Chapter 1
The rain fell heavy, without any hint of stopping, as though every cloud in the world had gathered in one place for a private, furious celebration. Thunder flashed bright behind the clouds, its roar rolling out low and long, shaking the night apart in pieces.
A single car moved along the highway through this beautiful yet grim weather, its headlights cutting weakly through the downpour, surrounded on both sides by a silent, dripping jungle that swallowed the light whole just a few feet past the road.
But inside the cabin, the atmosphere was even colder than the rain outside.
The couple in the front seats were arguing, their voices rising and falling with the thunder, each one trying to be heard over the other.
"Why do you keep gambling our money away? Why do you never listen to me?"
"I listen to you. I know I'm wrong — that's why I'm apologizing."
"I was drunk, I didn't realize what I—"
"Stop making excuses!"
"Why can't you just be a good person?"
"Have you ever thought about what our son would think of this?"
"I did. I always do. I just wanted a better future for us."
"But I took a wrong step. Just — give me another chance. I promise I'll fix everything."
"I really do want a better future for our son, I—"
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!"
The woman held her head in both hands, crying now, her anger tangled with exhaustion.
"I know you're angry with me. I know—"
"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO GET THE MON—"
"JUST STOP SCREAMING AND LET ME SPEAK FOR ONCE!"
Their voices climbed over each other, sharp and raw, until the argument had swallowed the whole car.
Thunder cracked again, brighter this time, its roar louder even than the strain of the engine. Blue-white light spilled through the windshield and washed over a face far too innocent for a moment this ugly.
A boy sat curled in the back seat, listening to his parents' voices grow sharper than needles with every passing second. His small heart slammed against his ribs hard enough that he could feel the impact in his throat. His eyes darted between his mother and father, searching their faces for something — anything — that might make this stop. Cold shivers ran down his spine with every raised word. He drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, making himself as small as he could, hoping smallness might make him invisible to whatever was happening in the front seat.
"Mom..."
"Dad..."
"Please stop."
"I'm scared..."
But his voice was too small, buried beneath the noise of the grown-ups tearing at each other. Fear knotted itself around the cold already settling into the cabin.
Why can't they just stop?
Why won't they look at me? Can't they see I'm crying?
His breath came heavier and heavier, as though a rope had been looped around his throat and someone kept pulling it tighter. He pressed his palms over his ears, praying the noise would stop — just once, just for a moment — a small, useless act of a child trying to escape something far too large for him.
Tears rolled freely down his cheeks now, but no one turned to notice them, no one moved to wipe them away, even though he was the one this argument was supposedly about. The blue light of the storm kept flashing across his face, and the rain slammed itself against the window glass as if it, too, were begging to be let in out of the cold.
He opened his eyes again — just enough to look forward, to plead one more time with the backs of his parents' heads.
That was when he saw it.
Something out there on the road, pointed straight at them. Something moving fast.
A pair of small lights, growing larger by the second.
A truck. Coming toward them, too quick, too close, on the wrong side of too many things.
His heart lurched.
He screamed.
"Dad — look ahead!"
His father's eyes snapped toward the road, toward the light bearing down on them, toward the second and a half of understanding before there was nothing left to do about it.
The impact came before he could do anything at all.
It crashed into them.
A heavy, splitting impact.
And then — everything went dark.
Chapter 1: End