"Isn't this nice," a voice interrupted Jason's train of thought. He was so deep in thought that he forgot who was sitting next to him. They were sitting on the beach in front of the Kramer boys' house watching the sunset over the ocean.

"Yeah," Jason responded, without much enthusiasm. Then he felt a small jab to his shoulder and turned his attention to his then angry girlfriend.

"Let me guess who you were thinking about? A-D-A-M," Kara said with a very snobby attitude. Jason frowned when he heard her comment.

"Kara, he is my brother. You have never had a problem in the past 2 years that we have been going together, so why do you have a problem now," Jason replied. "It is like you are jealous of him and I do not understand that. I love the both of you for heaven's sake."

"Jason, I have always been patient with you and your investigations. But I am in high school. This is supposed to be my last hurrah and I don't want to spend it at my house waiting on you. I am always played second fiddle to Adam and now I want to be first," Kara said in a pouting tone.

"Kara, you have a place in my heart as well as Adam. Besides, you go out with your friends and do things."

"But you are my boyfriend! We have homecoming, after the game dances, the autumn dance and the Sleigh Bell Ball coming up at the Shiner lodge and I want to have a date. I want you to be there," Kara whined looking over at Jason.

"I have full plans of taking you to every single one of those events. But I also have to help Adam. He is not the same since the accident and I do not want to see him go into those special classes. No one is going to stop me from helping my little brother," Jason said with tension in his voice.

"I don't mind you helping him, but I think you are smothering him!"

"I am not. He has his own life."

"Then why are you thinking about what he is into as we speak?"

"That is not a fair question."

"Yes it is Jason. You have been in your own world ever since we got here. Adam is fine. The accident is over and he is alive. He is doing his thing so why can't you just let it go," Kara said looking at Jason in the eyes. "I think you feel guilty about that accident because you were with me."

"I know that that the accident is in the past. But-" Jason remarked, but he was interrupted.

"As Adam always says, Jason always has a "but" part," Kara interrupted. "Stop blaming yourself and me for Adam's condition before it--." Kara abruptly stopped and looked away.

"Before what?"

Kara paused and bit her lip. Then she turned to face him again, "Before it destroys yourself, your relationship with Adam and us."

At that Jason looked out over the ocean. He thought back over the events of the past few months. He knew Kara was right. He had blamed himself for not being in the car, for being the healthy and most of all, he may have been resenting Kara for not wanting to attend the party that night. He did not want to lose Kara or his brother. He did feel that he sometimes was forced to choose between the two people that he loved the most in his life besides his parents. Tears started to swell in his eyes as the past few months' events came to a head. He hung his head as Kara reached over and hugged him and gently kissed him on the head.

"Let it out Jason," Kara said as she held the now trembling Jason Kramer, otherwise known as the older brother. After about a minute, Jason raised up and wiped his eyes. He then told her about Adam's spells and how he was worried to leave him alone.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kara asked. She instantly felt bad.

"Because I feel like I am in the middle of a tug of war Kara!"

"I am sorry Jason, I didn't know," Kara answered. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I want to go and see if I can find him just make sure everything is okay," Jason said. "I just have a feeling that there is something going wrong with him, but I can't get him to tell anyone or go to the hospital."

"Why don't you just tell your mom?"

"I don't want to betray my brother."

"Okay then. Let's go and drop off my car at my house and look for him together," Kara said softly. She knew that she had been pressuring Jason and felt bad about her behavior after hearing that Jason had a reason to be worried.

Jason turned and kissed her lovingly on the lips. He cradled her face with his hands and said, "Thank you."

"I still can't believe you got us into this mess," Adam said as he waited for Eric to get his car ready. They were in a little pullover beside the "drag strip" on the two-lane road known as 327. It was a very dangerous road with a lot of sharp curves that wound around Little Pike's Hill, the tallest one in the county. However, the road served as the local drag strip because of the one straight stretch that was about a half a mile in length at the beginning. Adam could see the peel out marks from other races and once watched one himself. He just hoped that the sheriff's deputies were on the other side of the county. He could just hear his parents as he sat there in the wrong lane waiting for the signal. He looked over at Chris, who just smiled back and gave him thumbs up gesture. Then Adam glanced over at Eric in the car beside him. He had a cocky smile on his face.

"Are you ready to see my backend?" Eric mouthed over the roar of the engines. Adam just turned his head. This was not the time to get angry. His anger and pride had already got him into enough trouble.

"Okay, on the count of three!" Eric yelled as he revved the camaro's engine. Adam nodded in agreement.

"One... two... thr--," Eric and his gang yelled together. The rest of the sound of three was drown out by the sound of engines roaring to life as both boys stomped on the accelerator.

At first Eric's car sprang forward, but the Trans Am caught up and within a quarter of a mile, Adam was nose to nose with Eric. He knew that SlaughterHouse curve was coming up at the end of the stretch and that he needed to get into the right lane as soon as possible. However, Eric was not going to let him over that easy. He certainly not was going to swing in behind Eric because he knew that it would be double lined ninety percent of the way to the furnace. Chris was urging him to go faster and seemed to not really car about the rest of the road that lie ahead. More determined than ever, Adam stomped on the gas. The Trans Am jumped at the command and lurched forward. He was just clearing Eric's car when he spotted an oncoming car in the light of dusk. Adam looked over, but he knew that Eric was not going to let him over even though it was apparent that Adam was gong to win. Adam had to make a decision and fast. Instead of dropping back, he stomped on the accelerator one more time. The car responded with a roar as he reached the speed of about 110 miles per hour. But Eric was not giving up and the oncoming car was getting closer by the second. He saw Chris hunker down in the front seat from the corner of his eyes. He knew he had to do something or they would be killed.

"Hold on!" Adam yelled as he swung the wheel to the right, aiming the car right into Eric's path. Adam heard the squealing of tires from both his own car and Eric's camaro. He barely missed the oncoming car, which was forced off the shoulder of the road and into a small level field. Adam was waiting for the sickening crunch of Eric's car into the back end of the Trans Am, but the sound never happened. Instead, Eric was able to keep his car under control and went left of center into the same field. Adam quickly put the Trans Am into a field off of the right side of the road. For a minute, everything was quiet. Then he heard the roar of Eric's car as Eric backed his camaro out of the field and quickly made his way back down the road, leaving Adam and the other driver.

"You okay?" Adam said looking over at a very pale Chris.