Awake - Alternate Ending

Alternate Ending One Shot

The Night of the Wreck
It had been a normal night for the Britten family. The family of three was just enjoying themselves as they laughed together in the car. Michael Britten was in the driver's seat with his wife, Hannah Britten, beside him in the passenger's seat, and their son, Rex Britten, was seated in the back seat on the driver's side. The three were just having a good time in each other's company, talking and laughing together as they were headed to their desired location. But suddenly, in a split second before anyone really knew what was going on, Michael found the car suddenly going off the side of the road and rolling down the hill before finally coming to a halting stop.

Feeling gravity pulling him downward slightly, Michael looked around as he felt a bit dazed and disoriented from the sudden event. Michael soon realized that the car was completely upside down as his seatbelt was the only thing keeping him in his seat. Thinking back to his family, Michael was quick to glance around, first spotting his wife, Hannah, beside him with a few cuts and bruises here and there. The dazed man then glanced behind him as best he could to see his son, a few cuts noticable on him as well.

Michael had been too dazed to fully understand what was happening around him. It seemed like just minutes ago, his was in his car with his family. But now, Michael found himself at the hospital. He had a doctor looking him over to make sure he wasn't too badly injured from the wreck. Once Michael was cleared by the doctor, he was led outside to the small waiting room where he saw his wife already waiting as she occupied one of the many chairs. He saw that she looked nervous and worried, but a relieved expression took over her face as soon as she met eyes with him as he slowly walked over to her. Michael proceeded to sit down next to his wife and comfort her as they waited for their son.

Dinner and Introductions
Everything had slowly started to get back to normal for the Britten family of three after the night of the wreck. Rex had invited his girlfriend, Emma, over for a study date one afternoon while his dad was away on some police business. While Emma and Rex were studying together, his mother had entered his room, wanting to ask him about something. But when the older woman saw Rex with his friend, she forgot all about what she had originally come into his room for. Instead, she asked Rex about who his friend was, resulting in Rex introducing Emma to his mother as his girlfriend.

After they had talked for a little bit, Rex's mother kindly invited Emma to stay over for dinner, to which the extremely nice girl did not hesitate to accept. When dinner was ready, Michael was running a little late, so it was just Rex, his girlfriend, and his mother. But when Michael finally did get home, he was quick to take notice of the extra person joining his family for dinner. So Rex introduced Michael and Emma to each other before everyone was seated together around the dinner table. Michael and Hannah sat next to each other, with Rex sitting next to his mother, and Emme being seated between Rex and his dad. During dinner, conversations were easily picked up, with no uncomfortable or awkward silences being present.

Rex Goes Missing
After a couple days, things turned bad again when news got out that a convict had managed to escape and was out on the loose. It didn't take long for the escaped convict to strike as he had purposely run into the back of Hannah's car and knocked her out before kidnapping Rex.

When Rex woke up after being knocked out for a while, he glanced around in a daze, barily catching that the mystery kidnapper had taken him somewhere in the desert and into a tiny, isolated, gray shed. Within an hour after Rex had been kidnapped and taken to the shed, the man, John Cooper, hooked up a phone and made a call to Michael Britten, letting Rex talk to the man who was well aware about the kidnapping. The moment Rex tried to tell his dad where he was, Cooper grabbed a white rag and stuffed it in the boy's mouth to keep him from talking any further. Cooper then started talking to Michael, claiming his reason for kidnapping Rex, and what has to be done before he lets Rex go. Cooper also threatened to kill Rex if he caught anyone else besides Mr. Britten at the location he stated would be where he would meet the detective to talk.