“Road trip!” My mom yells, as my brother and I walk out the door, with our phones in our hands, scrolling. We glance up at her, but go back to our phones as we make it into the car.

I don’t particularly want to go to the Caribbean Islands, but I think my brother really needs this, at least that’s what my mom tells me. “Your brother hasn’t been the same since your dad left,” she says. “I think this will help take his mind off of things.” I was only three, so I don’t remember, but my brother was six.

Ever since I was five, my mom has had the same boyfriend. A very tall, black-haired, guy, with a ruff, very short, beard. They aren’t even married, 10 years of being together and they still haven’t tied the knot. I mean I don’t really like him too much, but I still call him dad, because he is the only dad I have ever known, but my brother on the other hand…he has not called him dad once. He just calls him by his name, Anthony.

I don’t really think Anthony is that great of a guy, but my mom likes him a lot, even though they fight kind of a lot. My mom always says, “Just because we fight doesn’t mean we stop loving each other.” I don’t know what she sees in him. He’s mean, bossy, and nasty to her. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn’t be calling him dad, but I never knew my real dad that well, so what else am I supposed to do?

Everyone makes it into the car and we soon drive off.

Probably an hour goes by and we are still about two hours away. I start to get tired, so I decide to take a nap, hopefully the rest of the way. My brother, who had fallen asleep thirty minutes ago, is still sleeping and snoring like a race horse.

I wake up to a loud noise. I sit up so fast that I hit my head on my mom’s seat in front of me. Everything is dark and I can’t see what is happening outside. “What is happening mom? Why are their sirens all around?” I half scream.

“June, calm down, everything will be okay,” my mom replies.

“Well, of course everything is not okay mom, don’t lie to her!” my brother screams. He turns to me, his voice softer now. “June, there was an accident, Anthony went to help an hour ago, but he still has not come back.” Now looking at my mom, “Mom, where is Anthony, why hasn’t he come back yet? Shouldn’t you go find him?”

“Seth, I’m not-” she starts to say, but I cut her off.

“Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean by accident? What happened?”

“Don’t worry-”

This time Seth cuts her off, “Come on, Mom, really? You’re acting like she’s five. She is fifteen. I know you get really worried about us knowing when something bad happens, but you don’t need to cover it all up, we’re not little kids anymore.” She doesn’t say anything, so Seth continues to tell me what exactly happened. “A drunk guy swerved in front of an old lady, Anthony went to check if she was okay.”

“Okay, but what about that loud noise?”

“Uhh, I don’t know. That just happened about five minutes ago and the accident happened an hour ago.”

“Weird,” I say.

We sit in the car for what feels like forever. Finally, someone starts to walk up to the car. “Dad?” I ask the guy walking up.

It isn’t my dad. A guy with short black hair, his shirt, jeans and jacket are soaked wet. Then I realize it’s raining. “Mom, who is that man walking up to our car?”

“I don’t know yet. I can’t see him clearly.”

“Dad?” I hear Seth say.

“Did you just call Anthony dad for the first time Seth!?” I half yell.

“No, it’s…dad. Our real dad…it’s not…Anthony,” Seth replies slowly and quietly.

“What do you mean Seth?! Tim is not here! He is in California and has been for over ten years.”

“Mom, it is him! I know it is.”

“Guys, if you just wait for him to get over here then you can figure out who he is,” a deep voice says. The man is next to us at the driver’s side. His hands on the roof of the car as he pokes his head through the open car, with a wide smile on his face.

“What. The. He-” my mom starts to say.

“DAD!” Seth interrupts her.

“Seth, how you been?”

“Great, how about you? It’s been so long since I last saw you.”

“I know son, but I hope I will be seeing you a lot more.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Tim says, then laughs.

“Woah, what is going on? Why are you here?” My mom asks. “I thought I told you to not come til later. I would explain everything first,” she whispers, but Seth and I are still able to hear.

“Nadia, I know, but I was on my way to get some dinner and saw Anthony. I noticed your car, so I wanted to check if you were okay.”

“Wait what do you mean…you saw Anthony? Where is he? He’s been gone for over an hour. He went to check the accident out, but hasn’t come back.”

“He was in the accident, Nadia. He didn’t make it,” my mom looks at him like he’s crazy.

“There was an accident with an old lady. Not Anthony.”

“I watched it happen. He was standing in the road and some guy ran into him. He doesn’t look so good.”

“Oh no!” My mom almost screamed.