"Mum!" Miku shouted from upstairs, "Have you seen my jeans? You know, the denim ones?"

Hunting around her room, Miku sighed in frustration. Where were they? She was sure she'd put seen them a minute ago.

"I haven't seen them!" Her mum's voice shouted from downstairs, "Are you sure they're not in the laundry?"

The laundry! That was it! Miku could just see the denim jeans in her mind's eye, lying in the washing basket.

"Thanks! You're a genius!" Miku cried, charging down the stairs, past her mum, and into the laundry. A second later, she charged back out, her jeans clutched in her hand, as she dashed to her room to change. Her light-coloured hair flew into her face as she ran. Shaking it out of her face, she ran on, making it to her room, shutting the door quickly.

Marching over to her wardrobe, she pulled it open, surveying the array of clothes inside. What would go with her jeans? Her eyes fell upon a plain, pale blue singlet. Perfect. Yanking them on, and grabbing a cap, she ran out of the room again.

"Okay, all ready!" She cried, standing at the bottom of the stairs. Her mum looked up from where she was putting her wallet and sunglasses into her handbag.

"Took you long enough, dad's in the kitchen, just go and call him and we'll leave."

"Ok!" Miku ran to the kitchen.

"Daaaad!" Miku tugged on her dad's arm, "We're going to leave now."

"Ok, ok, just give me a second." Her dad's friendly voice replied, as he finished packing some snacks in the picnic basket.

"What do you need that for?" Miku asked curiously, "Are we going for a picnic?"

"That's right!" Her dad beamed down at her, "After the zoo, we'll go to the park and have a nice picnic." Miku's eyes lit up.

"Yay! Ok!" Running back out of the kitchen, her voice floated back.

"Now hurry up!"

In the car, Miku fidgeted with excitement, as she stared out the window, eager to get to the zoo. Even the gloomy clouds that slowly began to appear couldn't ruin her good mood.

"It looks like it might rain soon," Amaya's mum commented, glancing up at the sky. "We might not be able to have a picnic."

The thought of a wonderful day being lost made Miku jump up, only to be dragged down again by her seatbelt.

"But, what if we went to the zoo extra quickly?" Miku tried to resolve the matter. "We would have time for a picnic, right?"

"Look who's desperate," her father chuckled. "We'll have to see. I imagine you won't be able to leave the zoo, though."

"I will, I will," Miku insisted. Leaning forward, she grabbed the shoulders of their seats. "I'm sure the clouds will disa-"

Crack. Rumble.

"Fudgecakes," Miku muttered as rain began to pelt down, filling the air with pattering.

"Should we turn back?" Amaya's mum turned to her husband. "These roads are especially slippery in rain. We could always go another-"

"Please," Miku broke in, gazing at her mum with pleading eyes. "You know I've been waiting for ages for this."

"Okay, okay," Amaya's mum turned back to the road. "But we won't be able to have a picnic."

"That's fine," Miku was satisfied.

"It's more crowded than I thought," Amaya's dad commented, as her mum turned onto the highway. "Be careful, okay."

"I can drive fine," Amaya's mum rolled her eyes.

As if to prove her point, a bright red sports car came roaring from the opposite direction, its loud motor getting louder as it got closer to Miku's car.

With a screech, the car suddenly swerved out of the lane, spinning across the road. With a crash, the car hit the grey stone road markers that divided the opposite lanes.

To Miku's shock, rather than stopping, the momentum flipped the car over, to come crashing down into her car's path.

The whole family was jerked to the right as Amaya's mum yanked the steering wheel to the left, pulling them out of the collision course. Unfortunately, on the wet roads, their car too went spinning, skidding as water sprayed everywhere.

Miku screamed as she was thrown about, knocking her head and arms on the sides of the car. Her world was turned into a spinning mess of yells, cracking glass, smashing metal and screeching tyres, and instinctively she closed her eyes, shutting them tightly, her scream dying down to a whimper.

When it all finally stopped, Miku barely noticed. She felt sick, dizzy and weak. Floating on the edge of consciousness, she barely noticed someone pulling aside the wrinkled and broken car door off its hinges, reaching for Miku.

"...up...stay..." The words meant nothing to Miku's dazed ears. She stared up at the figure blankly, not seeing the pulsing light of a dark blue gem the person held in her face.