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Prologue
Lyric
MY SISTER PAIGE and I wanted to have a night out. We don’t usually go out because we’ve chosen to work in order to help our dad pay the bills, take care of our trailer, and bring food into the house. For the first time in months, we both had the same day off and decided to enjoy ourselves a little bit. If I’d known what was going to happen, I would have talked Paige into staying at home and watching something on TV instead. But, she’s my older sister and has always done the responsible thing. If anyone deserves to have a night out, it’s her. So, I went along with her plan of going to see a movie and then seeing if we could find a party somewhere to stop by for a few minutes.
Paige and I are the complete opposites in almost every way. I’m outgoing, social, and school doesn’t come easy to me. I have to study for hours for every grade I get. I do good in school though so I’m not going to complain about having to put in the hard work in order to get the grades I’ll need in order to get a scholarship to go to college. I’ve got long dark brown hair like our dad and the brightest emerald eyes from our mom. My skin is always tan with a golden hue no matter what time of the year it is. Because we have to limit what kind of food we buy on a weekly basis, there’s not a ton of junk food for me to stuff my face with. So, I’ve got a toned body from walking and doing limited workouts outside with just the right amount of curves in the right places. I’m short as hell too. I get that from our mom. She was barely over five feet tall and I stand at just over five feet.
My sister isn’t outgoing at all. She’d rather stay home and hide from the world. School comes so easy for her. She doesn’t have to study at all for the high grades she gets and it pisses me off. It’s like the second she reads or hears something, it’s lodged in her brain and she can recall it in seconds. Paige has short blonde hair with golden streaks throughout the length. Her eyes are a pale blue color that darkens when she’s pissed off and her skin is always pale as hell. She could spend hours outside in the summer and her skin remains pale. I always tease her about her inability to tan and she hates the golden tan skin I have year round. Like me, Paige’s focus has always been on getting some kind of scholarship for college. Neither one of us wants to remain in Cedar Bay if we don’t have to. We hate it here and that’s never going to change.
Anyway, Paige and I have been at a party on the outskirts of town for about a half hour and we’re both ready to go home. We got a ride with some kids from school and they’re already wasted on the cheap beer and hard liquor that’s been provided. Looking to my sister I know we only have one option and it’s not a good one.
Our dad isn’t going to yell at us. He’s always getting on our asses about going out and having fun. When I was six and Paige was just about eight, our mom died. She was at work in the factory and there was some kind of accident. None of us are really sure what happened. Ever since then, my sister and I try to be on our best behavior for our dad because he’s been grieving for so long. Our mama was the love of his life and now he has to raise the two of us on his own. He knows we work hard at school and our jobs and just wants us to go out once in a while to have some fun and be the young adults we are.
“We’re gonna have to call Dad to come get us,” I finally tell Paige as we stand outside the house the party’s being thrown at.
“I know. I just hope he hasn’t already started drinking. He doesn’t usually start this early, but with the anniversary coming up soon, I’m not sure he’s going to be sober,” my sister answers me, her voice filled with fear as she pulls out the old cell phone we share.
I listen as Paige talks to our dad and tells him where we are. It won’t take him more than ten minutes to get here to pick us up. The second she’s off the phone, I know he’s already started drinking. Paige looks at me with the same fear in her eyes and slides the phone back into her bag. She carries everything in that damn thing and I’m surprised she just had to reach in for the phone. Usually it would take her ten minutes to find what she’s looking for.
“He’s been drinking already?” I ask her, my voice almost a whisper.
“It sounded kind of like it. If he has, he hasn’t had that much. Maybe he’ll be okay to drive us the short distance home. Or one of us can try to get him to let us drive,” she answers, looking up and down the road in front of us.
“You know he never lets us drive, Paige. He says it’s his responsibility to drive because he’s the man of the house. Those outdated rules or whatever he lives by. It’s just a caveman mentality if you ask me,” I return thinking of how old fashioned our dad is.
Paige and I go silent and don’t move or anything as we wait for our dad to show up. It doesn’t take long for our old beater of a car to show up and pull up to the edge of the road where we’re standing. Paige gives me a long look before she gets in the front passenger seat leaving me to slide into the back.
“Thanks for picking us up, Dad,” I say as he turns to give me a smile.
I can smell the alcohol on his body already and know he’s had more than a little bit to drink. This isn’t going to be good. I cross my fingers and pray to everyone I can think of to get us home in one piece. Our dad pulls away from the curb and turns the old car around so we can head back the way he just came from. Before we get to the end of the road, the skies open up and it starts to downpour. The rain is so bad, we can hardly see out of the windows. Instead of slowing down like he should, my dad continues going the same speed.
“Um, Dad, don’t you think you should slow down a little bit?” I ask from the back seat as I try to get my seat belt fastened. It doesn’t latch and no matter how hard I try, I can’t make it latch around my body.
“No. It’s just a little rain,” he returns, still not slowing down as we come to a horrible intersection where accidents happen frequently.
Paige and I look at one another. Before either one of us can say another word, the car starts to hydroplane and my dad overcorrects. We spin out of control on the slick roads. Everything is such a muddled mess as the car flies and spins around that I can’t tell who’s screaming, if we’re still moving, or anything else. All I know is that this isn’t good and I can only pray we make it out of this alive.
Waking up, I’m disoriented and not sure where I am. There’s a steady beeping noise in my ear and that sterile smell you only typically get in a hospital or nursing home. My eyes slowly peel open as if they’ve been glued shut and it takes me a few minutes for the blurriness to clear. Everything hurts and I look down to find my left arm in a cast, cuts and bruises along every inch of exposed skin, and the blankets hurting just from resting against my skin. Turning my head to the side, I find my sister in the bed next to me. She’s awake and turns her head to look at me. Paige looks horrible and I can only imagine I look just as bad as she does.
“How are you feeling, Lyric?” she asks, her voice hard and garbled as if I’m underwater or something.
“Hurt,” I manage to get out even though it feels as if my mouth is filled above capacity with cotton balls.
“The nurses should be in soon. They’ll get you the pain medicine you need. Do you remember what happened?” she asks, her voice becoming slightly clearer the more she talks.
I close my eyes and try to think about what happened for us to end up here like this. The last thing I remember is being at a party and having to call our dad to come pick us up. I don’t remember anything after Paige pulled her phone out of her bag.
“No. Do you remember what happened?” I return, opening my eyes and turning to look at Paige.
“Not really. Everything is coming in bits and pieces, but it’s all kind of fuzzy and doesn’t make sense to me,” she answers me, with pain filling her voice.
We don’t talk for a few minutes, both of us lost in our heads as we try to figure out what happened and where our dad is since he’s not at our bedside. Just as I go to ask Paige how she’s feeling because I realized I never did, the door of our room opens and two people step inside.
“I’m glad to see you're both awake now,” an older woman says as she smiles at both Paige and me.
She’s got graying hair that’s up in a tight bun, a lab coat on over a pair of light purple scrubs, and there’s a tablet in her hand. Her bright blue eyes show her concern for the two of us as her eyes move from one bed to the next.
“I’m Dr. Cantrell,” she says, her voice warm as she moves to stand between Paige and me. “You’re both very lucky to be alive right now. The accident was a horrible one from what I’ve been told. I’d like to go over both of your injuries and what we had to do to repair the damage first. Then, I’ll try to answer any questions you may have and make sure you have the pain medicine and others we’ve got you on right now.
