I woke up dizzy, feeling like I'd been hit by a car...or maybe a goddamn train. The fact that my knuckles were burning didn't help at all.Barely managing to lift my head from the pillow, I looked at my clock. It was 12 AM, and I still felt sleepy.I got up from bed and started my usual routine of meditation.I sat there for around 20 minutes before hearing my mom and dad arguing loudly. Confused, I got up to check what was going on."I told you we should've booked beforehand!""Well, how was I supposed to know this would happen? Do I look like a prophet to you?!"Meanwhile, my sister was quietly petting Nua, occasionally teasing her with a toy."Easy. What happened?" I asked, waving my hand, still half-asleep."YOUR MOTHER HAPPENED! Apparently, every ticket for that flight to Transylvania is sold out," said my dad, with way more anger than I was used to seeing from him."How was I supposed to know that would happen?" Mom replied. "Every year, my friends go there when half the plane is empty. They always buy tickets on the day of the flight because the airline makes special deals on business class for families."Mom was never a cheapskate, but she didn't like wasting money either. Plus, her friends always bragged about visiting places, especially Transylvania during Halloween, and how cheaply they got tickets. It made sense why she hadn't booked beforehand, but now we were in a bind. Our bags were packed, our hotel was booked, but we had no way to get there."Wait, what's wrong with your hands? AND YOUR NOSE?" Mom suddenly changed the topic."Oliver got into a fight at the bar. I had to rescue him from some drunks. It's no big deal; don't worry about it," I lied nonchalantly. (To be fair, it was partly true—Oliver did get into fights, and I kind of tried to rescue him.)"Oh my goodness, is he okay? He doesn't seem like the type to get into a fight, especially not at a bar," said Mom, lowering her gaze."My bad, Mom. He's just an introvert—not a people person. for example Going to someone else's birthday where their parents and relatives are there is just... not his thing either,you know that"Oliver never came to my birthday. Instead, he congratulated me at work and took me to an awesome gaming club. Honestly, I wasn't big on celebrating my birthday with a lot of people either, just one more thing we had in common."Leave him alone; some people just don't like too much noise, unlike you two," Ellie tried to defend me."Well, okay then, Alex, go wash up and put a bandage or something on your nose. It hurts just looking at it. We'll try to figure something out about our flight. Hopefully, we can. I still can't believe you trusted your friends about not booking the flight, though," said dad"Listen, they go there EVERY YEAR. How was I supposed to know?""If they go there every year, it's no wonder they act like blood-sucking vampires," Dad chuckled, clearly proud of his joke."Don't start this again. Rather, help me find a new flight," Mom snapped.After three hours of packing and my parents' bickering, they finally managed to book a flight from another city. We decided to drive there, leave the car at the airport, and take the flight from there. After hauling every bag of my parents' down to the car and packing, I called Oliver to check on him. He didn't pick up."Well, he probably has a hangover. Try calling him when we get to the airport," my sister comforted me.And just like that, we were on our way to the airport. It was a three-hour drive, and it was getting dark. Rain started to pick up, but it wasn't so heavy that it blocked our vision. We lived in a pretty mountainous region of the US, so it was common for it to rain in October. After an hour of driving, we stopped at a store. My dad decided to buy cigarettes, figuring he wouldn't find his brand in Transylvania, and we bought some snacks for the road. Getting back into the front seat beside Dad, I didn't put on my seatbelt. Still don't know why, but it didn't bother me at all; besides, it was dark and raining. Who would see?Another hour passed. We were almost out of the mountainous area, but now it was raining heavily, with lightning illuminating our path more than the road lights."Jeez, I hope the flights are okay and they don't get canceled," my mom exclaimed after getting yet another jump scare from thunder."All this for being lazy and not booking a flight beforehand," my sister chimed in."Listen, don't be like that. As I said, I was just being considerate of our funds for this trip. Instead of wasting thousands of dollars on business class, we can save half and have maximum fun in Transylvania! I've heard they even have horror hotels. We should book a couple of days there if we like the atmosphere.""Scary hotels? Honey, you're scared of thunder. Don't think you have immunity just because your friends are witches who fly on brooms," my dad joked."Don't start that again. They already told me they weren't going today. They didn't book their flights and were left empty-handed, so they're going in two days.""Well then, looks