Chapter 1: The Accident
Sophie

Knock. Knock. Knock. The sound of a fist pounding on my door. Boom! Boom! Boom! The person outside is impatient. Slowly, as to not make a sound, I walked towards the front door. Through the peephole, I could see those bright blue eyes glistening, and that soft brown hair being blown by the wind. An impatient look, casted upon his sweet face. Slowly, I turned the lock and opened the door. His face lit up and he smiled, then said,

“Where were you? I was worried, come on, we are going to be late.”

That was when I had the choice; I could go with this boy or I could stay home and keep my little sister company as she healed. In a split second I impulsively made my decision and said,

“Shhh! My sister is sleeping, give me a minute to get my bag.” I rushed into the house, up the stairs, and into my room. I grabbed my purse, gave my sister a kiss and whispered in her ear,

“I’m going now, I love you and mom will be home in ten minutes. Just go back to sleep and I’ll see you in the morning.” On that note, I walked down the stairs and out the door but, right before I left, I remembered the rose in my hair. I took it out and placed it by the note that I left on the kitchen table. “Okay, I am ready.”
Lily

That was the night I lost my sister. Once I heard the door close, I got up and tiptoed down the stairs. Through the kitchen window, I could see her reach up and kiss him. From there I watched them walk across the street to his car. I say his car because I have never met him and therefore, I do not know his name. As I turned to go back to my room I caught a glimpse of a red rose resting on the counter by the sink. It stood out against the black marble counter top and the white wood cabinets.

As I walked towards the sink, I could see my dad. He was in the backyard with a cigar in hand. His mouth had fallen and he was asleep. While in this state, nothing could wake him. Silent as I was, I could hear my heart pounding; thump, thump, thump. Once I reached the rose, I saw the note that had been scribbled quickly in my sister’s neat calligraphy under it. Pushing the rose aside, I picked up the note. As I read it, I began to cry. Tears flooded my eyes as I placed the note back under the rose. That was when I started tor run. I ran towards the door, almost knocking over my mom as I rushed through the front door. Once outside, I could see his car pulling away from my house. I ran after it screaming at the top of my lungs,

“SOPHIE! SOPHIE! Come back please! Don’t leave!” then I whispered, “I love you, I’ll miss you.”

I returned to my house and found my mom crying onto my father’s shoulder. That was the first time in ten years that I saw them embracing. My dad looked like he was confused. Apparently, he had not yet read Sophie’s letter. My mom on the other hand, was beside herself with grief. She saw me standing there and looked into my eyes.

“She left with that boyfriend of hers,” I was not sure what was so bad about that until I heard the phone ring. Dingalingaling! Dingalingaling! No one moved to answer the phone. Finally, after some time, the phone stopped ringing and went to voicemail. Then I heard my mom’s voice from the voicemail,

“You have reached the Kellerman family, we are not available at the moment, please leave a message after the beep, beep,” then a man’s voice came on the line, “Hello? Is this Sophie Kellerman’s house? I have some news concerning your daughter Sophie,”

At that moment, my mom snapped out of her daze and grabbed the phone. From then on, I could only hear her side of the conversation. Finally, she said to me,

“Sophie and her boyfriend were in a car crash. He got out with only a couple of scratches but Sophie has been severely hurt and might not make it. I am going now, don’t wait up for me.”
Sophie

Through the rearview mirror I could see Lily running after us, calling my name. At that moment, I contemplated asking Kevin to stop the car, turn around, and drive my home but I decided against it. From there we drove to Jordan’s house for the big party. I never knew that so many people could fit in such a small space. There were probably one hundred or so high school and college students spread out across Jordan’s house. It was extremely chaotic and noisy once I was there, all I wanted to do was leave. After having a drink, I decided to sit down. Seeing that I was looking anxious, Kevin motioned for me to come over and take a seat on his lap. He was sitting on the couch with three other guys that I did not recognize and their girlfriends. One by one, they introduced themselves; Skylar, Eli, Kyle, Lucy, Nikki, and Sami.

“Hi, I’m Sophie,” I mumbled under my breath. I was lost, waiting to be found. There I was, in the mists of a party and I wasn’t having fun. Fifteen minutes or so later, I got up the courage to ask Kevin if we could leave. He responded in a drunken voice,

“Sophie! You want to leave already? It’s only eleven o’clock! The true party has not even started!”
I was astonished as to how drunk he was. He had only had three beers. I extracted his car keys from his back pocket and pulled him up off the cream colored couch. Dragging him into the passenger seat was difficult as he felt like dead weight. Once there, I couldn’t bother to put on his seatbelt, it was too much work. Slamming the door shut, I walked around to the drivers’ side and got in. After fastening my seat belt, I stuck the keys into the ignition and started the car. After driving around for 10 minutes I realized that I had no idea where we were.
“Kevin,” I whispered, “Kevin!”
“What! What to you want Sophie?!”
“I don't know where we are. Do you know how to get home?”
I was scared out of my mind. This was the first time I had been with Kevin when he was drunk. He was normally a kind hearted individual but it seemed like that side was an act. I was not sure how he was going to react. Kevin looked away from me and up at the road. Then he said suddenly,
“Take a left here, then take the next right and get onto the freeway.”
He sounded confident enough and his confidence made me feel more confident. I followed his instructions and found myself on the freeway. Suddenly, an out of control car came swerving towards us, coming from the opposite direction.
CRASH‼!
BANG‼!
Nothing.
Silence.
Everything was black.
I am gone. I don't know what happened. All I know is that things will never bee the same. All I can think of, if they are really thoughts, is the way I left my family, angry at me for disobeying them. Now I realize I should have listened. Those were my last thoughts. Not: I love you or I’ll miss you, but I’m sorry.