Chapter 1

Michael Lawson

Day 1

Tree, after tree, car after car, sign after sign.

Michael was staring out of a freshly cleaned car window, his head literally throbbing from Midterms to be thinking about much, other than how tough it was. He sat in the passenger seat in silence, anxiously waiting for his adult sister to say what she had to say. If that meant another weekend of her ranting, so be it. He was on summer vacation now.

"We both know you can do better," she breathed out audibly, though not quite a sigh. "It's certainly an improvement, nonetheless."

Michael turned to look at his sister, Lauren, who was still staring at the one-way road while she spoke. She was thinking about her little brother's final report card of the year, which came to a 2.60 GPA.

Michael turned his head back to face the car window closest to him, then spoke in an innocent tone.

"I did my best, really…" he replied with a voice crack. It did that a little too often.

Michael's iPhone vibrated in his left pocket. After looking at Lauren briefly, he took it out to see what the buzz came from. His friend Leon had sent him a message.

Leon: michael try to NOT get your ass whooped in Smite today

Leon left a wink emote on another message, nettling him.

"Stupid forecasters… They said all week was gonna be sunny..." Lauren noted out of the blue. She swept some of her dirty blonde hair out of her face.

Michael looked up into the sky in front of him. Dark, low lying clouds were rolled in, in a matter of a minute.

"Yeah, well, small mistakes, big payments," Michael recited his favorite quote with a small grin, fixated on the sky. It quickly grew dark, almost like it came out of some sort of nightmare.

Many seconds of uneasy silence followed. The only thing Michael could hear was the sounds the car was making, that mostly being the noisy Ford Fusion engine. Lauren retained her focus on the road.

"Woah!" She exclaimed. Something that looked like a car had sped past them on their left side, drove in front of their car, then hit the breaks. Lauren was fast to react, however, and steered to the right to avoid the rogue driver.

Michael's mind, triggered by the incident, sent him back over a decade ago. He was in his parents' car, which was going down a dirt road he had never seen before. He heard bits of his parents' conversation. They were talking about him, he knew, but he only caught a little bit of what they were saying.

"...to protect Michael. No matter the cost."

Then he saw the front of the car ripped off. He heard screams. He knew they belonged to his parents. Michael never saw them alive again. The only person who believed what he saw was his sister.

Michael's mind was sent back to the present, tears running down his face and silently crying like a child. He couldn't stand seeing anything close to a car crash. It didn't matter if it was on television or in real life. It always sent him back to the day his parents died. Over Lauren's excessive cursing, Michael heard cars behind them crash.

Michael and Lauren both yelped as the windshield suddenly exploded into a mess of sharp glass. Michael caught a flash purple before he was thrust into an airbag. Dull pain started from the back of his head. He was knocked out. There was darkness, accompanied by complete silence. It all happened too quick.

Unable to do anything but stare into the pitch black darkness, Michael became more scared by the second.

A room slowly faded into view before his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, daddy!"

He saw a faint memory of himself, about the same age he was when his parents' tragic death occurred.

He was in a preschool office with his father and a woman that Michael couldn't remember. He was crying because he just heard the teacher say that he is no longer allowed here.

"That boy is real trouble," the woman says as she steps out into the hallway, putting a cell phone up to her ear.

Michael's father bent down to his visual level, though his face was barely visible, except for his calm smile that Michael saw through his own tears. It calmed him slightly just to see his dad smile.

"I know it wasn't your fault. I'm gonna fix all of this," his father said.