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"Do you want to die?"

The question came from the most threatening person in my life -- my older sister, Maeve. She was sprawled out on the green couch in the RV, texting her ex-boyfriend a million reasons why he didn't deserve her. Her chocolate-colored hair was knotted into a messy bun and her features were scrubbed clean of makeup. Even after stripping down to only a white tank and pajama shorts, a layer of sweat covered her freckled skin. 

"Do you want to die?" I mimicked, childishly. I was seated across from her in the stained, plaid recliner, a book in my hands. I couldn't remember what the last ten pages had been about.

She jerked upwards with a glare. "Don't make me come over there!"

"You two act like the boys in my class," my younger sister, Mallory, commented. She was seated at the small kitchen table, playing Animal Crossing on her pink Nintendo Switch. She shared a resemblance to Maeve, only more feminine. Her braids were tied with ribbons, her nails were painted with glitter, and her lips were coated with gloss -- it was the only makeup product our father would let her use.

"What is all that yelling about back there?" our father called from the driver's seat. He didn't take his eyes off the road, but added, "We're only seven hours into our trip! I don't want any fighting!"

Maeve settled back down, peering at her phone screen. "So annoying."

"Yes, you are," I replied, flipping the page in my book. "For someone who says she's done with Andrew, you haven't looked away from your phone once."

"You're just jealous because you got your phone taken away," she retorted. "Not that you have anybody to text..."

I scoffed, then looked at our father in the driver's seat. "Dad, when do I get my phone back?"

"When you tell me what you were doing on the other side of town after midnight," he answered, his tone unpleasant. "Was it a boy? Alcohol? Drugs?"

Mallory looked up. "You're into drugs?"

"No!" I snapped, looking between them. "I already told you, Dad. I met up with my friends and lost track of time --"

"I know your friends," he interrupted. "They're good kids. They wouldn't be out causing trouble like that." I wanted to slam my head against the wall. We just kept going in circles. My phone had been confiscated for a week now and it didn't seem like I was ever going to get it back. "Once you tell me the truth, I'll consider giving you your phone back. You let me know when you're ready to talk."

Maeve was smirking.

"At least I'm not in a toxic relationship," I said to her.

She frowned. "I'm single now, you idiot."

"For how long this time?"

"At least I've had a boyfriend," she countered, tapping away at her phone. I replayed our bickering in my head and realized we did sound ridiculous. We weren't acting like our ages at all. Maeve was eighteen, I was sixteen, and Mallory was thirteen. I sucked in a deep breath and focused on my book, not wanting to feed into her immaturity anymore. I made sure no one was paying attention as I flipped back ten pages. 

Mallory scooted out of the booth and walked over to the cabinets, grabbing a bag of jalapeño chips. "Who has been eating my chips?"

"They're for everybody," I said, guilty. "Isn't that right, Dad?"

Our father nodded. "We can always buy more."

"Besides, those will just go right to your hips," Maeve said. "The women in this family gain weight in their hips, believe me."

"I'm only thirteen," Mallory mumbled, taking a seat back at the table. She opened the bag of chips, grumbled at how little was left, then began munching as she played her game. I had a tendency to ransack the pantry at midnight for snacks. Since I suffered from insomnia, eating was of the few ways to kill my boredom. It was a good thing that I had a fast metabolism. 

Maeve snapped her gum.

"I'm going to stop at this gas station in a mile," our father said. "We can pick up more snacks and drinks there."

I wasn't surprised. He always found a way to spoil Mallory.

A mile later, our father pulled the rumbling RV into a gas station. A few customers looked our way with scrutinizing looks. The RV was as dingy as the station. I closed my book, slipped on my converse, then exited the RV. After our father handed Mallory some money for snacks and drinks, my sisters followed behind me and he began filling up the gas tank. I could hear my sisters bickering behind me over the money. 

"We split the money evenly," Maeve said, trying to snatch the bills from her. "Give it, Mallory!"

"You have your own money," Mallory argued back. "Your job as a lifeguard, remember?"

Maeve managed to snag a ten from her. "Dad gave it to us to share."

Our older sister stomped away towards the coolers at the back. Mallory reluctantly stopped next to me and handed me a ten as well. She spared herself another argument. The three of us separated in the gas station, searching for our favorite snacks. I grabbed myself a can of raspberry iced tea and a bag of extra hot Cheetos. I didn't like the Cheetos for the taste, but for the burn.

Maeve was already checking out, having grabbed a large water, a bag of veggie straws, and a packet of mint gum. She was careful about her weight. She never used to be until she fell into a toxic relationship with Andrew. Her insecurities were just screaming at me.

As I paid, Mallory appeared next to me. "I think we're lost."

"What?"

"Dad is trying to play it cool, but he missed the turn a long time ago," she said, placing her snacks on the counter. A packet of gummy worms, a bag of Skittles, and a bag of jalapeño chips. "I looked on Google Maps and we're going the wrong direction."

"Mallory, why didn't you say anything?" I hissed out. "What if he doesn't realize he missed the turn?"

"I think he missed it on purpose."

I frowned. "Why?"

"Because I think he got scared," she answered, quietly. She collected her change from the cashier and dropped it into her pocket. "We haven't been back to the family cabin since before Mom died. I think he's realized that he's not ready to go back, but he doesn't want to tell us -- because he got us so excited for this family trip."

"Well, I wouldn't say I was ever excited for this trip..."

