Chapter 1

The Crash

"Good night Canny," shouted Mrs. White.
"Night mom. Night dad," I shouted back.

"We're going out to do some errands. Be back in an hour or two,' Mr. White said.

"Ok," I shouted back.

Every night my parents went out to do errands for a couple hours or so. I usually watched TV a little while when they left and went to bed and pretended I was asleep. This day was different. I watched TV for three hours and they still didn't come home yet.

Just as I was going to sleep the phone rang. The caller ID said "Police Department" so I got worried.

"Hello?" I said as I answered the phone.

"Is this the Nash residents?" asked the secretary.

"No... This is the White residents," I replied.

"Sorry we got the wrong number. Bye," she said.

"Bye-bye," I answered as I hung up.

I was relieved that the phone call wasn't for us. After that I watched TV to clear my mind of that phone call. I watched for a few minutes and climbed up into my bed. I stared at my ceiling and slowly fell asleep.

As I started to dream I pictured a highway with my parents driving on it. They signaled to switch lanes but didn't see the car speeding in that lane toward them. Mom swerved her head and saw the car and screamed for her life. She grabbed onto the steering wheel and turned it the other way yelling.

"There's a car heading toward us!" she yelled.

As dad turned his head he saw the car. Not only did he see that but he also saw the front of their car slam into theirs. As this dream got intense I breathed more heavily. My parents' car flipped over several times. The windows broke and the car crushed the road. Everyone stopped and watched and avoided the out of control car. They couldn't believe their eyes.

I noticed that this wasn't a dream but more of a realistic nightmare. The phone rang and that woke me up. I went down to answer it and I noticed that it was raining. I walked slowly towards the phone rubbing my eyes as they adjusted to the light. The caller ID said Police Department again. This time I wasn't as worried. As I answered I got more nervous.

"Hello?" I said as I answered the phone.

"Is this the White residents?" the secretary asked me.

"Yes..." I answered.

"I have some bad news dear," she told me as I gotten more nervous.

My eyes began to start watering as I left her waiting for a reply.

"What is it?" I finally said.

"I think you should hear this in person. I'll have someone pick you up," she told me.

"Ok," I mumbled trying to prevent myself from crying.

I hung up the phone and slowly walked to the living room. As I got ready to go I wondered what happened. A few moments later the doorbell rang.

I walked over to open the door and a man said, "Hello. I'm your ride to the Police Department."

"Ok," I said as I grabbed my coat and went out to door.

He didn't hesitate to get me to the station. Once we got there I ran out of the car and into the station. The second I got in a woman took me into her office and started asking me questions.

"Are you Canny White?" she asked first.

"Yes," I answered.

"I'm Detective Ann. I called you down here to tell you that your parents were in an accident," she said.

"Are they okay?!" I shouted.

"I'm sorry dear but your parents...well...they died in the accident... I'm so sorry," she said as she tried to stop from crying.

My eyes watered and I began to cry.

"Where am I going to stay and who's going to take care of me?" I asked her.

"Well do you have any aunts and uncles?" she asked back.

"No. My mom was an only child," I told her.

"Since there is no where for you to stay you can stay at your place for the rest of the day and tomorrow I'll come pick you up and bring you to the orphanage," she told me.

I left the room where we had our conversation. I went out to the car and the man drove me back home. I thanked him for taking me back and forth. I went into my house and sat on the couch.

"Why did they have to die...? Why did this have to happen to me?" I mumbled to myself.

I remembered that my friends would be worried if they didn't know what happened to me so I called every one of them. I said my last goodbye to them and cried even more. I sat down for a couple of minutes and I turned on my TV to see the news on my parents' car crash. I flipped the channel quickly so I didn't have any memories for tonight. I didn't want to remember anything because it was too devastating to think of. I found some cartoons and watched it for a while and slowly fell asleep. I woke up a little bit later to turn off the TV and I went back to sleep.