Chapter 4

Thirty Seconds

I woke up with a small scream and instantly sat up. I began to feel my body with my hands as if trying to find anything that could resemble an injury. I don't know why, I know it was a dream. It was an automatic reaction though. My body felt like it was burning up and I was covered in sweat. I turned to look at my clock to see that it read three forty-four. "I guess I might as well try and get some more sleep so I'm tired at the beach," I muttered to myself as I lay back down on my bed. I left the covers on the floor where they were thrown because I felt like I would melt any minute.

I felt the air conditioning kick on and sighed as I felt cool air sweep around my body engulfing it in a wonder of cold air. I gave up on sleep after an hour and a half and got up to get in the shower. I walked out of my room and down the hall until I stood in front of the open, white door to the bathroom. I flipped the light switch and watched as a near blinding light that radiated into the hallway quickly illuminated the bathroom.

"Well, someone seems to be an early bird today," I jumped when the voice sounded behind me. I turned around to see my mother standing where the voice had come from. "It's rare for you to be up at this time. You normally sleep past seven," she claimed with more truth than I'd prefer.

I forced a smile, "I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd at least get a shower and start getting ready for today." It was clear that my mother could tell that I was upset by something and I knew that she would pester me until I talked about it, so I quickly slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I started up the shower as I heard a sigh escape from the other side of the door. "I'll be out quickly so that you can get in after me," I shout through the closed door.

My mother quickly responded, "No, don't worry about it. You take your time in there."

I got into the shower while ignoring her words. I lathered my hair well with the shampoo and quickly rinsed it out before moving on to the conditioner. As I slowly rinse my long hair, my mind wanders to my to the note that I found the night before. As my mind reeled with the thought of what could happen, I could feel my chest tightening up. Before I knew it, there were hot tears streaming down my face and I remembered my dream. As the thought of my mother's coffin sliding away hung in my mind, I fell to my knees in the shower and covered my face as tears came even faster. I felt small sobs begin escaping me as I fought to keep myself from breaking any further, and I slowly rose back to my feet. I finished rinsing my hair and recomposed myself before shutting the shower off and wrapping up in a towel.

I quickly left the steamy warmth of the now steam filled bathroom and quickly retreated back into the darkness of my room. I gathered up the covers to my bed and spread them out, covering up the bed neatly before sliding back under the sheets and trying yet again to get some more sleep. As I felt the feeling of my soft sheet covering my still warm skin, I slowly faded back into the sleep that had been so torturous for me only a little bit earlier. I didn't have any nightmares this time; I can't even remember what I dreamt of. All I remember is waking up groggy about three hours later from Misaki shaking me with an excited look on her face.

"Hurry up, we have to go to the beach!" Misaki was now trying to pull me out of my bed with a massive smile spreading along her face with every passing moment. I laughed as she pulled harder and rubbed the top of her hair.

"You do realize that beach isn't going anywhere, right?" I joked with her as I sat up in my bed and stretched.

She pouted a little, "But I want to go now!" The exclamation rang throughout the house. I laughed and looked at her. She was adorable when she pouted because she puffed out her cheeks and lowered her head as she tried to look angry. "Come on!"

I walked over to my closet and began pulling out my swimsuit. I began putting on my teal and white-stripped bikini. I slipped a white tank top over the top portion and put a short skirt on over my bottom. As I walked to the bathroom closet to grab a towel, I saw Ayano run down the stair quickly, obviously excited about getting to go to the beach. We hardly ever took family trips like this, so I could understand why she and Misaki were so hyper about the excursion.

I helped my mother load the car up with the supplies for our trip and got Ayano and Misaki settled into the car. I watched my mother as she walked into the house. She looked like she hadn't slept in a week, so I slowly followed her into the house to see if she needed anymore help. "Mom, are you feeling okay? I can drive if you are too tired-," I was cut off before I could finish my sentence.

"No, I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well last night," she replied. She knew I could tell that she was lying and she walked up and gave me an oddly gentle hug. "I'll be fine. I just need this vacation day ass much as you and your sisters."

I nodded and walked out to the car with her. I got in the passenger seat as she started the car and slowly backed out of our driveway. She began driving down the road when I felt my tiredness begin to take hold of me and I drifted into a fitful sleep yet again.

I felt someone shaking my shoulder and I mumbled at her to let me sleep. "Miku, We're almost there," Misaki yelled excitedly.

I smiled and opened my eyes, "Good." My smiles quickly faded as I turned to my mom.

She looked even worse than she had that morning. She looked completely drained of energy. Her hair was not a bright color, but instead was turning pale like her skin. I didn't know how I hadn't noticed it before now.

