Being delayed 12 hours when waiting for a flight isn't fun at all as me and the rest of my school just found out. We are waiting for our flight back to Massachusetts; we are in England at the moment, waiting for our flight home.

I can't wait to get home and see my parents and little sister, Amy, and older brother Alex. The principal approached me from nowhere then called me over – I knew this couldn't be good, I hadn't done anything wrong – I thought of everything I had done this past week in England and nothing caught my attention to why the principal would want to speak to me.

She looked worried, and then she told me;

"Marrisa, I'm sorry to tell you this but I just got a phone call from your brother – Alex – he didn't want to ruin your time in England but he thought you should know that – your mom, dad and Amy were involved in a car crash earlier today."

I looked at her in disbelief; hoping this was a nightmare and I would wake up any second, I knew it wasn't. I was speechless, I couldn't move.

I burst into tears; I felt alone, I needed to speak to Alex.

I choked out, "Miss, can I please speak to Alex?"

"On this one occasion I suppose you can," the principal told me.

"Thank you," I replied, I felt a slight bit better being able to speak to Alex.

Mary-Kate, my best friend, ran towards me. She asked me what was going on; I managed to explain it to her but with lots of tears. Mary-Kate always understands, we always told each other everything, we are like sisters.

I picked my cell phone up out of my bag and rang Alex;

"Hello," Alex picked up his phone.

"Alex," my eyes filled with tears.

"Marrisa, are you okay, I didn't expect you to call did you principal tell you about…" he stopped, I knew he was about to say car crash. Tears slid down my cheeks one after each other. My makeup ran but I couldn't care less about what I looked like.

"Yes… she did, are they umm okay?" I knew that they wouldn't be okay, it was a stupid question to ask but I didn't know what else to say I needed to know how bad they were.

"I'm not too sure at the moment Marrisa; do you know when you're going to be flying home? I heard a slight bit of panic in his voice.

"It's really bad isn't it, no don't answer that, I'm not sure our flight has been delayed." I answered

"Okay, but let me know when you're in Boston so I can get someone to pick you up."

"Sure I will," I tried not to sounds worried but it wasn't working.

"I will speak to you later then Marrisa, Bye."

"Bye Alex"

I sat down next to Mary-Kate and cried.

At last there was a voice over which said

"Flight 203 to Boston is going to be leaving soon, please make your way to gate three."

I picked up my bags and followed the rest of the school; we went through security then boarded our plane. I sat next to Mary-Kate. I needed to block out everything I was thinking so I got out my iPod and headphones, I plugged them in then put in one headphone and offered the other to Mary-Kate she took it and we listened to my iPod.

I felt bad for not speaking to Mary-Kate but I think she understood why I was being like this.

It was dark and there was no one with me, I was scared and alone. There was nothing but thin air, I couldn't see anything. I didn't like it, where was I? What has happened to me? Then suddenly I was back in the plane. I was relieved to realize that was all a nightmare.

Mary-Kate smiled at me and I smiled back. She must have been relieved that I hadn't burst out crying again, which I felt like doing, but I didn't.

The pilot did an announcement;

"Put your seat belts on please we will be landing soon."

I pulled my seat belt over and clipped it in. I was eager to get off the plane and get to the hospital my mom and dad and Amy are at. I didn't want to imagine my little 3 year old sister- Amy – in a hospital bed I tried to block the image out of my head but it just kept coming back.

We landed in Boston and I jumped out of my seat, grabbed my bag and followed the rest of the school, Mary-Kate followed close behind me. At that moment I received a text from Alex telling me to walk to the hospital on Main Street as it was close to where the school let us go from.

After we had all been through security we went onto the subway. All I could think about is if my family was okay – which was a no – they weren't okay and that was all I knew. We stayed on the train for about an hour – it was a long journey from the airport.

Finally we got out of the subway and everyone was getting collected by their parents, this made me even more upset, everyone was hugging them and had huge smiles on their faces – I wished that was me – but it wasn't.

I hugged Mary-Kate good bye and she said that she hoped everything was okay. I knew nothing was okay at all.

I told the teachers I was going so they could marks me out then I started walking down the road towards the hospital, I left my luggage by accident so I text Mary-Kate saying;

"Can you take my luggage for me as I left it outside the subway thanks, Marrisa."

I started to walk quicker, before I knew it I was walking into the hospital. I went to the front desk and told them the names of my family but as I was under 16 they wouldn't tell me where they were! I started to panic I needed to know where they were.

Alex came down the stairs and I ran to him. I looked up at him and he had tears in his eyes – that was one thing I had never seen – my brother crying. He was shaking his head.

"Please Alex please don't tell me that there…." I couldn't say the word because I didn't want to believe it.

He hugged me, I burst into tears.