Silent Night [Discontinued]

Chapter 1: This Will Be Fun!

"[Redacted] what's happening?!"

"I don't know! I can't make it stop!" [Redacted] replies, frantically looking through the windshield. Wind howls outside the window as the car picks up speed. Terror hangs in the air, snow swirls past, enveloping the world in a claustrophobic blanket of white. 

"Slow it down!" Says [Redacted] as she looks out the window into the wild storm. 

"Don't you think I'm trying?!?"

"Oh my gosh!!" screams [Redacted], "Look out! In front of you!!"

[Redacted] grips the steering wheel as [Redacted] clings to his arm. For a moment, it's as if time slows down. [Redacted] grabs the hand of her seat partner without thinking and [Redacted] grips it back. Everyone is slammed hard to the left as the deafening sound explodes around them.

C  R  A  A  A  S  H  H

And everything disappears from view.

~~~~~~

-Two Days Earlier-

It's a quiet day in class, snow flurries out the window, Christmas music playing softly while everyone does their math worksheets. Sara Lin looks down at her paper, working out a complex math problem. Peaceful, yes, all is peaceful. Except stupid math. 

Tak!

Sara looks up to find a crumpled piece of paper sitting on her desk after hitting her shoulder. She peers around, eventually meeting Patrick's eye. Holding up the paper between two fingers she gives him a "what now?" kind of look. He shrugs noncommittally, but his grin shows through. Oi, this should be good. 

Unfolding the paper, the girl reads the words scrawled out upon it. Sara~ Road-trip this weekend. You, me, Vicky, Tammy, Joe. Find that subway kid, bring him too. He looks bored all the time.

She stifles a laugh and throws a quick thumbs-up over her shoulder, turning her attention back to the mathematical task at hand. A road-trip? Really? It can't be more than twenty degrees outside. This car better have heating. And how to convince Subway Boy to come, that'll be a tricky thing to accomplish. Well, sounds like a fun idea anyway. Maybe it'll be nice to get out for a while. Yeah, this sounds kinda great! Okay, finish math, then we can think about fun. 

Class ends slower than expected, but it's math class. How fast can it really be. Sara shoves her papers and pencil into her bag and meets Patrick by the door. "So are you gonna come?" he asks.

The girl nods determinedly. "I mean, I'm an adult now, my dad has to let me do something. Hey, tell you what? Go get a table at the cafeteria for everyone to sit at, I'll go find Oliver!"

"Ooh gotcha." Pat nods and they dash off in the opposite directions. Sara walks down the hall, making her way to that blonde boy's locker. Fifth one in on the right wall of the west hallway. Not that she's memorized it. That would be weird. And there she finds him, placing some books neatly on the top shelf. 

"Oliver, Oliver!" she runs over, stopping next to him. "Hello!"

He gives her a confused look, sliding a graded test into a very neatly organized file system near the bottom. "Hey Sara.. what's up?"

"Come with me!" The girl replies, grabbing his hand and trying to drag him down the hallway. 

"What- Aah!" Oliver tries to shove the last couple things in his locker, managing to shut it before being yanked away. "What's this all about? You're much happier than usual." they slow to a walk and she laughs. 

"I'll tell you in a minute! We have to get the others. Trust me, this'll be so much fun. We can play games, tell stories, sing to the radio-" she squeals. "Just wait! We're almost there."

The lunchroom is crowded and full of bustling children as usual. Patrick waves from a table in the back, along with Vicky and Joe. Sara and Oliver walk over and sit down as Tammy runs over from the lunch line. 

"So, is anyone gonna tell me what's happening?" Vicky asks. 

Patrick holds out a piece of paper. "Take a pic of this and send it to all your legal guardians. We goin' on a trip, fam!"

"For how long?" Tammy questions, taking a bite of her sandwich and handing him a bento box, which he takes willingly. Vicky, Joe, and Sara all snap a picture and start texting.

Patrick shrugs. "I dunno, a week? As long as we feel like, really. There's this cabin down on the prairie, hidden in the forest. It'll be like a cool getaway. Not to mention there's sledding hills, a skiing place down the road, and complementary hot cocoa. But the best part will be the car ride. We can do all those fun car games and stuff."

Vicky gasps. "I have this karaoke microphone I've been dying to get some use out of! We can plug it in and have a jam sesh!"

There's a chorus of happy agreement from around the table. Oliver sits quietly, still not understanding why he's really here. These are all seniors after all, where does he come in? Joe probably just told Sara to bring him over to get babysat. Fantastic. Finally Sara looks over to see him slowly eating his food, not really engaging in any of the excited conversation. "Aren't you excited, Oliver? I thought you'd at least be thrilled about the karaoke!" she laughs, giving his arm a nudge.

He looks over confusedly, taking in her smiling eyes. "I'm invited?"

"What?? Of course you are! Why do you think I brought you over here?" The girl replies, obviously quite astonished that he could think any differently. "You're a part of our group, Subs! We would never ditch you."

"W-wow, uh, thanks.." Oliver blinks, blushing slightly. Sara grins. She can't wait, this will be so fun!

Joe gives a thumbs-up. "Olly and I are covered. Meg'll come and check on Dad often enough. What about you guys?"

Tammy jumps at an incoming text. "I can come!" she smiles, reading it. "Mom will make us some bento boxes too!"

"Looks like I'm in as well," says Vicky, tapping her phone a couple times. "Has Uncle Richard said anything, Sara?"

The redhead searches through her device. She cringes. "He's typing. Has been for the past five minutes." Everyone else has her same reaction. She knows he's just lovingly overprotective, but he's got to let her have some fun! But typing for this long? Hope is going downhill. 

Everyone continues to eat their lunch, discussing games to play or songs to sing. Patrick has found a cute holiday diner to stop at along the way. Sara can't help but be excited with them, even if she doesn't have permission yet. Winter magic is irresistible! Just then, a buzz flows through the table. Everyone (even Oliver this time) looks anxiously over as Sara snatches up the phone, her eyes going back and forth as she reads. Breath is held as she continues, obviously the text is quite long. 

Suddenly her face breaks out in a gleeful smile. "I can come!!!" she cries. Everyone squeals with happiness, the happy planning continuing without a hitch. Oliver chuckles as he resumes his lunch, a smirk tugging at his lips. It's quite interesting to observe that girl. Her smiles and infectious laughter can light up any room. 

Let's just hope it can light up the darkness this trip might hold.

A/N: 

Mwahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa! Spoopy enough for ya? Are you intrigued? Hehe! I'm so excited for this book. I can really let the super dramatic and thriller part of me S H I N E ~ Don't worry, I'll throw in some romance for the viewing pleasure of the people. I can't resist it anyhow XD

I also wanna say I'm suuuuuuuuuper sorry for how long it took to get this chapter out (and it's so short too TwT oof). I've been trying hard, but my depression, moderate as it is, has really said "heck no girl, you don't get anything done when I'm here." and thrown me for a loop. I want to do this though! This will be fun! I'm feeling okay right now, so I'm gonna get at it! Don't worry about me too bad haha, I won't let it get the best of me. Hype me up, y'all, I love ya! Until next chapter! 

~Bitsy out! <3