Where I Went From Here

Prologue

Warm, sunny, laughter, driving, and fighting over what music to put on was our routine anywhere we drove to, when it came to my grandmother, mother, and I. As we drove down the road ahead of us, on our way to a family friend's house; that was in the middle of nowhere, it was like we had done this thousands of time - well in reality we probably did this like a million times before, but who's counting.

"Look at the horses, Kyla" said my mother from the drivers seat. Sometimes just to annoy her, I'd ask a stupid question like: "Where? I don't see it".

Knowing very well I was trying to annoy her she said, "You know what side of the windows, to look at".

"Gosh, Kyla. The horses are on the right," my grandmother told me; just before I went back to annoy my mother.

Both, my grandmother and mother, were everything to me. It was just us three since I like was four years-old. We did everything together from cleaning our small two bedroom house, to cooking, to doing almost anything. All we needed was each other and no one else. Even though my mom had been single since her divorce from my dad, when he went to prison, and claimed all she needed was me, still I worried for her.

We were only a couple minutes from the house. I turned towards the windows of the car to see the scenery. Oh, how nice it's be to get away from the world. The blue sky with clouds, the yards of some type of trees, and everything that went by us as we drove, these were the moments that I loved to be in.

Still looking at everything that was outside of the car, I heard my mother mutter something I couldn't quite make out. I think she said shit or crap, something between those words. "What's going on" said my grandmother. "I don't know. I wanted to turn to the right on the stop sign that we passed but nothing; the car won't let me turn," my mother told her; still keeping her eyes on the road ahead.

"Try turning on the road to your left, that's coming ahead," directed my grandmother. Following her directions, my mother turning the steering wheel. Nothing. The car still kept on going straight. Starting to grow wary, my mother tried pulling at her emergency brakes. Nothing. The car only allowed us to continue going straight.

Absolutely nothing happed.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked, it seemed as if it was the only thing I could ask. I remember maybe thirty-five minutes pass or so, yet seemed like a couple hours to us. My grandmother and mother, appeared to have the same thought flash their minds, to unlock our seatbelts. Picking up what they were doing, I copied them; freeing myself from my seatbelt behind the front passengers seat. Bringing my attention too my grandmother and mother, in the front in the car, it took me a couple of seconds to register was was occurring. Their seatbelts would not unbuckle. They struggled to pull, but it wouldn't budge. In this moment, all I could think about was how lucky we would have been if we had something to cut the seat belts. Maybe scissors, a knife, or anything so that they be free from what was restraining them in their seats.

The look the went by my mother and grandmother, is one that I have only seen when something serious was going on that they didn't know what to do or make out. Fear. Concern. Sensing my eyes on them, they turned to look at me. "Kyla, you know we love you, and will always love you," said my mom. "I know that mom, but we have to get out of the car, before we hit that mountain that's coming up ahead," I  told them both as I shifted my gaze from my grandmother and mother.

"We can't get free of our seatbelts, Kyla" my grandmother told me in a cold voice.

"No, no, no. We are all getting out of this car! We have too!" I began to yell.

Getting filled with fear and adrenaline, I begun to climb over to them from the back seats to try to free them. I pulled, and tugged on the seat belts but it did not seem to do nothing. Then, I tried opening their doors thinking that they could somehow free themselves by pulling the seatbelts to all their limit and up from the car.

Their doors would not open... Their windows would not open...

There were trapped in their seats, while I was free to move.

It all happened so quickly. My mother and grandmother yelling at my stuff of having a long life to live, full with experiences, and love; telling me that they loved me. Suddenly, I was instructed to jump out. Looking up to see my mother and grandmother, I saw scared to hear what they were going to say.

"We promise to be fine. We have our seatbelts, and the car has airbags. We'll both be fine. But Kyla, you, have to get out. Do we hear me, get out of the car," my mother directed me in a stern voice.

"But I don't want to leave you guys," I said as my lips quivered and unshed tears in my eyes that blurred my vision.

"I know you don't, but you have too. We promise we'll be fine. When have we broken a promise, huh?" my grandmother told me in a soft voice.

Starting to believe them, I carried my body to the side of the car in the back where I had been mere hours ago; opening the door. Looking back at their faces for one last time, believing that they'd be fine, I jumped from the car. Everything was not the same afterwards...