Molly ran her hands through her dark auburn hair for the umpteenth time that morning and once again questioned her own sanity. She was trying to keep her focus on the section of the 405 freeway the large yellow school bus was currently traveling down. This headache inducing nightmare had begun the day before when two teachers, one bus driver, 80 honor students and Molly had boarded a bright yellow school bus in San Diego in order to embark on a trip that would last several days throughout Southern California. The trip from their hotel in Long Beach to the Tar Pits in Los Angeles wasn't a very long one, the trip the day before from San Diego to Long Beach had been longer, but the rain and the way the other cars were traveling was causing the young woman some concern. The presence of several large transport trucks that seemed to be keeping pace with the bus didn't ease her concerns any.

"Molly, are you okay? Did your headache go away?"

Molly looked down at the small, blond, curly-haired child sitting next to her on the bus bench and smiled. "Yeah, Sarah, I'm fine. My headache did go away thanks for asking, but I think it might come back if those teachers don't get control of the rest of those boys."

Sarah laughed and put her arms around the adult, "Aunt Molly, I'm really glad you came on this trip with our school, even if the boys are out of control. I'm sad Mommy couldn't come, but you are my favorite aunt and I'm glad you came."

Molly snuggled the child a little closer, smiled and replied, "I'm glad I came too and we won't mention this "favorite" thing to any of the other aunts and uncles, right? Our secret, okay, but I'm glad I'm your favorite, you have good taste."

Sarah laughed and pulled back so she could see her aunt's face, "Aunt Molly, you are downright evil."

"Hey, you're the one who brought it up."

The two laughed for a moment before Molly's attention was pulled back to the ineffectual teachers, the rowdy boys and the slick freeway.

The boys in question, five of them, were seated together near the front of the bus and were a bit too raucous in Molly's opinion, but the teachers sitting just two rows forward of them weren't putting a stop to the hijinks. When a paper airplane flew right into the bus driver's temple Molly had had enough. Standing up and grasping the seat ahead of her she made her way forward to where the boys were clustered together in two seats across the row from each other.

"That's it. You boys are going to put us all in danger if you don't knock it off right now. Hand over the backpacks. NOW!" She put as much authority behind the words as she could muster. At 5 feet 4 inches even younger men tended to laugh when she tried to be authoritative. She was mildly surprised when the boys complied. Wondering what else they could have up their sleeves she looked at the children sitting near the boys and started breaking up the party by slowly and carefully having several girls trade places with a few of the boys. Satisfied that at least the driver would be safe from the young men, Molly turned to return to her own seat.

Molly had taken all of two steps when the bus lurched sickly throwing her against the seats. Her breath rushed out in one quick rush as her ribs connected with the side of the bus bench seats. Looking up she saw the cause of the sudden movement of the bus. One of the transport trucks that had been speeding along the rain slicked freeway had failed to slow down as the traffic ahead of the bus adjusted for a merge. The truck's cab had forcefully impacted with the back of the bus. The grill of the truck was literally in the rear window of the bus. Molly saw that several children had been thrown from their seats and were kneeling in the isle. It looked, from her vantage spot, that nobody had been seriously injured as all were working on picking themselves back up. Despite the movement of the bus Molly tried to move towards the back of the bus to check on the downed children. The bus was still skidding out of control as the driver attempted to brake for both the bus and the semi pushing it along. Molly's stomach dropped to her feet and as she moved she quickly started telling the children around her to tuck their heads to their knees and just hold on. She knew this could end very, very badly. She'd seen the results of bus crashes and hoped with all her might that the driver could get the bus under control. At the front of the bus the experienced driver darn near did get the bus under control. Mr. Simons had driven busses for 15 years and this wasn't his first time piloting a bus down a rainy freeway. His skilled braking and steering were slowly bringing the skidding bus back under control. In addition, the semi behind the bus was braking with all the power it could muster and the locked vehicles appeared to be stopping without further damage. Just as Molly could tell that the vehicles were coming under control the front of the bus forcefully impacted the truck ahead of them, pushing the children and Molly back when they had just recently been thrown forward. Molly's ribs impacted the seats again and struggling for breath Molly hoped that the nightmare was ending, but the force of the crash and the sudden braking had caused the trailer behind the cab to jack-knife and swing out into the next lane. The semi-trailer in that lane was clipped by the swinging trailer, causing it to also lose control. The driver swung his steering wheel in a wild attempt to control the skid, but the rain slicked freeway again worked against the group of large vehicles and his cab smashed into the side of the bus pushing it towards the steep embankment at the edge of the freeway. Throwing herself onto the bench seat next to Sarah, she grabbed the child into her arms and held on tight, not realizing that above the screams of the frightened children she was praying, "Please, God, if we have to go over don't let us flip, please don't let us flip, please, God…." Her prayer ended as the bus hit the low curb lining the road and tilted drunkenly onto its side. She never felt the bus slide all the way down the embankment and then flip onto its roof as it connected with the road beneath.