Broken

Chapter 2

Lauren can feel the cool breeze against her cheek as she tilts her head out of the car window, laughing with her sister. 

Her mother looks back at the two of them, smiling as the sun hits their faces. Mike laughs at his daughters goofing around with each other, lovingly teasing one another. Even Chris can't help but smile at them, chuckling to himself as he puts his headphones back in.

For the first time in a long time, Lauren feels like she can breathe. She feels happy. No stress, no bad feelings. She can actually feel something besides numbness as she sits in the car, surrounded by the people she loves most. 

Mike turns around to smile back at her, sensing that the green-eyed girl was finally feeling at peace. His eyes sparkle as they connect with Lauren's, and she can see how much he loves her. She smiles back at him, wishing this moment with her family could last forever.

But it can't.

"Dad, look out!" Taylor exclaims, pointing in front of her as another car comes hurdling towards them. 

Mike swerves, trying to avoid the collision, and the car starts to spin out of control. Lauren can't feel anything but terror, grabbing onto her sister and shielding her as tears flow down her face. 

Suddenly, the car slams into something hard, lurching them all forward in the vehicle. 

Lauren slams her head against the seat in front of her, momentarily losing her sight. Everything is blurry when she opens her eyes, and she can't hear anything except for a high-pitched ringing noise. 

She shakes her head, trying to regain focus, and realizes what happened. 

Frantically, she looks next to her at her siblings, both covered in blood. She can feel her blood rushing to her head and her heart pounding as she reaches to them, trying to get them to open their eyes, their blood staining her clothes.

"Taylor, Chris, you guys...Please wake up...," she begs them, tears blurring her vision as she tries to prod them awake, her breathing getting more shallow and desperate. 

"Wake up! Come on!" the green-eyed girl screams at them, shaking them as hard as she can. She can barely breathe at this point, adrenaline taking over. 

There's no way this can be happening; not to her, not to her family. They have to wake up. They will wake up. Why aren't they waking up?

Sobs wracking her body, Lauren pushes the car door open and stumbles out of the vehicle. She tries to slow her breathing, but the crying just gets worse. She can't help but feel like this is all her fault. Why is everything always her fault? Why-

"Lauren...," a voice calls from beside the car, interrupting her thoughts.

Lauren whips her head around to see her mom lying on the ground, obviously injured. Clara slowly reaches a hand toward her daughter, motioning for her to come closer.

Lauren runs to her mom, the tears flowing faster now as she crouches down beside her.

"M-mom? What happened? What do we do? They're hurt mom, I don't know what to do, there's blood everywhere, they won't wake up, please make them wake up...," Lauren rambles, unable to stop herself as all the pain and sadness comes pushing forward. 

"Lauren?"

Lauren hears her name called again, but it's not coming from her mother this time. She can't bring herself to move from Clara's side, holding her and weeping.