"SHUT UP HAILEY!" Cypress snapped at his little sister, who sat next to him in the car. She wouldn't stop crying about her scraped knee, which she got from an intense game of tag.

"Cypress! Leave your sister alone, she's allowed to cry when she's in pain!" His mom hissed at Cypress, the 12 year old boy with black hair and almost porcelain like skin. At least that's what his grandma said.

The Fourth of July was always Cypress's least favorite holiday, it was loud, hot, and always ended with some kid crying over a scraped knee or dropping their ice cream in the grass. It was sensory overload, it was stupid.

"Mom! My knee hurts!" Hailey cried, and Cypress rolled his eyes and looked out the window, but another cry pierced his ears, making him yell again.

"SHUT UP!" He turned to face her and she cried again. She was only 10, it wasn't her fault, she was scared. Cypress however, didn't take her age as an excuse, he was tired, he was cranky, he was what every 12 year old boy feels like when it's 12 AM after a yard party.

"Jason! JASON!" Suddenly the two children looked forward at the blinding headlights quickly swallowing their vision. Cypress froze in fear, it happened so fast it couldn't even be processed. The next thing he knew he was waking up in a car that wasn't on the road, it was on the sidewalk, upside down.

"Mom?" He called out weakly, his side was hurting and his ears were ringing. He looked at the front seat and saw his mom slumped over, he couldn't see his dad because he was in front of him in the drivers seat.

"Hailey?" He turned and saw Hailey staring at him in horror. "Hailey! H- hey it's ok- it's... ow!" Cypress moved his hand and saw that it had been sliced open, he quickly looked away and hid it from Hailey, "J- just wait someone will help us ok?" His heart was pounding and he was starting to pass out again, his head was hurting horribly.

"Cy! Cy please wake up! Please! CY! CYPRESS?! MOMMY?!" Hailey sobbed as she watched her brother slump over to the side, she unbuckled her seatbelt and landed on what was the roof of the car but was now the floor. She knew all too well her mother and father were not going to wake up to her shaking, but Cypress might.

She started to shake his hand, but soon stopped when she grabbed it and received a handful of blood. She shook his shoulders instead, he was hanging from the "ceiling" and she was worried about the blood rushing to his head.

"Cy wake up! Please! You need to get down!" She cried again and he woke up, but only for a couple seconds.

"Hailey..." he fell asleep again, and she cried. Suddenly, she heard sirens and saw the flashing blue and red lights, she sobbed in relief knowing she wasn't going to have to haul her brother out of the car.

Hailey was the first one out, then they carried Cypress out on a stretcher. Their parents took... longer.

"Take these two to the hospital, the boy needs attention, activate trauma." One of the paramedics said to the other, Hailey panicked at the word trauma.

"Trauma?!" She whimpered.

"It'll be okay honey, just go with your broth-"

"What about our mom and dad?! What- where are they going?! Why aren't they out?!" She yelled at him, and the man looked down.

"They're stuck honey, please just go with your brother, I promise you, everything will work out."

Cypress woke up in the ambulance a couple times but not for more than a minute. Hailey watched as they gave him iv's in both arms, an oxygen mask, and bandaged his hand. They also wrapped his head in a gauze when they noticed blood dripping on the floor from his head. Hailey had nothing more than a cut lip.

They rushed Cypress into the hospital, meanwhile, Hailey sat in a room with a tv playing a movie she didn't want to watch. Instead she cried, she had no idea where her parents were, what was wrong with her brother, and most importantly, if any of them were going to live.

2 hours later she was lead to her brothers room, where he slept while being hooked up to several ivs and monitors.

"Is he ok? What happened to him?" She looked at the doctor, deeply wishing it was her mother or father instead.

"Well, he fractured his skull... it did give him some trauma, but nothing severe. Until he wakes up... we won't know. It'll be ok sweetie, he's going to live."

"Are my parents ok? Did they come to the hospital yet?"

"No, no not yet."

"It's been 2 hours, 2 hours it shouldn't take them that long to get them out of that car." Hailey started to panic, if they were in the hospital they would've told her by now. She may be 10, but she was smart, and her father was a police officer, who worked on traffic.

The next day, Hailey and Cypress woke up to their aunt and uncle in the room, both holding a deep, sad expression in their face.

"Dead." Cypress said quietly, and Hailey started to cry. It was the only thing he could hear, crying. His uncle was saying something but it made no sense, it was like the words were liquid, there was no shape or sound.

"They... they're dead..." Cypress breathed out, and he felt hot tears burn his eyes. He quickly hugged Hailey, who leaned over the side of his bed, he stared at his relatives, there was a deep hatred in his eyes.

You aren't them... you'll never be them... I hate you, I HATE YOU.

"Cypress... please-" his aunt choked up, Cypress just stared at them, they were told he was going to have behavior issues for a bit, she was prepared.

She was prepared for a bit...

Not for 5 years...