I'm Broken

Prologue

I'm lost in thought as usual when it comes to car rides, no matter how long or short they may be. My eyes always find themselves transfixed on the clouds drifting above.

I like to imagine that there are angels sitting on the floating cotton balls, granting silent prayers of safety to everyone below.

But today, it seems as though the angel's fluffy perches are sad. They aren't their comforting delicate white, but a gloomy ash grey.

The soft blue that usually surrounds each fluffy cloud is washed away by their falling tears, leaving nothing but a matching background of darkness.

I hear my mom curse in the background, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I turn my head and see her foot quickly move to apply the breaks, slowing down the car for the oncoming lines of heavy traffic.

Once the car is stopped in line, she turns towards me and offers a smile of reassurance.

I must have had a worried expression on my face.

She focuses her attention back towards the crowd of flashing red taillights.

I turn back to look at the clouds, watching their tears growing heavier and heavier as time passes by.

It's been about 50 minutes since we've been a part of the parade of cars, slowly inching our way home. With each passing minute my mom is growing more and more anxious to get out of the heavy rainfall.

"What caused this mess in first place?" She questions while adjusting the heater knobs.

"Maybe the road flooded over like last time." I suggest, as I'm twirling the hair on my doll around my small finger.

My mom lifts her head to look at me through the rear-view mirror,"You're probably right, detective." She playfully says with her signature smile.

"Be careful not to pull Lily's hair too much, or else she's gonna go bald because of you." She makes a small laugh at her statement and looks back at the slow-moving traffic. Suddenly worried about ruining my precious doll's beautiful hair, I unwind her hair from my finger and give her a tight hug, whispering a small apology to her.

Lily is my favorite doll. My mom saw her in a local store and instantly fell in love. She says that the light honey colored curls Lily has resemble mine, and because of this she made it her mission to buy it for me. Ever since she gave her to me a few years before, I've never gone anywhere or done anything without her. She's my best friend.

I turn my head to face the window to my right, looking at the different cars surrounding us. I notice the middle aged man next to us angrily light a cigarette, he seems as anxious to get out of this weather as we are. His exaggerated actions remind me of my dad.

I focus my attention back to the windshield as I feel the car jolt forward a few inches.

"Mommy do you think daddy is worried about us? We've been here for a long time." I ask, as I consciously smooth down Lily's hair.

"Oh crap, you're right. I should give him a call." She says reaching in her back pocket to pull out her cell phone.

She then begins to dial my dad's number with one hand while steering the car with the other.

"Hey honey." she greets into the phone.

"Yeah sorry, I forgot to call and tell you that Liliana and I got stuck in some baaaad traffic." She pauses to wait for his response then continues, "I know, I know, we're okay so you don't have to wor- Wait a second, if you were so worried then why didn't you call to check up on us you butt wrinkle?" She turns back to look at me incredulously while moving the phone away from her ear.