I heard Ayano echo my thoughts out loud when she noticed our mother. "Mom, are you okay," She asked nervously.

My mother tried to comfort us, but no one could understand what she said. I realized immediately that it was time. I felt a tear come to my eye and I kissed her on the cheek. I could feel her muscles tighten when I did that, so I whispered to her so that my sisters couldn't hear, "Goodbye mom." She gave a small sob and tried to protest as I turned to Misaki and Ayano in the backseat, "Okay guys, make sure your seatbelts are tight and don't let go of each other," I commanded.

They squeaked slightly and nodded. Five minutes passed and my mother finally turned to me to question, "What's wrong Miku?" I looked at the speedometer on the car and saw it read eighty miles per hour. My heart skipped a beat as I looked down at the road below the over pass we were on as my mom tried to talk again, "I'm just fine," she pleaded, "I'm not going anywh ." The final word trailed of as she gasped and fell forward against the wheel.

I heard my sisters scream as the car speed up more and collided with the side rail. "Don't let go of each other," I yelled to them. I heard Misaki ask me to join them,but I started pulling my mothers body from the drivers seat. I couldn't move her body out of the way, so I gave a last jerk to try and free her from the seat. As I did so, she rotated the steering wheel and sent the car fly towards the side of over pass.

I heard Ayano scream to watch out as I saw the railing end in front of us, and I reached over and jerked the steering wheel hard. I felt the car soar across the median and into on coming traffic as another car turned into our lane and started heading straight for us. I screamed and threw myself into the backseat so that I was covering my sisters and whispered one last thing to them, "I love you both."

"MIKU!"

Those were the last words I heard, because the two cars hit dead on and I got launched backwards. I felt glass shatter and my head hit something hard, then everything went black. I woke up a few hours later and looked around. It looked like it was midnight and there were no streetlights on. No one was there, so I checked the car we had hit and no one was in it. I looked for another sign of life, but there wasn't a car in the distance.

"Why did this have to happen," I asked myself sadly. I quickly ran over to my mother's car and saw her body wasn't there. I panicked and looked around the car until I saw an arm sticking out of a window. I pulled the body, to which the arm belonged, out of the car and almost threw up. I felt like I was swallowing razor blades. I saw the body of Ayano laying before me with a shard of glass buried into her neck.

I felt my body give away and I fell to the ground. I looked in the car and felt my body go numb when I saw Misaki. She was laying against the top of the car. She wasn't like Ayano, who looked like she suffered. Misaki looked peaceful, happy almost. I felt tears rush to my eyes and start pouring out uncontrollably. I fell to the ground and sat there crying for what seemed like hours until I heard a voice down the road.

I watched down the road, although I couldn't see what was making the noise because of a haze that had formed since I blacked out. I heard the noise again and tried to figure out what it said, but it was too muffled to understand. I saw a figure break through the haze about a mile down the road when the noise came again. It seemed like the figure was running towards me, but it seemed to take hours for it to move a few feet.

"I trusted you." I shuddered when I heard the words. I saw the figure slowly stumble forward when I realized who it was.

"Mom!"

"I trusted you," she spoke again and the words took me aback. I screamed as I saw her appear no more than twenty feet in front of me, "I trusted you too keep them safe!" I knew she was talking about my sisters and I lowered my head.

"I tried mom," it was all that I could say as I closed my eyes as I fell back to the ground with hot tear hitting the pavement, "I sorry."

A body walked up to me and I felt colds hands wrap around me as another voice came from the sky, "Are you with us Miku?" I felt a grip tighten around my throat as I let my head fall back. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a bright light engulfing a white room. "She's waking up," I heard a voice say.

I blinked a few times and looked around. There were machines everywhere and I was sitting in a bed. "Where am I," I asked a woman standing next to me with a clipboard. I got no response and began to panic. "Where am I," I shouted as I tried to sit up quickly. I felt a sharp pain in my side and was quickly helped back down by the woman.

She answered me softly, "You are in the hospital sweetie."

I felt a bit of relief when she said that. I instantly thought of my family. "Wait, what happened to my mother!" The question came out as more of a demand.

The woman quickly looked down, "The woman driving the car didn't make it. She had a stroke, most likely while driving and we couldn't save her after the damage she sustained in the cra-"

"Where are my sisters," I quickly cut her off. I needed to make sure they were okay; I had to take care of them now.

I saw her face darken again. "No one else survived. The two girls in the back were crushed when the car flipped sideways and got hit top first by another car. You only survived because you were thrown through the front windshield."

I felt a lump form in my throat and I was certain that I would become sick at any moment.

