The Perfect Escape

December 22|4:47 a.m

"Hudson, are you glad you get to spend your Christmas break with your father?", her mother asked.

Hudson's parents divorced seven years ago, when she was ten. For the first time since she was 15, she is seeing her dad.

"Vivian, be careful, the roads are very slippery.", her aunt Alice said.

Hudson looked out the car window. It was snowing and only 4:47 a.m. Her, her mom, her younger brother, and her aunt were going to Denver to celebrate Christmas.

The snow was quite slippery and dangerous. It was only going to get worse than it already is.

"Oh yeah, I am,"
She realized she didn't answer.

Hudson had a spiral notebook with a pencil inside of the wire on her lap, just in case she wanted to write a story or draw. She turned her head to her brother.

"You have been pretty quiet. Don't you have any stories to share?", she asked her brother, Noah.

He was usually the one talking. But today, he was quiet.

"I'm thinking.", he finally responded.

Hudson continued to look out the window. She enjoyed seeing the miniature snowflakes stick to the window and how nice they looked on trees. She decided to draw a picture for her father.

She turned the notebook onto it's landscape side, starting with drawing a girl looking out the window. When she finished, she drew the girl's brother.

Noah noticed what she was doing. "Is that us?"

Now thinking about it, she didn't even realize that the drawing was, in fact, them.

"Well, it looks like us, doesn't it?", she responded. Noah smiled.

"So Hudson, how's school? I've heard that you recently had a science fair.", Alice asked.

"It's great! Collage professors came to check out our projects. Ashley Castro won first place, which was a chance to go and show their project at the college. I got an honorable mention.", she explained.

"That is still amazing. I wish I was in town at that time to see it.", Alice admitted.

"Aunt Alice! My friend took your advice and decided to buy her skate board.", Noah stated.

"That's great! She shouldn't be thinking that just because she is a girl she can't skate.", Alice responded.

"At first, honestly, I was confused. I have never seen a girl skate before. Until I realized how much she really wanted one. Plus, she is amazing at it!", he said.

Aunt Alice is more like an older sister to them than an aunt. She is a very bubbly person and easy to have a conversation with.

Skid.

Everyone in the car moves to the right.

"Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah."
"I am."
"Good."

Vivian careful steers the car.

There was pure silence.

All the noise came from the tapping of her mother's fingers on the wheel.

"Why couldn't we go on the 23rd? It would have been safer.", Noah asks.

His mother explains that if they went later, the snow would get worse and there would be more traffic.

"Mom, do you think Jess would be happy to see us? Last time she seemed annoyed.", Hudson asked.

Jess was their dad's, Finn, new girlfriend. They have been dating for three years. Even though Finn told her about his family, she seemed jealous. In fact, Hudson overheard her demanding Finn to make them (her family) leave.

"Jess is a attention seeker. She wants Finn to pay attention to her.", her mom responded.

Hudson started,"Jess is such a little-"
Her mother gave her a look.

"-sweetheart."

Vivian didn't want to divorce Finn, it was just too complicated. Then came the lies. And the broken hearts. She had no choice.

"Do you miss being with Dad?", Noah questioned.

Their mom stayed quiet.

"Finn is a great guy and all, but we did what was best for us. I'm glad he found Jess."

"Me too, even though you aren't together anymore, we should hope for the best for him. He is still family.", Alice said.

"And I think those are enough questions. What are you doing, interrogating me?", Vivian chuckled.

Click. Click. Click.

"Who are you texting so much?", Vivian asked her sister.
"It's just Jonathan. He wants to know how we are doing.", she responded.

Jonathan is her Fiancé.

Skid.

Noah hit his head in the window.
He groaned, mumbling words to himself.
He started to get tired and fell asleep on Hudson's lap. Her notebook and pencil were in her bag.

Hudson was nervous. She knows what could happen when traveling during a storm. Hudson recently had surgery for her heart. She needed to be calm and to relax her body. So, she couldn't play in her P.E classes, her soccer team, and her track team.

She already had a pain in her chest so she tried to take a nap.

----------------------------------------------
"STOP THE CAR!"
"I CAN'T ITS STUCK!"

Realizing she had fallen asleep, she woke up to find out what was the commotion.

The car was shaking a lot.

Her brother already woke up and was sitting next to her. Hudson saw a tear in his eye. He was worried.

Finally understanding what was going on, she grabbed her brother's hand.

"Noah, listen to me Noah. Everything is going to be alright. I promise.", she said.

"I promise"

Usually, Hudson didn't like to say that. She knows what could happen if she broke a promise. But she had to make her brother calm down.

"TRY KEEPING STRAIGHT!"
" I AM!"

The car started to slide all over the road, hitting bushes and trash cans.
The snow and ice has been pounding on the windows, like Hudson's heart is pounding right now.

"STOP!", yelled her aunt Aunt

Hudson had a bad feeling. She saw they were heading for the cliff. She closed her eyes and got her brother's hand.

"Noah. What ever happens, remember that I love you no matter what."

"I love you too Hudson. We are going to survive, right?"

"I can only hope."

"NO!"
Her mom shrieked.

They all felt the ground get lighter. They had fallen over the cliff.