1 Prologue: Death
"Take a sip tom~"
Zach, 38, America-born friend of mine, my only friend, is currently trying to force some cocktail down my throat, but I am having none of it.
"No, I have to pick up the girls in a bit, and you know I am bad around alchohol." I curtly reply.
While my home is in the United Kingdom, I am currently on a vacation trip in Iceland, as I wanted to show my children the scenery I remember seeing as a small boy. Zach coincidentally has a summer house in the south of the country so I could visit him here.
"Aww come on, it's jutht a sip, it's not like you'll get drunk from a sip you dunce. Also this is like the best drink I've ever taythted. you have to try this!"
But we decided to meet near a bar in Reykjavik, but Zach being Zach went into the bar instead. We met in Reykjavik because he wanted to go shopping here in the local, and only Costco in the country, and I was here with my children, which are exploring the tourist attractions nearby.
Ignoring his slurred words, I reply "Fine, but it better be good, or you'll owe me a favour"
"The favour is the drink!" he replies annoyedly.
I take the sip, well it was supposed to be one, but before I knew it; the cup sized glass was empty.
Fuck.
I stood up, ashamed at my pathetic control over myself, and head out the door.
"Hey! you drank the whole glass, I said sip, damn you!" Zach glares at me, but I ignore him.
"I'll pay it back later" I say right before I leave.
I thought it had gotten better but nooo, I just had to make it worse. Well, a morning drink it is then, it shouldn't be too bad, it tasted pretty sweet, doubt there was too much alcohol.
While I say he is a friend, it's more like he is a drinking buddy, well I stopped drinking about a year ago so I guess the title has changed. I unlock my car and call my eldest daughter. Janice is almost an adult at 16, I could rely on her taking care of her siblings, so that's what she's been doing for the last couple minutes.
After picking them up we can finally begin our road trip up north of the country.
-----
"You reek of alchohol Dad" Janice spouts begrudgingly
"I only had a sip" I answer, knowing it was a lie, but it's not like I am drunk or anything.
The road feels endless as I drive carefully in the pathetically old car Zach loaned me.
"Where are we even going Dad? We've been driving for three hours already!" The youngest speaks up, Darwin is his name, at age 11 he has become quite the fine lad, already inspiring to become an Artist, despite how questionable his skills with the pencil are; I do admire his determination. Even if he seems a bit reserved amongst others most times.
"Only three hours" replied Janice for me, making a scary expression towards Darwin, her black makeup and dyed black her enhancing that, she said it was something called "emo", and that I wouldn't understand. I think I understand, but I doubt she'd aggree. "Atleast it won't take as long as it took us to get to Windermere" Just those words were enough to illicit groans among all four kids, disregarding my lonesome dissatisfaction with their attitude. It was a fun trip!
Well, whatever, where we're going is gonna blow their minds!
It was an incredible place, surrounded by cold, rocky mountains stands a green oasis filled with places to explore! We just had to go there, even if it meant driving on this annoyingly windy road that follows along a steep cliffside with my questionable handling of the wheel.
"Look! there's puffins on the side of that cliff!" One of the twins, Samatha says. "it's just a bunch a stupid birds, what are you so excited about?" The other twin, Laurel says. At age 13, both look a lot like their mother, which pisses me off that bitch, but I can't hate them for it. If only they were like Janice, where she hides the resemblance in makeup, but one can only dream.
"All this complaining is making the tickle monster angry." I say in a low voice before reaching into the backseat and grabbing Laurel's thigh, tickling her.
"Hahaaa! please stop it tickles!" she tries to pull my arm away, with her twin sister assisting her in fending the tickle monster off.
"Wait! Darwin! Stop!" I see Darwin assisting me in my teasing, while Janice just scoffs in ignorance at the "childishness" ...or so she calls it, before widening her eyes.
"Dad! Watch the road-" Crash
shit-
I immediately sober up as I realized I heard the crash. It seems I had stopped paying attention to the cliffside road during my teasing and the car ripped through the barrier, sending us tumbling down the hill.
It felt like my world went upside down
no... it is upside down!
As the car tumbles down the cliff adrenaline shoots through my body along with the shouts of my children. Dread shoots through my body as I realize my mistake and the consequences that have yet to happen. And the world goes dark.
