Chapter One: Car Crash

"Are we there yet?" Eric asked.

He sighed. There's goes my seven year old brother again, he said to himself. "No, Eric, we're not there yet."

They were on the way to their grandfather's grave. Alexander Illumino, he was named after him since he died the same year he was born, sixteen years, tomorrow, he had been dead.

Alex pushed his black hair out of his eyes. It wasn't necessarily long, but it still got in his eyes sometimes. He pulled out his cellphone from his pocket and flipped it open.

6:35 P.M. it read. "We'll be there in about ten minutes," he said to his younger brother.

His father slammed on the brakes. Alex's phone flew out of his hand from the sudden stop and smashed into the windshield. The car slowed down in time to avoid major damage.

Great, my phone's probably broken now, but why are we stopping, Alex thought.

They were on a highway, and their car just stopped instantly. Nothing could prepare them for what happened next. The car behind them ran into the car with full force, sandwiching their car between the truck ahead of them and the car behind.

The last thing Alex remembered was his mother's scream and a lot of blood.

Her father had stopped the car. She had stopped talking on her phone and looked up to see a huge line of traffic ahead of their car.

"I'll call you back later," she said and closed her phone. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I don't know. Wait here." Her father opened his door and stepped out of their car. Five minutes passed, and her father still had not returned yet.

"I'll be right back," she said to her mother and stepped out of the car. She kept walking until she saw her father from a distance.

Even from a distance she could still hear him yelling into his phone, "Get an ambulance, now!"

She saw a major collision of two cars and a truck. The people in the middle had to be dead. She saw a boy who looked about her age walk out the ruined car.

Blood was splattered all over him. Most of it must have been his, and the rest of it was most likely from whoever was in the car with him. He made a few feet before he collapsed.

Alex had woken up but did not open his eyes. He saw a faint light. Am I dead? he thought. No, he heard something, presumably a heart monitor. How long was I out? Where am I? And most importantly, is my family okay? He did not know the answers to those questions.

He heard a door open and someone step in.

"The other three didn't make it," a man said sadly.

My family's dead? No, it can't be, he said to himself. He slowly opened his eyes.

"You're awake."

Alex saw a man, the doctor, of course.

"The other three in the car were you're family, weren't they?" he asked. Alex nodded. He sighed. "They're-"

"Dead," Alex whispered, finishing the doctor's sentence. Tears started to form in his dark green eyes.

"Yes. I'm so sorry."

His family was dead. It was too hard for him to believe.

"I want to be alone, please," he whispered.

The doctor nodded in understanding and left the room. He felt alone. Not just in the room, but in his heart. Though he was not tired, he could not keep his eyes opened and slowly drifted to sleep.

"Will he be okay?" she asked after her father stepped out of the room.

"Physically, yes, but emotionally and mentally, no." Her father was the doctor who had called for an ambulance and had operated on him. "He's about your age. His name's Alex. Maybe you can help him through this disaster," he suggested.

"But I don't even know him."

"I know, but he'll need everyone and everything to help him get through this. If he wasn't all bruised up, I would saw he's pretty good looking."

"Dad!" She looked to the window of the room. Her dad was right. He was pretty good looking, but she refused to admit it.

"Just try it."

"Oh, alright." She walked into the room and sat down on the chair at the edge of his bed.

Alex slowly opened his eyes when he heard the door open again. He saw a girl about his age at the edge of the bed. She had long brown hair that reached halfway down her back and light blue eyes.

"Who are you?" he whispered.

"My name's Ariel. The doctor from before is my dad," she replied.

"I'm-"

"Alex. I know. Save your energy."

He smiled weakly. "I'm guessing your dad suggested you come in."

"However did you know?" she said sarcastically.

"Well, you looked bored, and you're about to fall asleep."

"No one likes a smartass."

"Even one whose family's been killed and is severely injured?"

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's alright," he said, using almost the rest of his energy. A second ago he wasn't tired at all, but now all he wanted to do was rest.

"I have to go now. I'll come back some other time. Nice talking to you." She stood up and left the room.

He was sure that he saw a tint of red on her cheeks. At least there's someone I can talk to.

What about me? his conscience asked.

Yeah, like I'm going to talk to my conscience.