Big Sister

Chapter One

The night of her twenty-first birthday, Willow Johnston got a call from a number she didn't recognize. Thinking nothing of it, she pocketed her cell and made her way back to the bar. She wasn't a party girl, really, but tonight was special. It marked the beginning of the end of the beginning of her life.
Willow was a senior now, as she had always been young for her grade. She was a criminal justice major at University of California Irvine, already accepted to go to Stanford's law school on scholarship next fall. Tonight, Willow was on top of the world.
Drink in hand, Willow walked through the sea of people and birthday wishes from strangers, trying to find her boyfriend, Isaac. When she finally spotted him, he was laughing loudly with a group of guys, clearly drunk off his ass. Alright then, she thought, maybe it was time to take a break.
Stepping outside into the crisp fall air, Willow sighed. Life was good right now, nearly perfect, so why did she feel, in the pit of her stomach, like something was horribly wrong?
It was the alcohol, she thought. She'd only had a couple drinks, but she'd never had more than a few sips before. Yes, that was it. It was just the alcohol. She set down her beer bottle and leaned against the brick wall that was the outside of the bar. She desperately wanted a cigarette, but she knew that was a habit that had to stop before it got worse.
Rolling her eyes at the pounding noise coming from inside the bar, Willow noticed her phone buzzing again. She picked it up and checked, frowning when she saw the same number as earlier. It was an 847 area code, her hometown in Illinois. Maybe her parents had gotten new phones? It was probably better answered than ignored.
"Hello?" Willow answered, cringing at the tiny slur in her voice.
"Willow Johnston?" The voice on the other end asked. Definitely not her parents. This didn't sound especially good.
"Yes. Who is this?" She asked.
"I'm a detective with the Evanston police. Willow, I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news," the woman said.
"What? What is it, what's happened?" Willow asked, unaware of the beer she had knock over and broken.
"I hate to do this over the phone but..." She hesitated. "There's been an accident-"
"WHAT? Who?" Willow demanded, her hands trembling from fright.
"I'm so terribly sorry, but your parents...they didn't make it."
There was a horrible silence where the noise from the street and the bar and the phone static evaporated and left Willow with the beat of her heart as the only sound in the darkness. And then suddenly, it all came back.
"You mean they're...dead," Willow said the shock blocking every emotion she should be feeling.
"I'm afraid so. They were driving home from a movie and a semi-truck, well, you understand. There was nothing to be done."
"I...okay. Thank you for calling. I...need a minute to process and-"
"I understand, but there is one other thing you need to be aware of," the phone woman said.
"I- What?" Willow stuttered as she slid down the wall until she was sitting on the concrete, feeling nothing.
"Your younger siblings-"
"Oh my God, what happens to them now?" Willow asked, remembering.
"Your parents left the responsibility of caring for them to you, Willow."