They all walked out to the car, still not fully realizing that they really were different.
Once they got inside, Jon's dad started up the car. But he didn't drive home.
"Dad?" Jon asked. "Why aren't you driving us home?"
His dad twisted around in his seat and glared at Jon. "Shut the fuck up!"
"Mark! Stop being so mean!" Jon's mom squealed.
"I can drive wherever the fuck I want!" He turned back around and stepped on the gas, making the car move faster.
"Mark, slow down!" Jon's mom yelled. "I don't like it!"
"Dad, you should really slow down now," Jon said, calmly. "You don't want to attract the police."
His dad turned around and looked at Jon, then settled down a bit.
"Thank you, dear," Jon said. Then he wondered why he said that. "Where are you driving to, if you don't mind me asking?"
"The Occult Stop," he said. "There's something I want to pick up."
"What is it?" Jon asked.
"It's ... uh ..." The car started to move slower. "You know, I'm not exactly sure."
"It's a skull," Zoe said. "I was going to go pick it up today. But now I'm not sure I want to. In fact, I'm starting to rethink this whole Goth thing. It's just not me."
"You? Give up being Goth?" Mikey asked. "Yeah, that'll be the day."
But the truth was, she was thinking of doing just that. But at the same time, Jon's dad was thinking of picking up where Zoe left off. Ever since that science experiment, he had been feeling darker, angrier. Angry at whom, he had no idea. At least not yet.
And Jon had been feeling increasingly motherly. And his mother had been feeling increasingly childish. Perhaps that machine did do something to them after all.