-----
I wake up in great fatigue, experiencing pain which I had never before even though I could feel. I sat there, for what felt like fifteen minutes in silence, my mind blank with no clue of what is happening nor what has happened, before it came to me.
As I turned my head in the fastest speed my broken body could usher, I saw a teenage girl, with raven black hair sitting in the car seat, that was what I expected, what I did not even conceive could happen was the roof being indented far enough for her neck to be half ripped off her head.
"Janice"
What was supposed to sound as a shout came out as a raspy voice filled with dread as I came to realise my sin, tears well up in my eyes as I fail to even comprehend the dread as I stare at the child I had raised for 16 years, not even once do I look at my own wounds, not even once do I look at the passanger seats, as I stare there for what must be an hour, before the realization hit me.
I killed her.
I finally turn to the passanger seat, where Darwin, Samantha and Laurel sit, in thankfully better form than their sister, but just as bloodied and... dead.
I wail. I wail, I wail and I wail, no longer do I care about who their mother used to be, no longer do I care about my recent alchohol addiction, no longer do I care about our road trip, about Zach, about the world. I can only think of one thing, my poor, poor children.
I never thought myself an emotional guy, despite my patheticness in my school years and early adulthood, I never was one to cry even in the most desperate of situations, even during my own mother's funeral that is what I thought. I thought myself unable to look at things with value in my eyes, but here I am, for the first time I cry, not because of a sudden circumstance, but a circumstance I caused. Am I that selfish? Do I only cry when I find my pride hurt?
-----
Two days pass, it felt like an eternity, but I have come to an understanding, it was not my fault, that is not why I am crying, well, it may have been my fault, but it is also Zach's fault! He was the one that gave me the drink! Even though he knew I was bad with alchohol!
Though he didn't know of this road trip...
But that doesn't matter! if anything, it is not Zach's fault, it is Amanda's fault! the children's useless mother that left me and the children when their eldest was only seven years of age! The witch that tricked me out of my wealth! If it hadn't been for her I never would have become an alchoholic!
"Fucking bitch" I spout in my more-raspy-than-before voice, before sinking into another pit of depression, if the car is in a pit, that is.
-----
Half a day passes, half an eternity, thankfully I dozed off here-and-there, but I cannot stop looking at my children, even though deep down I know it is not my fault, I cannot help but blame myself for it aswell, it couldn't be my fault though, I'd never be able to live with myself if it was-
My thoughts were cut off as I heard the sound of a helicopter. The interruption reminded me of the pain I had been afflicted by the giant class shard in my stomach, but I ignored it as hope welled in my soul at the thought of getting rescued.
About time people came, a little more and I'd have died of thirst-
I catch my narcissistic speech as I look to my side at my poor Janice, already rotting by my side, though my constant crying saved my clogged nose from the smell of it.
After what felt like an hour I start hearing footsteps in the tallgrass coming closer, the backdoor opens, I cannot turn my head to look at my savior but atleast I can hear their voice as they speak to their radio.
"Fimm manna fjölskylda, það er mögulegt að þau séu öll dauð."
I hear a female voice, I do not understand what she said but I do know she is speaking in Icelandic, after hearing the radio it felt as though a year of torture had come to a halt as I realized that those people are here to help.
"help"
I speak in my raspy voice, hoping to reach the woman by the backseat, I hear the radio activate again.
"Bílstjórinn er á lífi, þó líklega ekki lengi." she speaks, again, I do not understand her, so I try to speak again.
"help me, please"
"Hey, Driver, i-it is hopefully gonna be okay! help is coming, though I am s-sorry to say but the children are beyond saving" She speaks with a heavy accent, but I am thankful she understood my foreignity.
I pass out soon after.
-----
I wake up hearing the piercing sound of the helicopter I am in, I feel delirious as I look around, quickly noting the giant glass shard in my stomach
how do I survive that? Wait, how did that even get there shouldn't the airbag- oh.
It seems the airbag malfunctioned, well, if there even was one, the old hunka-junk car probably failed at even having such a vital thing
just my luck I think, before passing out again, this time forever.