"No, that's impossible!" I cried at the woman, "You're lying to me, this can't be happening!" She tried in vain to calm me down with her words, but nothing helped. "This can't be happening right now," I felt hot tears burn into my face as I heard a voice outside the door yelling.

"I don't care what you want me to do. If she is awake, then I want to see her." The voice sounded oddly familiar, but I couldn't figure out why.

A gruff voice began responding to the person in a flustered tone, "I can let you in, but I'm not sure if she should have visitors right now. She's still shaken up from the accident."

I heard another soft voice enter the conversation after he finished talking, "Please let us see her. I've been worried since I heard what happened." Again, the voice seemed familiar but I couldn't figure out why.

I heard the gruff voice let out a sigh and give in, "Okay, but try and be calm around her."

I heard the door open quickly and a woman with waist long pink hair walked in followed by a shorter girl with neck length yellow hair.

"Hey Miku, how are you felling." I felt tears well up as Luka asked the question and sat next to me. I couldn't respond to her question, but I saw Rin standing behind her looking like she hadn't showered in days. "I heard about your family, I'm sorry about everything. I've started putting together a funeral for…"

She never got to finish the sentence because I quickly threw myself onto her, ignoring the pain in my side, and felt myself break. I cried for hours with Luka and Rin trying to comfort me the best they could until I finally calmed down a little.

I looked at Luka, "How long was I out?"

Luka sighed, "You've been in a coma for six days now." I closed my eyes slowly; "Rin was here everyday after school and all weekend. She could hardly even concentrate in class this week."

"I could concentrate just fine," Rin whined in response to Luka. This made me laugh a little and Luka smiled.

"Well, it looks like you're beginning to feel a little better. The doctors said you broke three of your ribs getting launched through the windshield of the car and got a concussion from hitting your head somewhere, but you should be good to be released any day." I looked at Rin and saw that she seemed to look relieved to hear the news.

"Well, you always were good at doing things spectacularly," a voice rang from the doorway. I turned to see Lin standing next to the door.

"Shouldn't you be with Gumi," I joked with him softly.

He quickly turned a bright red, "I never asked her out," he muttered under his breath.

I sighed and told him to come to me. He walked next to me and I pinched his cheek. "Hey," he exclaimed loudly, "what was that for!"

I laughed and gave him a hug, "I told you that I would give you a matching mark if you didn't ask her out."

He sighed and turned to Rin, "We need to be heading home. It's starting to get late."

Rin nodded slightly and got up. "I'm glad to see that you are okay Miku. I'll see you at school next week," she smiled sweetly and followed her brother out of my room.

Luka stayed for a few more hours and talked to me. She explained how she was putting together a funeral for my mother and sisters so that I could be there for it. I felt myself getting choked up at the mention of my family, and she quickly dropped the topic for the time being.

"So what am I going to do now?" I asked the question, almost to myself. "I guess I'll have to move back out to the country with my father," I sighed sadly at the thought of leaving all of my friends behind.

Luka shook her head when I said that, "I checked that option, your father was put in jail sixteen months ago for assaulting someone at a bar."

I quickly lay back down in my bed and let out a heavy breath, "I always figured something like that would happen. I don't have any other family anywhere near here."

"Actually," Luka began, "you do have one family member. A brother who was put up for adoption." I looked at Luka with curiosity and she continued, "He is three years older than you. You're best option is to live with him until you can live on your own since you're still a minor."

I nodded and looked at the ceiling. Before I knew it, my eyes closed and I reopened them to find myself on that same road as last time. The car was wrecked in the same position, and Ayano's arm was hanging out of the window. "Except this wasn't how they died," I said to myself bitterly as the voice rang through the haze again.

I trusted you to take care of them," my mother's voice said as her figure moved towards me.

I tried again to apologize until I felt something cold against my leg. It began to constrict my leg until I thought that it would cut my leg in two pieces. I looked down and screamed as I saw Misaki crawling out of the car to grab my leg like she was trying to pull me to her.

"Miku," the voice rang from her now twisted smile. "You never came to us, you never protected us." Her words pierced my heart like a bullet. I wasn't able to help them in the moment they needed me the most.

"I'm sorry, I tried to protect you. I'm sorry that I let all of this happen," I felt tears welling up in my eyes yet again but it was short lived as I felt another hand tightening around my throat. "It was then that I heard Ayano's voice whisper in my ear, "Then you should join us here. Then we can be a family again." I could hear Ayano struggle to get the words out and suddenly remembered the shard of glass piercing her neck. I doubled over and felt myself throw up. I quickly screamed when I saw a puddle of blood where I had just puked, and I was suddenly pulled back into the hospital room when I closed my eyes to block out my torturous nightmare.