"He doesn't want to let us down." Mallory said, then looked around me at our father. He was standing at the gas pump with his hands on his hips. Our sister was already back inside the RV. "Should we pretend that we don't know?"

"I don't know," I mumbled, running a hand through my hair. "Gosh, why did you have to tell me?"

She shrugged. "Because I didn't want to be the only one who knew."

I released a frustrated groan as she walked out with her snacks. I followed after her, surveying the area. Now that she mentioned it, there were way more trees here than anywhere near our family cabin. As I approached our father, I studied him for a moment. He was dressed like he was going fishing, which happened to be his favorite thing to do at the cabin. There was a lake there, filled with all sorts of fish. 

His gaze locked on me. "Did you find some good snacks?"

"Yeah," I answered, quickly realizing that I wouldn't be able to ask him about the missed turn. He and my mother had been high school sweethearts. Her sudden death three years ago was the lowest point in his life. If he needed to drive around aimlessly until found the courage to go to the cabin, or perhaps he never found that courage, then so be it.

Back in the RV, Maeve plopped a fresh piece of gum in her mouth and Mallory started sorting her Skittles by colors.

I exhaled loudly.

We returned to the road, most likely with no current destination. Our father hummed old tunes to himself in the driver's seat, unaware of my worried gaze. Mallory already seemed to accept the situation. She was engrossed in her Animal Crossing. Maeve hadn't shifted her attention from her phone, continuously grumbling under her breath about how big of an idiot Andrew was. I couldn't bring myself to enjoy my book. My thoughts were too loud.

"Ah, fuck," Maeve blurted, startling me. "I lost service."

Our father glanced over his shoulder. "Hey! Watch the language!"

"Thank God," I commented, tired. "Now you can step back and take a moment to think about how much time you're wasting on that loser."

"Shut up, Madrina!"

"It's Mads."

She rolled her eyes. "You can't give yourself your own nickname."

"People do it all the --" I stopped talking when a massive shadow passed by in the window above her. I didn't know what it was. It had blocked all sunlight from entering the RV for what felt like too long. If it hadn't been for the warning chill that shot down my spine, I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it. "Did anybody see that?"

"See what?" our father questioned. "Did you see a bear?"

Mallory lifted her head. "There are bears here?"

"I believe so," he responded, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. "Look at all these trees -- this forest goes on forever! There has to be bears!"

"It wasn't a bear," I said, shaking my head. "It was a huge shadow."

"A shadow?" Maeve repeated, tossing her phone at her feet. "Wow, don't forget the details, Mads."

I sat forward. "Do you always have to be such a bitch?"

"If anyone is the bitch, it's you," she argued back. "You don't know how to keep your nose out of other people's business and then you judge them for every little thing! I hate to break it to you, but you're not perfect either, Mads! You were the one who needed to be bailed out of jail, remember? At least I have a clean record!"

"My record is clean! I didn't do anything wrong!" I yelled, standing to my feet. "Stop talking as if you know everything! It's so exhausting!"

Our father shouted back at us, "Hey! Enough arguing, girls!"

"Then why did Dad have to bail you out of jail?" Maeve asked, also rising to her feet. The two of us were faced off with each other in the RV, nearly the same height. "What are you hiding?"

"Why do we always have to fight?" Mallory spoke up from the table. "This is supposed to be a family vacation."

"He didn't bail me out," I clarified, angrily. "I just needed to be picked up."

She scoffed. "Bullshit."

"Girls!" our father continued to shout. "Mallory is right! This is a vacation! We all need to get along! And you're supposed to be sitting! I don't want any of you to get hurt! Sit down!"

"And you won't tell Dad what you were doing that night," Maeve said, folding her arms across her chest. "It's all so suspicious, little sister. If you have nothing to hide, then why not just tell Dad the truth and get your phone back?"

My hands curled into fists. "It's none of your business!"

"Exactly my point!" she yelled back. "It's not fun when someone keeps sticking their nose into your business, is it?"

"Girls, I told you to sit --"

Just then, the RV lurched to the left and Maeve was thrown into me. We collided into the recliner, before falling to the ugly, laminated floor. Mallory screamed at the table, having been thrown out of the booth as well. The smell of burnt rubber filled my nose as all sorts of sounds came from the RV. I could hear our father cursing under his breath while clinging to the steering wheel with white knuckles.

The RV eventually screeched to a stop.

A long moment passed.

Maeve kicked me away. "Get off me!"

"You fell onto me," I mumbled, slowly moving to my feet. "Dad, what just happened?"

"Is everybody okay?" he asked, unbuckling. "We blew a tire."

Mallory was visibly shaken. "That was so scary!"

Our father walked towards us, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead. The blown tire had definitely given him a scare. He looked each of us up and down for injuries, then dragged a hand through his greying hair. Maeve immediately started looking for her phone while Mallory looked out the window at the trees. The RV was lopsided, indeed proving that we blew a tire, and I gripped the recliner to maintain my balance.

"Do we have a spare tire?" I asked him.

"I don't know, I don't know," he muttered out, still processing the situation. "I'm going to go check. With how cheap this RV was, I doubt it..." 

I watched as he wobbled out of the RV, still muttering to himself.

"I still don't have service," Maeve groaned, having found her phone. "It's this stupid forest! Ugh! I hate it!"

Mallory picked up her Nintendo Switch, which now had a large crack in the screen. "It broke."

I sighed.

I had a bad feeling about this.