Zac Steele

When he turned eighteen, Zac’s father told him he had six months to pull himself together and move out. The man didn’t think of himself as being cruel. Maybe it was tough love. There was certainly something vaguely soft about his son. He’d had it “too easy” growing up. Maybe it was simply the way of the world as the man knew it. For Zac, though, this was a ticking time bomb. He had nowhere to go and no particular plan for his life. High school had not been difficult but he had no particular drive to make the extra effort for excellent grades and he had no driving interest to turn into a career.

Zac had a friend who hustled to make ends meet. Even though Zac didn’t see himself as that attractive, his friend told him that not all older men wanted six pack abs and he could do quite well. Then half jokingly said, “Maybe the black car will come for you.” Asked to explain, he told Zac the urban legend of the Mercedes sedan with tinted windows, whose well dressed passenger offered boys tickets to a better life… and then the boys disappeared. The friend had never known anyone chosen, although boys on the street came and went, often with no explanation. He was certain it was just a story. Zac had been hanging out on the streets for almost a month, with varying success, when a black sedan pulled up to the curb and man handed him a card and said, “If you want a new life, and you are willing to do what you are told, come to this address.Tell no one, and don’t be late.”