A flash of lightning lit up across the sky, quickly followed by a loud rumble of thunder. 10-year-old Lizzie Fleming flinched in the front seat of the truck. She had her knees tucked up on the seat and her arms wrapped around them, anxiously looking out the windshield. "Mom, are you sure you can see? Are we safe?!" She asked frantically. She was wedged in the front seat between her mom and her 15-year-old sister Amy.
"Lizzie sweetheart, we're fine" Marion assured.
"So once the police see how he treats horses they'll arrest him for sure." Amy said, looking over at their mom; resuming their earlier conversation. They were just coming back from another rescue, saving a horse from a shameful Mr. Mallen.
Marion looked over at her daughter, "He's not calling anybody. Mallen's the worst dealer. He just feeds them enough to withstand till the meat truck comes."
As Lizzie was listening to the conversation, she just shook her head. 'Oh why did they have to rescue the stupid horse tonight, of all night?! She thought. It was cold and stormy, and Lizzie just wanted to go back to the warm ranch with the nice toasty fire. She didn't understand why they had to do this all the time, rescuing horses. She wasn't much of a horse person. Sure she would ride them from time to time, and she had to take care of them by doing chores around the ranch, but horses weren't really her thing. That was something her Mom and Amy shared together.
A flash of lightning flared along with an almost simultaneous boom of thunder. Clenching all the muscles in her body, Lizzie gave out an involuntary scream. Marion flinched in response and jerked the wheel, causing the car to go off the road some. "Elizabeth!" she admonished, correcting the wheel.
"I'm sorry" she said quickly. She hated thunderstorms. They frightened her beyond belief.
"Liz, you can't scream like that." Amy corrected, holding her hand over her now racing heart.
"Well it's scary outside. I-I just hate thunderstorms" she all but whimpered. Marion glanced down to her youngest daughter. "I know baby, but we will be home soon. Ok?" she assured.
"Ok" she whispered.
Suddenly, the horse kicked its leg back, causing the trailer to jerk and swerve. Marion tried correcting the wheel, but couldn't regain control. The truck swerved off the road and started rolling down the hill. The trailer disconnected and stopped rolling, but the truck continued on.
"Mom!" Amy said in alarm.
"Hold on girls" Marion warned.
Lizzie heart was racing a million beats a second. As they continued to go down the hill, she started screaming and then held her arms above her face; bracing for impact.
Everything was blurry. Her mind was clouded up. Opening her eyes, they were hit with a bright light. Lizzie shut them tight again. Her body felt numb, like out of place.
"Lizzie. Lizzie, honey"
The voice sounded familiar to her but she couldn't name who it was. As she laid there for a few moments, her senses started coming back to her. She could start to feel her body again and she started to flutter her eyes. The light that was streaming through her blue irises was making her head ache. Turning her head, she finally saw whose voice it was.
"Lou?" She croaked, her voice weak. She saw her older sister sitting in the chair beside the bed.
"Yeah it's me" Lou said breathlessly. The last few days had been an emotional rollercoaster for the oldest Fleming daughter. Tragedy, pain, and endless hours of waiting for results on her younger sisters. Her younger sister Amy had been in the hospital too. But she had woken up yesterday morning.
Lizzie, on the other hand, had been unconscious for two days now. She had suffered a lot more injuries compared to Amy. She had taken a gash to the head, which required stiches but thankfully no concussion. And she had suffered a broken arm.
"Hey you" Lou smiled, leaning onto the bed. She reached over and gently brushed some of Lizzie's chestnut brown hair out of her face; mindful of the Band-Aid that was covering her stiches. "How're you feeling?"
"My head hurts." The ten-year-old winced. She tried moving around her body since the numbness had faded down. She had trouble moving her arm and when she looked down, that's when she noticed it was in a purple cast. "Why is my arm in a cast?" she asked curiously.
Lou moved her hand she it was atop of her sister's. "Lizzie" she started, "You were in a car accident the other night, and you broke your arm."
"Is that why I'm at the hospital?"
Lou nodded.
"Is that why my head hurts too?" she questioned, moving her free hand up to her forehead. "Ow!" she winced, touching the Band-Aid.
"Careful sweetie, you got stiches."
"My head really hurts" Lizzie complained.
"Here, I'll page the doctor for you" Lou then leaned over the pressed the button for the nurse.
Lizzie, meanwhile was looking around the room. "Wow, there's a lot of flowers in here" she commented, looking at the array of flowers on the windowsill. Lou smiled, "Yeah, most of your friends from school sent them. And Grandpa brought this one" she pointed to the one vase of lily's.
"Those are pretty" Lizzie grinned.
