Half Dead - Louis Tomlinson

One: A Little Help

Megan's POV

Dad turns the radio on full blast and the song basically burns a hole through my ears and into my brain.

I smile with a sigh at how much my family loves country music. Mom sings/hums along to the lyrics of Cruise by Florida Georgia Line. I pretend to gag.

"Cheer up, Megan." Mom laughs and looks back at me.

"Please make Alex and Emma stop fighting like two year olds."

"Alex! Emma! Stop." I pull them away from each other, but they continue to strangle each other and I'm in the middle, trying to avoid being hit and choked. That's what I get for sitting in the middle, not that it was my choice.

"It's - ah," Emma's hand gets caught in my hair and I scream. "It's Alex's fault! She started - it!"

"No!" Alex shouts back. "Emma won't gimme - my - lollipop!"

"You tolded Matt that I havva crush onnim! Sis - teller to stop being sucha baby!" Emma yells in my ear. Ouch. Especially with the nice loud music that is staring to give me a migraine.

Emma waves the lollipop and I dodged it. It misses by an inch. "Emma, watch it with the lollipop. I swear if it-"

Alex pushes me into Emma and she pushes me back. I groan and complain. "Mom! How did you convince me to bring these two devils along." I whine. I am sick of being their judge. And I thought twins are supposed to get along, even if they are only seven years old.

Mom laughs and nugdes Dad's shoulder with her elbow. "Megan, we said we'd let you choose the house."

"'Megan, we said we'd let you choose the house.'" I mimicked Mom's voice. "How many times have I heard that the choice is mine? And how many times is the choice really mine? Huh? Just think about it, dear Parents."

"Sweetie, just understand that life will have a lot of turns. And the most we can do is let them pass and try to get the most out of them without letting them get the most out of you," she says nicely. She's the kind of person to have wise sayings for everything - and most of them are made up by her.

"Oh yeah? Do the 'turns' include lying parents, annoying sisters, huge family car trips, and a girl of eighteen stuck in the middle of a family hurricane?" I ask, my eyes wide and my hands trying to stop Emma and Alex.

"Dad, please turn off the radio. Isn't it loud enough without blaring country music?" I beg and pretend to look sad.

All Mom does is laugh. She stares at the road ahead and keeps a smile on her face. A typical thing parents do, when they don't have an answer.

Dad finally turns the radio off and I sigh and dodge Alex's hand as it barely goes over my head.

I hate sitting in the middle.

"Emma! Alex! Stop now!" I pull them apart and order. Emma gasps and stops flinging her arms wildly. Both Alex and Emma stop fighting and arguing and quickly look away. Weird.

"Ookay. What's wrong? What did you do?" I ask, suspiciously. "Why are you guys quiet all of a sudden?"

Alex does an "O" shape with her mouth, then shakes her head and smiles, while Emma tries to avoid looking at me.

"What did you do?" They don't answer. "Mom," I say and she turns to look at me. Her eyes widen and she gasps when she looks at me.

"Oh, honey," says Mom. She tries to control her laugh, but doesn't try hard enough. "That's a tangled mess."

"What-? Tangled mess?" What's that supposed to mean?

Mom looks through her purse and says, "One moment."