OVERRIDE

Chapter 10 Flashback Part 2

*Flashback*

"Girls...!" I cried, while turning up the volume on the TV. "Come here, quickly!"

The three of them came sprinting into the kitchen. I was eating a bowl of popcorn I made while everyone else was getting ready for the Christmas party. I decided that wasn't going to go, no matter how hard mom and dad tried to force me. We were supposed to leave now with mom, but she told us about an hour ago that she was going to meet our dad at a cab station north of here, and arrive with him to Ricky's stupid Christmas party, since the whole thing was such an elegant deal. The news reporters were going to be there and everything. Only the richest people/closest friends (that's us) were invited to this dinner. I hated the cameras, so I decided that I was not going to go.

"What's wrong?" Asked Kara, with half her hair put up in curling pins.

Gracie stole some popcorn from me. She was wearing her green velvet Christmas dress, and Peyton had already gotten ready, and was buttoning her red peacoat up over her elegant gold Christmas dress, in which she hated. (She hated dresses in general, to be completely honest.)

"Look." I said, pointing to the anchor woman on the tv. Bedside her, there was a picture of our mom and dad.

"There has recently been reported an accident on highway 19." she said. All four of us exchanged glances at the same time.

"A Semi was tailgating a taxi cab down the highway. The Semi hit the taxi, and the two passengers in it were Governor Mike Coleman and medical scientist, Stacy Coleman."

I gasped and covered my mouth. None of my sisters said a single word.

"This horrific, and I do mean horrific, as in, both vehicles were absolutely destroyed, accident, consisted of four people, including the Colemans."

My eyes began to water, so I closed them.

"We need to call the hospital!" cried Peyton, who grabbed the land line. She was about to start dialing, when I held up my hand for her to stop.

"Wait." I said, as calm as I could.

We all stared at the tv screen in silence.

"And all four of these citizens-" said the anchor woman.

Oh no. I thought. This can't be happening. Not to us. Shit, shit, shit...

Normally I don't curse, even in my head, but at the moment, I didn't care.

"-were found dead."

"OHH!" wailed Kara, collapsing on the floor. Peyton dropped the phone, and Gracie started screaming.

I felt tears fall from my eyes. The anchor woman kept talking.

"Wait! Guys! Shh, shh!" I cried.

The noise decreased. I turned up the tv.

"Investigators believe this accident was staged." she said. "If you have any information, please call this toll free number at the bottom of the screen."

The story changed to the whether, and I shut off the tv.

The girls looked at me with red, tear-streaked faces.

"We're going to that Christmas party." I said, my voice very deep for some strange reason. "Ricky is going DOWN."

The girls nodded, and then continued to cry.