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“Nerves?”
“Yeah, I just couldn’t fall asleep. I think I only got an hour or two.”
“No problem. Keys?”
Cassie tossed them to her and then slid into the passenger’s seat. As she shut the door, she glanced into the side mirror and saw the little boy’s ghostly reflection. From this angle, it looked like he was watching Laura instead of her.
“All right, pedal to the metal time.” Laura looked over and winked.
“You will go the speed limit. You will come to a complete stop. You will obey traffic lights.”
“You will pass go and collect two hundred dollars.”
“Hilarious.”
“I will also choose the radio station.”
“Acceptable. I’m going to get a quick nap in.”
Laura turned the radio on but kept it low. Cassie pulled the handle on the side of her seat and laid as far back as she could. She wouldn’t get the best sleep in the car, but she’d be able to get a couple hours, at least. Besides, it beat spending the next four hours to Charlotte worrying about what she’d say to her parents as soon as she saw them.
And even though it felt like they hit just about every pothole in Savannah, Cassie was asleep before they made it to the highway.
Cassie gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white and her hands ached. Her headlights dimly illuminated the road in front of her, and the rest was so dark she felt like she was driving through a void in space. She could sense, rather than see, the trees whipping by as she sped down an empty highway.
She felt trapped in a time loop. Like she’d been here before, dozens of times. When she slammed her foot down on the brake pedal, she knew it would have no effect.
The inky blackness still held a grip on her. Fear bubbled in her stomach. She shook. Cassie felt the night closing in on her, pressing closer. When the car drifted, she let it happen. There would be no changing directions now.
A soft glow in the distance caught her attention. Forms took shape. She knew the light didn’t come from another car, and when a figure materialized, her only reaction was to grip the wheel a little harder. Then the second figure appeared. Then the third.
She already knew who they were. Her mother and father and sister. Either out of habit or instinct, Cassie tried once again to press down on the brakes.
This time it worked.
The car shuddered and slowed. Hope grew inside her, and for the first time since finding herself behind the wheel once again, she felt scared. She had resigned herself to the outcome, as horrific as it was. But now she had control. Now she could stop the accident from happening.
Her parents still had blank faces. The light still washed out their features, making them look pale and lifeless. They held hands with her father on the left and her mother next to him. Laura, only five or six years old, stood next to their mother, holding her teddy bear. She made direct eye contact with Cassie, but she wasn’t crying this time. Instead, she had a slight frown on her face.
Cassie pumped the brakes and yanked the wheel to the side. The car squealed and slid, and she narrowly missed hitting her sister. The vehicle came to a complete stop about ten feet to the right of Laura.
Her family was alive.
Cassie pushed open her door and fell to the ground in her haste to get to them. When she picked herself back up again, she stumbled forward until she was right in front of Laura. When she knelt to meet her sister’s eyes, she noticed Laura’s frown had deepened.
“Don’t you remember?” she asked, handing Cassie the teddy bear.
“Remember what?”
“That night. Don’t you remember what happened that night?”
Cassie looked up at her parents, but they were still staring blankly ahead, like they were mere shells of their real selves. She turned back to Laura. “What night? What am I supposed to remember?”
Laura’s voice was so frail it broke Cassie’s heart. “It’s your fault.”
Cassie froze. “What?”
“It’s your fault.” Laura’s voice was fading now. “You’re the reaso
