Just like Father

The truck sped down the road, and she tossed and turned in the back. The driver, a rugged man, glared at the window. He glanced, through the near view at his sister, as he pushed the gas pedal farther to the mat. The scarlet red truck took turns at speed that the normal person would be afraid to take, but the man driving could care less. His name, Kai North, and the girl's was Sarah .

Kai took another sharp turn, almost causing the truck to slide into the cliff on their right hand side. He cranked the wheel hard to correct,which caused Sarah to open her eyes, "Wha-" she paused stretching, "What is going on? Where are we?" Sarah sat up slowly and looked around. She waited for her brother to say something, to answer either of her questions. "Kai, where are we going?" she repeated her question, waiting for at least one of her questions again.

When he wouldn't answer her, she groaned and crawled into the passenger seat, poking him on the shoulder several times, "KAI." The small girl was running out of patience.

"What?" Kai snapped keeping his eyes on the road, taking turns like a speed demon, and swerving like a madman. Kai's mind was elsewhere, back with his father and the pain.

"You deserve this." His father would say as Kai took a shot to the jaw. "You are useless."

Sarah glanced at the speedometer and gasped, "Holly Banana's Kai, how fast are you going?" She looked at her brother and screamed, "KAI PULL OVER." pulling Kai from his thoughts. Kai slammed on the brakes causing Sarah to shoot forward. Kai tried to catch his sister, but he was not fast enough. Her skull hit the window and made a sound that he would never be able to unhear. She fell back against the seat, and sat there unmoving, but Kai didn't. He got out of the car, and ran to the passenger side. He threw the door open, and grabbed his sister from the car.

"No, Sarah you can't do this." He pulled her close to him, and sat back on his heels, "Sarah you need to wake up." Kai looked down at his sister, at the blood that trickled down her temple, and on to the green shirt she loved so much.

She was still breathing, and the blood was still flowing. Kai peeled off his shirt, and wiped the blood off her face, then applied pressure to her temple. She began to stir after a couple of moments, and tears began to form in her eyes, "Kai..." she muttered under her breath. Kai couldn't speak, there was nothing that he could say, "Kai it hurts."

Kai sat in silence for a second, "This is my fault. I was speeding. I slammed on the breaks. I am the reason why you are in pain, and bleeding." He couldn't look at his sister. Tears welled in his eyes, and he had to look away. He turned his gaze to the barren desert of Utah.

"Kai. Why were you running?"

"I wasn't running. I was saving you. I was hiding you." Kai turned his attention back to his sister. He removed the shirt from her temple to see if it was still bleeding, it was but not as bad. Kai went to put the cloth back on her temple, but she pushed it away and tried to stand.

"Kai I am fine. Why are you trying to hide me." Sarah looked at Kai as she stood up. She got to her feet, and wobbled slightly. Kai jumped up to steady his younger sister.

"You're not fine." Sarah turned away from Kai when she felt the blood softly trickle down her face once again. She took her sleeve and wiped off the blood.

"Kai. Why are we running?" She spoke slowly, making sure that he was listening.

"Sarah, what do you remember from last night."

Sarah wobbled back to the car using it as support, so she could sit down, "I remember..."

Sarah walked out of her room, to find her brother standing there. "Sarah, get back in your room." She turned back, and walked into her room with her brother following her urgently.

"What is going on Kai." Kai was silent. The room stayed that way for a moment, until there was pounding at the door.

"Sarah! You open this fucking door right now." There was a long pause, "Sarah sweetie, you should open the door for daddy." There was another long pause, "DAMNIT Sarah, open this door." There was more pounding. Sarah sat in the corner while Kai took out her window screen.

"Sarah come on, we're leaving." Kai held out his hand, and Sarah grabbed it pulling herself up.

Kai was now pacing outside while tears rolled down Sarah's face. She looked down at the leather seat, and tried to forget. She hated when her father was like that, it scared her a lot. Kai noticed that she was crying and he stopped. "Sarah, it is going to be OK. I am not bringing you back there, we're leaving. For good."

Kai stopped walking, his head was pounding now, and his fathers words were coming back to him, "There is nothing that you are good for. You will never do anything right. Sarah is better off without you, better off with me." He glared hard at the ground, and moved to the driver's side. He pulled open the door, he started the car. Not even giving it a second to start, he sped off down the road.

Sarah's door shut from the sudden movement, "Kai, what are you doing?" She screamed, terror present in her eyes. There was nothing that she could do, he was gone once again. He was lost in thoughts of his father, and the beatings that he would take. The memories that rushed through this brain blurred his vision until he couldn't see the road.

He couldn't hear his sister screaming next to him that there was a turn coming up, that he was going to fast, that she was scared. Right before the car was about to go off the road, off the steep cliff and on to the rocks below, he heard her, "Kai, you are just like father. You don't care about who you are scaring." Sarah screamed, tears running down her face for the millionth time today. He tried to correct, but it was too late. The last words that he heard, before all four wheels of the scarlet truck were in the air over the valley, no longer touching the ground were "You're just like father."