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Prologue

2009, Approximately 7 years ago

Aspen's mother swerved around the sharp corner, making her and her younger brother, Elliot, collide. Aspen gave Elliot a worried look, and he returned it.

"Mom, please slow down." He said as she drove through a red light. Aspen grabbed his hand, and their fingers intertwined. She felt his hand shake. "Mom, he's going to be okay."

After the call from the local hospital, their mom freaked out. Their dad was just recently in a car crash and is in critical condition. They said that he might not make it.

Just before this incident, they both had an argument about their jobs and money. It was very bad, and Aspen had to go to Elliot's room to comfort him.

Elliot is only 9, and Aspen is 11. They've always been close, but in times like these, it only brings them closer.

Aspen looked at her mom, watching her hands shake on the steering wheel and listened to her mumble "it's all my fault, it's all my fault" over and over again. Her face was damp from the tears, just like Aspen and Elliot's.

After the argument, their mother told their father to take a drive to cool off. It was a bad idea, because everyone knows that anger and driving don't mix well. It was only a few minutes later that they received the call, and Aspen watched her mom collapse onto the tiles in the kitchen, as Aspen hugs her brother tightly.

Their mother tried to convince them to stay home, but Aspen convinced her mother that they should go and see their father. Elliot stayed silent as the two argued. He was too young to make a decision, they thought.

Aspen convinced her mother that she was right, and they all got into the car. Aspen sat in the back with her younger brother, who was shaking like their mother. "Hey, it's going to be okay, Ell." Aspen whispered into his ear, rubbing his back. "It's going to be okay."

The ride was silent, apart from their mother mumbling to herself. They were only a few corners apart from the hospital, when their mom yelled, choking on sobs. "He can't die, he can't, he can't."

There was one corner left, and when the mother turned the wheel, the car lost control. Suddenly, everything was slow motion for Aspen. She watched her mother scream, and her brother faint from the pain. The car flipped over, and the windows smashed inwards, piercing at Aspen's skin. But she didn't care about that, because she was too focused on her brother. He was out, and she didn't know if he was dead or alive. As they all hung upside-down, Aspen shook her brother, watching all the blood flow to his head. She only just realised that she was screaming at him name, tears dripping from her eyes and onto the glass-covered roof below her.

Aspen's eyes were blurry - it was too hard to see past the tears. She began to run out of breath was she felt everything in her body become heavy. Just when she was falling unconscious, red and blue light flashed, blurry through her tears. "Elliot..." her breathing slowed down, and the last the thing she remembered is lying outside on the fresh, green grass.

Aspen opened her eyes. Every part of her body ached, and she hissed when she tried to sit up.

"Hey, hun," a nurse came over as she watched her struggle, "I wouldn't do that." The nurse pushed Aspen back down.

"What's going on? Where's my family?" Aspen asks, her voice rough. Her throat burned and she coughed. The nurse gave her a cup of water and Aspen drank it all in one go.