Chapter 2:

(Musical credit: song by Linkin Park, "Heavy")

You pulled the hood of your sweatshirt up, pursing you lips and shivering against the cold. Just my luck you mumbled to yourself, glancing around for a good car to jack.

Dean had laughed at you when you explained how you picked your cars. See, to you it was kind of simple. If people had expensive and fancy cars, they could obviously replace them a lot easier than someone who was down on their luck and had a crappy car; therefore you only stole the cars that were nice. You finally settled a gorgeous looking black Audi A4, wiring it easily and tossing your bag into the back. You remembered that a there was a crappy diner a few towns over, and a good hot meal was just the thing you needed.

You had settled on a juicy French dip, woofing it down with a large coke and then a beer. You had been in and out pretty quickly before getting back on the road, and by the time you left the diner it was starting to snow in large flakes.

Hands gripped tight on the wheel, your mind went racing on how everything in your life could have ended up so fucked, no matter how hard you tried. It was weird how the radio always seemed to know just the right song to play at the right time, and tonight was no different as the lyrics to Linkin Park played over the speakers.

I don't like my mind right now
Stacking up problems that are so unnecessary
Wish that I could slow things down
I wanna let go but there's comfort in the panic
And I drive myself crazy
Thinking everything's about me
Yeah I drive myself crazy
'Cause I can't escape the gravity

I'm holding on
Why is everything so heavy?
Holding on
To so much more than I can carry
I keep dragging around what's bringing me down
If I just let go, I'd be set free
Holding on

You grip the wheel tighter in your right hand, left elbow propping on the window seal as you fight back the tears swelling up.

Why is everything so heavy?
You say that I'm paranoid
But I'm pretty sure the world is out to get me
It's not like I make the choice
To let my mind stay so fucking messy
I know I'm not the center of the universe
But you keep spinning round me just the same
I know I'm not the center of the universe
But you keep spinning round me just the same

I'm holding on
Why is everything so heavy?
Holding on
To so much more than I can carry
I keep dragging around what's bringing me down
If I just let go, I'd be set free
Holding on
Why is everything so heavy?

Needless to say you finally had to give up the fight, tears streaking down your face, gripping the wheel with both hands again as you tried to navigate the now slick roads. How stupid, you thought bleakly. How stupid to think you could ever really be a part of something. Or ever be someone's family.

The road seemed to wind on both steady and fast, until suddenly you began thinking that maybe that last beer was the tipping point, your eyes getting heavy and vision blurred between the buzz and the heavy snow. You blinked hard, giving your heat a quick shake to wave off the cobwebs. You turned the radio to full blast this time, trying to hum along through the lump in your throat in a vain attempt to stay awake.

It wasn't enough. Suddenly and before you could react, a deer had sprinted out from the woods, causing you to lock up on your breaks. But the patch of newly formed ice wasn't as forgiving as you would have hoped, and in the breath of an instant you found yourself heading straight into a tree, the impact seeming like it was one of those slow-motion movie scenes.

The sound of the blaring car horn was the next thing you heard after the resounding crash. You blinked your eyes against the heavy fog that rolled over you in a steady wave, trying to blink through the blurriness of your vision. Unable to keep your eyes open, you finally slumped over the wheel, your last thought being of the blood dripping down your cheeks.