The Driving Lesson

A demented killer believes he’s doing God’s work — and a teenage boy with dreams of getting his license becomes his next target.

Elliot Cross doesn't just hate ambitious dreaming — he sees it as sin. In his twisted mind, anyone reaching for more is disobeying the First Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

When he volunteers to give Timmy, his daughter’s fatherless classmate, a driving lesson, it’s not a gift — it’s a trap. And the road ahead leads nowhere safe.

The Driving Lesson is a short story of religious delusion, power, and cruelty — a standalone excerpt from the forthcoming re-edited novel The Butterfly Killer.

Excerpt

Timmy started to cry. Tears and snot ran down his chin. Mister Cross cooed softly in his ear. He switched hands and held the belt in his left fist. With the other hand he grabbed a tissue out of the box between the front seats and wiped Timmy’s eyes and nose. A butterfly floated across the hood of the car. Suddenly, Timmy’s eyes bulged as if they were popping out of their sockets. The butterfly appeared like a red beast in the windshield. Timmy heard his mother crying softly in the telephone. Everything went black.