like we won't see vampires or witches for two days. Even though we'll be there tomorrow, Dad," I said, joining in the teasing.It was always fun to tease Mom. Some of her friends really seemed like they could be witches or vampires. When I was a kid, I could have sworn two of them were doing witchcraft, which was kind of true since I later found out they were using tarot cards.With a little bit of teasing and laughter, we continued our journey when we heard a strange sound from the left side of our car. We looked but didn't see anything wrong, so we assumed it was hail hitting the back window. By now, the rain was pouring down, with occasional hail, and we were hoping to get out of the mountains as soon as possible."When we get back, I have to take my baby to the mechanic. It's been a while, and seeing how she's handling this weather, she deserves it," Dad said proudly."Well, why don't you marry this little 'baby' of yours if you love her so much?" Mom said, sounding annoyed. I realized 20 minutes of teasing had finally gotten to her."Well, Mom, he would have, but you came along," I teased."Yeah, Mom, way to go, ruining Dad's love life," Ellie joined in, making Mom roll her eyes."Alright, kids, enough of teasi—"My dad was cut off mid-sentence as a huge tree on our front right side started falling, taking down several smaller trees with it."LOOK OUT!" I barely managed to shout as my dad swerved left and hit the brakes, trying to dodge the falling trees. He successfully dodged the first two but drove right into the path of the third. The tree hit the rear of our car, causing it to spin out and smash the right side window. I was thrown out in a split second through the front window, propelled by the force of the collision—and the fact that I hadn't worn my seatbelt—as I lost consciousness.The screams and cries of my sister jolted me awake. I was tangled in the branches of a fallen tree, my right hand clearly broken, blood oozing from my shoulder. My vision was blurry; I noticed my glasses were missing. Blood dripped down from my eyebrow, which I could feel already was swelling."Ugh," I barely managed to groan. My whole body was burning, especially my right hand, which felt almost nonexistent. I struggled to free myself from the branches and flopped onto a puddle of blood and mud. It was still raining heavily, and the car alarm was blaring as I saw flames burning the front left side of our car—the place where my dad had been sitting just moments ago.I started crawling towards the car, hearing my sister's cries."SOMEONE HELP ME!" Her scream was the most gut-wrenching sound I'd ever heard.Somehow, I managed to stand and began limping toward the car. The left side, where our parents had been, was completely crushed—a huge tree lay on top of it, and flames were quickly spreading.Realizing I had little time, I focused on getting my sister out of the car, I had to do it before it exploded."I'M HERE, ELLIE! HANG ON, I'M WITH YOU! I'LL GET YOU OUT!" I shouted.My sister, still in shock, barely recognized me but managed to grab my shoulder through the shattered window. I tried to pull her out but soon realized her left leg was crushed along with the left side of the car, tangled in a bloody cloth and just...meat, which I recognized as the remains of our mom. I put her back in and tried to open the car door with my left hand and torn shoulder.after unsuccessfully trying to open it i realized it was stuck for good. "HANG ON, I'LL FIND SOMETHING!" I tried to calm her down, but she only clung to me tighter, panic setting in."NO, DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE, ALEX! I'M SCARED!"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU! I PROMISE I'LL GET YOU OUT!" I broke away from her, desperately looking for anything I could use to free her. "Come on, there's gotta be something," I muttered to myself, squinting through the rain and my foggy vision. Then I noticed a white shape near a pile of mud. Lightning lit up the area, and I realized it was a "Slippery Road" sign, torn out of the ground, with its base still attached.I half-crawled, slipping twice but somehow making it to the sign. It was covered in dirt, but I grabbed it and dragged it back toward the car. Just then, the right side of the car roof caught fire as well, making Ellie's screams reach unimaginable heightsI hurried back to the car, hauling the sign, but then... it happened. The car exploded with a deafening blast that sent a shockwave outward, throwing me back several feet. As I felt my consciousness slipping away again, I heard only the echo of a broken promise:"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU! I PROMISE I'LL GET YOU OUT!"Darkness took me.end of chapterNotes: please read notes in the previous chapter, beside those let me know how you like the story so far, what do you think will happen now? has Alex lost everything? is there any way to fix this? is he going to recover from this? I've written up to chapter 6 so far, I promise upcoming chapters will shock you.