CHAPTERONE
Bayleigh
It’s hauntinghow vividly memories of a traumatic incident can cling to your mind, like shards of broken glass piercing and cutting with every recollection.The smallest details stick like glue, cloying at your sanity and dragging you back into the horror all over again.
As I look through the window at the road ahead, I notice the moon is only a sliver in the night sky.The stars twinkle as clouds pass by.
My parents gave me the secondhand car as a gift for getting my license, and I love everything about it: the way it smells of roses from the cardboard scent which swings from the rearview mirror.I even love the tears in the fabric seats.But mostly, I love the freedom it gives me.The freedom it gives our happy trio.
Chase has his driver’s license too, but he has to borrow his mom’s car if he wants to drive anywhere, so the two of us, and my little sister, Harper, would take mine for drives around town and to the music store.Sweetgum Valley wasn’t a big town, but we kept ourselves busy.
But this is the longest adventure we have gone on.There was a battle of the bands competition in a town two hours away from Sweetgum Valley and after auditioning, we had secured a place in the competition.So this morning, Chase had packed his guitar in the trunk of my sedan, Harper had taken her spot in the backseat, and I had driven us along the winding roads to the festival.
“That was the best night of my life!”thirteen-year-old Harper exclaims behind me on the way home.“Can I keep this in my room?”
I glance at her in the mirror.In the darkened cab I can only make out her silhouette, but I can imagine her fondly stroking the golden trophy we had won for coming first place in our category, her long blonde hair frizzy in the humid night air and her mascara smudged from where she had rubbed her tired eyes.
“I think we should take turns,” Chase says from the passenger seat.I can see him more clearly in the light coming from the dash.He reaches across and lays his hand on my thigh.It sends heat flooding through my body.I love when Chase touches me, even innocently like this.I wonder if this is how it will always feel like to be touched by the person you are madly in love with.
“It’s finally happening, guys.With this award we can do bigger events than just the ones at the school and around town.We could even record a demo and send it to record labels.”I say, my mind buzzing with possibilities.Singing is my passion, and the way our trio sounds, with Chase on guitar and Harper on backup vocals, I know we can achieve the ambitious dreams I’ve had since the first time I’d sung along to Faith Hill on the radio.Excitement and adrenaline courses through my veins as I imagine playing to sell-out arenas all over the world.We are going to be famous—I just know it.
I force myself to focus on the road.It is so dark and just a sliver of moonlight lights the empty road.We are heading downhill after climbing up the steep mountain’s incline.We are nearly home, and I am looking forward to collapsing in my bed and having a big sleep-in tomorrow morning.
A new song starts playing on the radio.It’s familiar guitar riff filling the car.
“Oh, I love this song!”Harper exclaims, as her arm brushes past me.“I can’t reach.”
I hear her unclick her seatbelt, then reach through the gap in our seats to turn up the volume on the radio.
Harper stays perched in the space between us.Her face fills the rearview mirror, and I see her bopping her head as she sings the lyrics.Chase’s deep baritone harmonizes and I sway my shoulders in time with the music.
Harper reaches between us again, and I glance down to see what she is doing.
For a split second I look away from the road and when I look back, we are already drifting off course.We are heading straight into another car.In a panic, I pull the steering wheel to correct my direction, and that is when everything goes wrong.
I lose control.
I brake hard and feel the car skid beneath us.
Suddenly, we collide with the hillside and I’m thrown forward onto the steering wheel.There’s a high-pitched scream and a blur flashes past me just before the windshield shatters, and I instinctively cover my face with my arms.
Time slows down, and my body is thrown back against the car seat.It is eerily silent for a heartbeat.
“Oh, shit!”Panic laces Chase’s voice.Dazed, I turn to look at him and see blood streaming from a cut on his head.
Then I turn to check on Harper.
She isn’t there.
“Where’s Harper?”I say as I look at the empty back row.
Chase grabs my shoulders and turns me to face him.“Are you okay?Are you hurt?”
I take a second to assess if I feel any pain.“I don’t think so.”I shake my head.
“We need to call nine-one-one.”Chase reaches for his mobile and I turn to look around me and see the crumpled dash and the way the door is crushed beside me.I need to get out of this car.I need to find Harper.
I try to open the door, but it refuses to budge.We are stuck, and Harper is nowhere to be seen.My heart races, drowning out all other sounds.The car is a wreck.My parents will freak when they see it.They had trusted me to drive responsibly and now I have let them down.
