mom and two kids pulled into that spot, got out and just never came back.
Where are they? I smelled no decomposition coming from the trunk, so they aren’t in there. Temps have been in the high 80s, so there’d certainly be a smell.
I just really get the sense that she intended to come back. otherwise, why leave the kid’s sweatshirt? She’d probably put it on him earlier in the morning when temps were in the 60s and taken it off as it warmed up. If they were abandoning the car, she’d have taken the sweatshirt for the evening and following morning.
Even more telling than that, why did she leave the car seats? Even if the car was dead, she’s presumably using another vehicle, or getting rides from someone else. The babies would need those seats. No, she intended to return, and something happened. But what?
And why two car seats, anyway? She either has twins, had babies really close together, or had a friend’s kid with her. I’m leaning towards twins as the seats are identical, which would seem to indicate they were purchased simultaneously. Still, that’s just speculation. One of them was tipped forward, which makes me wonder if she was looking for something on the seat behind it. Perhaps the child was yanked from the vehicle in a hurry. Who knows?
There was a spray bottle of comet all-purpose cleaner lying on its side on the front passenger floorboard, and several other items, so between that and the stuff on the seat, that would seem to indicate that she was alone. Although, that adult sweatshirt could’ve belonged to a passenger. My gut tells me she was alone.
I’m probably just projecting, but I detect a sense of desperation and fear from the vehicle. I wonder what that woman’s story is? I’ll let you know if I uncover any new clues or information.
Patrick Walts 