"And I brought you this-" Lou began, handing it over to her younger sister. Lizzie's eyes lit up with excitement. "This is that book I was taking about." She smiled. Lizzie absolutely loved books. It was her things. Reading, writing, dreaming up stories. That pretty much summed up Lizzie Fleming.
"Heart of Gold." Lou read off the cover.
"Yeah." Lizzie smiled. "This the third book in that…that…oh, what's it called? It's like all the books?" she stumbled, trying to find the right word.
"Series?" Lou supplied.
"Yeah! A series. It's the third book in the series of Chestnut Hill."
Lou smiled, "Yeah, well you wouldn't stop talking about it every time we talked so I figured it was pretty important to you."
A huge smile on her face, Lizzie's eyes shined up at her oldest sister. Lou was the best. She loved seeing and hanging out with her sister. It wasn't often that she got to see her. Lou was, after-all, twenty-five and living in New York. Lizzie really didn't grow up with her oldest sister. It was mainly just her mom and Amy. But nonetheless Lizzie loved Lou. She connected with Lou on a level that she couldn't with Amy. Yeah she loved Amy, but they really didn't get along. Amy was all about the horses and taking care of them, wherever Lizzie wasn't a huge horse person.
Lizzie smiled, looking down at her new books, but then quickly looked up at her sister when a thought went through her mind. "Hey, why are you back from New York?"
"Because of this—the accident."
"Oh…well I'm happy you're here." Lizzie smiled..
As Lizzie was thinking, another question went through her mind. "Where's mom?"
The events of the other night was starting to come back to her mind. She remembered that she went with her mom and Amy to rescue a horse. It was the horse that Amy found. It was dark and stormy that night as they were driving along in the truck. Lizzie could remember being scared and afraid of the storm (as she had always been with thunderstorms) but her mom reassured her that it was okay…but after they got the horse and started driving home, things took a turn. Lizzie remembered that the rain was coming down so fast, and vaguely recalled that her mom had driven the car off the road.
Things went black after that.
"Lou, where's mom? And—and Amy?" Lizzie asked starting to panic. "We were all in the car…and…"
"Lizzie, calm down" Lou quieted, as she took a seat on the hospital bed. "Amy is in another room here at the hospital." She explained.
Lizzie breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness." She said, calming down. "Can you go get mommy now that I'm awake?"
"Um…" Lou hesitated.
"What? Mom's with Amy, right?" Lizzie questioned, looking up at Lou with her big blue innocent eyes.
Lou took a couple deep breaths. How was she going to tell her little ten-year-old sister the tragic news? She and her Grandpa were the only ones who knew out of the family. Amy was still unconscious.
This was probably going to be the hardest thing she was ever going to have to do.
"Lizzie, sweetie, we need to talk." Lou started, her voice soft. Lizzie sat up in her hospital bed. She had concern written across her face. "What? Is mom ok?" she questioned.
Lou placed her hand atop of her little sister's. "Elizabeth, there was an accident."
Lizzie eyed her sister wearily. Lou just called her "Elizabeth". This must be serious. The only person who called her Elizabeth was her mom, and her Grandpa Jack, and sometimes Lou, but that was only to get her attention or if something they were discussing was serious.
"I know there was a car accident, that's why I'm in a cast and have stiches" Lizzie pointed out in a duh tone.
"Elizabeth, there was another accident that was along with the car accident."
Lizzie furrowed her brow, "What does that mean? Is everyone okay?"
"No" Lou shook her head. Lizzie's heart started to quicken. "Amy?" she asked. Again Lou shook her head. And with that, Lizzie's heart sunk. "Mom?"
"Ah-huh." Lou affirmed softly.
Lizzie sat up a little bit. "What's wrong? Is mom gonna be okay?" she asked. Lou held her breath for a moment, then slowly let it out as she explained, "Sweetie, mom didn't make it."
"You mean…?"
Lou nodded, "Yeah."
It was at that moment that it felt like all the air was let out of her lungs. Her heart was pounding and it felt like a rock hit her stomach. Thousands upon thousands of thoughts went through her mind. It was like a tornado rapidly twisting and tearing apart her world. She couldn't breathe. Tears filled her eyes. "No…no, no, no" She repeated, shaking her head. Suddenly, the tears spilled over and fell down her face; her body starting to become wrecked with sobs. Lizzie reached over for the only person she could think of for comfort.
Lou.
She extended her arm and clung on to her. Lou in turn, wrapped her arms around her younger sister. All she could do was hold her and comfort her. Words could not describe the pain she felt. The terrible loss her family had just endured, and the pain for her little sister. Both of them actually. Amy and Lizzie were both so young, especially Lizzie. How would their family move on?