Finding Myself

Prologue: The day my everything crashed down

Trees, more trees, and even more trees.

All you can see for miles. Green floods your vision and forces you to focus on it's pigment. North Carolina, the 'City of Oaks', has been my home for all sixteen years of my life. I am used to the scenery of trees, the sound of creeks crashing water down stream, and horns honking at each other for no reasons.

"Son of a..." My mother yells and hits the horn again. I pull the ear buds out of my ear and look at my parents in front of me.

"Whoa there mom. Might want to watch the language before you corrupt me into your bad habits." I remark as my dad smiles back at me.

"Tori, for once..." My mother says in frustration as the car in front of us finally figures out where the gas pedal is.

"Stop being a smart ass. Got it." I say and roll my eyes. Always her go to line whenever I speak. I look back out the window as we pass through an intersection. This our family. My dad, Mark, who has always been there for me to do guy things with, my mom, Linda, who loves to cook and is very family involved, then my chocolate lab puppy, Bruce. We are a small family, but we are close to each other. I can do something illegal then tell my parents and they will help me figure out what to do. They are always there when you need them.

"Looks like your brains already corrupted." My dad jokes at me. "I blame the school district. Public schools are frying the children's brains!" I smirk then look at my mom as she gives him a look. When she looks forward again she speaks with such a tongue I would never repeat to anyone.

"Mom!" I yell at her. She doesn't reply as she tries to get around the person. I look out the other window and see more trees.The road back to our house is surrounded by a forest, much like our house. I find peace in it while my mother finds claustrophobia by all the trees. She claims that they make her feel like she is 'choking on the oxygen they produce' and being 'strangled by their branches'. If you ask me, she is off her medicine.

I look back at my mother who is finally calming down from my dads hand in hers. He always seems to calm her in such a way I wish I knew how it worked. They claim its love, I claim its something completely different.... but then again I have never felt love the way they do. I like being alone unless Bruce is with me. He always finds a way to calm me when I am having one of my legendary anxiety attacks. My mother nags that I need to talk to real people but I just never can click with anybody who doesn't start drama.

"Victoria!" Someone yells and snaps me back to reality.

"Huh...Yes?" I ask looking at them.

"Are you hungry? I called your name like ten times." My mother says looking at me from the mirror. She has a concerned look on her face.

"No. I'm good." I glance back out the window as we get onto the highway.

"We're going to the grocery store to get food, then we can go back and you can stick your nose in a book." My mother says and I smirk. My father is watching the road attentively as he always does when we drive on the highway, it gives him a lot of anxiety when my mom is driving. He doesn't even get this scared when I drive. I may not have a car but I'm a better driver than her.

"Okay." I almost whisper.

"Oh, Mindy called today. She said that she really wants to come back up one of these weekends and visit. She says that she really likes it down there in California but still wishes she could be close to us." My mom randomly says. Mindy is one of her best friends and always will be. She is staring at me through the mirror. "She broke her finger. She doesn't know when...."

"Honey! Watch out!" My dad screams grabbing the wheel as a red pick up truck swerves into our lane, speeding toward us. My mom screams and everything goes really fast. The car comes to a sudden stop with a loud crunch and everything goes blurry. The trees become blurs of green and black. The seats start to merge with the doors.

"Mom.... dad....?" I ask pulling on my seat belt when I start to reconnect what happened. I feel something warm hit my face and see orange and red at the hood of the car where we were hit. Fire is eating the front of our car and slowly coming towards my parents. I keep pulling on my seat belt but it doesn't budge. I feel light headed and try the door but its so crunched from impact it doesn't budge. "Mom! Dad!"

"Are you okay?" Someone asks through my shattered window. I shake my head.

"They aren't answering!" I scream looking at my parents but only see blurs of their faces. The blurry person goes toward the front of the car as others run toward the car and try to open the door but it won't budge. Arms go toward my parents through the broken windows and try to get the door open.

"Are you hurt?" Someone asks as the room spins. I look down for blood but only drips fall off my face. I pull my hand to my forehead to have them coated in shiny red blood.

"Help them!" I scream as the fire comes closer to my parents are and the car fills with dark smoke. They are just unconscious. They are fine. They will wake up.

I kick my moms seat in front of me and wait for her to move. Nothing. I shake my dads arm. Nothing.

"It won't open!" Someone yells as sirens fill the silence in the distance. "Try to get them out through the window." An arm reaches in and around me but the seatbelt keeps me in place.

"Are you caught on something?"

"The seatbelt won't come off!" I yell as tears flood down my face. We can't die. We have to get out of here. He reaches back down to me with a pocket knife and I freak out.

"I'm going to cut the seat belt." The man says as my vision goes black at the edges. I put my head back on the seat.

"I can't feel my legs." I say so quiet I don't think he can hear. I close my eyes and feel as though weights are put on my eye lids as smoke fills my lungs. My vision goes black.

After a while my vision comes back and I am in someone's arms. My head is resting against their chest as they run me over to and ambulance.

"My parents..." I say but its almost a whisper as if all my energy has been drained. "Go back..."

"They will rescues them." He says and I look over his shoulder as my head feels like a bowling ball. People in big suits are taking the door off my moms side and pulling her out and setting  her on the ground next to my dad as paramedics try to find a pulse in my dad.

"Is she hurt?" Someone asks and my vision starts to go black.

"She was in the back of the car. She keeps going out of consciousness so I think she hit her head. I believe she is their daughter..." The guy says as my vision goes black.

"Mom!" I scream as loud as I can. Tears and darkness fill my eyes. "Dad..." I try to stay awake as I fight my eye lids, but loose the battle and fall into the darkness.

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AN: I know this was really short but don't worry, the rest of the book will be longer! This is just an introduction of what happens before the rest of the book!