NIGHTmare

I remember it clearly that dreadful night I almost lost my twin sister, Evelyn Gallemore. The unfortunate scenario is so vivid in my mind and so traumatizing that it feels as though I am reliving it—a rocky forest highway, my new black overturned BMW car, my sister's twisted body lying motionlessly on a blood-stained stretcher trolley, the cold atmosphere, loud sirens, red lights flashing everywhere, hurried footsteps against wet pavement, rain splattering from the dark clouds above, the trees swaying violently with the wind, lightning striking from the distance, my mom crying, my dad screaming in panic, and the rescue team pulling medical equipment from the ambulance.

In the middle of all the chaos, I just stood there with my hair in a tangled mess, my clothes completely soaked, and my sneakers submerged in a puddle of mud.

"This is all your fault, Ro. You shouldn't have gone for a late-night drive here especially—just in case you haven't noticed—you're at the edge of a god damn cliff!!! And to top it all that—there's a ******* storm. Didn't you check the daily weather forecast, Ro?!" My father scolded me, his spit flying towards my bleeding face.

"I'm sorry. I—It was an accident." I muttered softly.

My dad scoffs and rolls his eyes. "It always is." He turns away and starts climbing up the ambulance. From inside, a short plump middle-aged nurse was preparing a dextrose for my sister while my mom helped another nurse wrap a bandage around Evelyn's deep cuts on her legs. The smell of iron and the sight of blood almost made me faint.

Frustrated about how I was accused of being irresponsible and careless, I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists into balls, my nails digging into my palms.

No, he can't turn his back and put the blame on me like how he's always have. My sister got bullied at school when we were in elementary and guess who my dad blamed: me. He said that I should have been there protecting her.

Once, when we're in high school, my sister snuck out of the house at midnight and guess who got grounded: me. The reason he gave me that time was due to my lack of attention, I didn't notice my sister was gone and out about. And now, this! Well, I'm sick of it. I'm so sick of receiving all the punishments and the sermons for my sister's wrongdoings.

Just because I'm older by a few minutes than my sister doesn't mean he can always find the fault in me. Besides, it was Evelyn's idea to go out in the woods tonight for God knows reason why.

I felt the mud squishing under my sneakers as I took a step forward and grabbed my dad's shoulder. "I DID."

I didn't really mean to; but my voice raised when I spoke to him.

My dad shot me a sternful glare. "Aaahhh. Just like how you made sure that the safety air bag was working on the passenger's seat."

I blinked a couple of times as I realized my mistake and instantly was filled with guilt.

At that moment, it only occurred to me, that the emergency air bag minimized the impact of the accident that would have caused me. Though my body ached from the collision and I had a few cuts—some quite deep—on my arms and legs, I regained my consciousness and was in a better shape than Eve.

"I thought so," he said sarcastically before beckoning me to hop onto the tightly-spaced hospital wagon.

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