Chapter 1

Stepping out of the limo and looking at the house in front of him, he smiled warmly. Home. He was finally home from the long tour and he couldn’t wait to spend time with his family. But before he knew it, he would be back on the road again. He sighed to himself as he took his bag from his limo driver and thanked him. Nick walked to the back door and found the door unlocked. He turned the knob slightly and pushes against it. Walking in all he heard was silence. No greeting from his siblings or his parents. Just the wind rushing against the curtains and the sound of his own breathing. He started slowly towards the kitchen and heard the water running. He smiled. Someone must be washing the dishes. He walked in the door and his smile quickly faded. There was a red head standing at the sink. He couldn’t help but notice the curves of her body, but quickly shook his head.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" He asked rudely as Kaylie turned around and saw Nick standing behind her.

"Hi Nick, I’m Kaylie. It's nice to finally meet you," She said, smiling, Nick rolled his eyes at her.

"Sure whatever why are you here and where is my mother?" Nick asked rudely as Kaylie’s smile faded quickly and she felt a pain run through her heart.

‘What’s up his butt?’ she thought, "She's in the office," Kaylie replied as Nick stormed out of the kitchen and down the hallway. Nick didn’t even bother to knock on the door as he opened it and Jane looked up. She said a quick good-bye to who she was talking to and hung up the phone.

"Hello Nick, It's nice to see you’re back." Jane said as she got up and hugged her son. She notices something was wrong when he didn’t return the hug.

"Nick, What’s wrong?" Jane asked.

"Why didn’t you tell me that Katie girl or whatever her name was is staying here?" Nick asked, eager for answers. 

"It is my house too and I do have a say if she stays here or not," Jane said as Nick threw his hands in the air from frustration.

"Yeah, sure mom." Nick said, as he rolled his eyes and walked out of the room and past Kaylie. What he didn’t know was she had listened to the whole thing. Kaylie just took a deep breath and went back to drying the dishes.


The Next Morning

Kaylie opened her left eye and saw the sun shining through the window. Mondays always sucked. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. She rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes to look at the ceiling. She wasn’t too successful on going back to sleep. She must have stared at the ceiling for 30 minutes, just thinking. Thinking of what her life was going to lead too. And with Nick apart of it now, it’ll be harder than she thought it would. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and wiped it away. She was going to move on just like Jane said. She had to. She rolled out of bed and made sure she looked decent before strolling into the kitchen. Opening the fridge she saw someone stop in the doorway. She looked up and saw Nick. She couldn’t help but notice he was only wearing his boxer.

"Good Morning," She said taking her eyes off of him and taking out the orange juice carton.

"Good Morning," Nick mumbled as he got himself the cereal and the milk. An awkward silence was in the room and Nick couldn’t help but shift his weight from under him. Kaylie sat down at the table and cupped her glass full of juice. Nick sat down across from her and all he could hear was her soft breathing. Why wasn’t she saying anything? He had to break the silence. It was killing him.

"So, why are you staying with us?" Nick asked as he saw Kaylie bite her bottom lip, “What‘s going on? Are you our new maid?” Kaylie quickly glanced up at him in complete shock that he thinks she‘s a maid, “If so, could you get me some more milk?” Tears quickly welled up in her eyes and she couldn’t help but feel like slapping Nick right across the face for being so rude. What could be so bad that she was staying with them? She always asked herself. Nick. It’s all about Nick! She felt her cheeks became wet and got up quickly. She wasn’t going to let him see her cry.

She ran out of the room as Nick watched her go, “Is it that bad to answer a simple question?” Nick shrugged his shoulder, "All I know is she ain't getting a raise, that's for sure," and walked back upstairs to his room confused.


                                                                                       ~*~


Kaylie ran into the bathroom and slammed the door. Switching on the lights,she looked at herself in the mirror. Her tears were flowing quickly down her cheeks and into the sink below her. She just didn’t understand. Why was she here? Well, she knew why she was at the Carter residence, though, but why still on earth? It just wasn’t fair. Her family should never have died. It should have been her not them! Would her family be this sad if it would have been her? She couldn’t help but think about how it would be if everything had been switched around like she wished. She just couldn’t grasp onto the thought that they were gone. Why was reality so hard to accept? Maybe because it was just like a cold, hard slap in the face. Why had she convinced her brother and parents to go on vacation that week? Why didn’t she want them to stay? Maybe because she was turning 16 and wanted more social time to herself, but boy was that a mistake! Her family died because she wanted time away from her family and more time to herself. How selfish can she be? Only if she can take it all back and make things the way it suppose to be, she’ll be happy again, but for now, her life seems to be falling apart one step at a time. She heard a knock on the door and wiped her eyes quickly.

“Kaylie,” She heard Aaron call through the door. She couldn’t stop the tears from falling before he walked in and was stood in complete shock.

“Are you ok?” He asked as she shook her head. Aaron took her shoulders in his hands and turned her around towards him, “What happened?”

Kaylie took a deep breath, “Nothing,”

“C’mon, you can do better then that,”

Kaylie let out a small smile, “It’s just- It’s just the pressure from Nick I'm getting,”

Aaron let out a big sigh, “Oh gosh, what did he do this time?” Rolling his eyes.

“He’s too much for me already, Aaron. I mean, whenever I’m near him or just 10 feet from him, I just end up in tears.” Kaylie tried to talk in-between her sobs, “I just can’t bring myself to say something back to him,”

“He didn’t actually do anything, right?”

“Well no, but- whenever I tried to be nice or even keeping my mouth shut, he ends up saying things that just pisses me off.”

“Well, you know, he is going through some tough time lately. He had a lot of things happening while he was on tour, so you know…”

Kaylie jaw dropped. “And I didn‘t?!?”

Aaron didn’t say anything, but looked down at the floor feeling sorry for both Kaylie and Nick. They’re still so young and they both are going through so much pain already.

Kaylie took a look at her in the mirror and was disgusted by what she saw. A worthless girl still living on Earth. It’s all her fault. Everything is her fault. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she quickly pushed past Aaron and ran back into her room crying.

Aaron was stood in complete shock. He quickly ran out of the bathroom and downstairs.

“Mom, mom!” Aaron shouted.

“What? What’s wrong?” Jane answered, walking out of the kitchen.

“Kaylie,” Aaron said as if he did something wrong, “She’s crying. I kinda don’t know why, but I think it has to do with Nick or something,”

“Oh no, what did he do this time?”

“Well, that’s what I said too, but Kaylie look very miserable,” Aaron said, “she could barely talk to me about it,”
Jane let out a big sigh, “Could you please go call Nick down here?”

“Okay,”


                                                                                         ~*~


‘Who is she? Why is she running off on me like that? Geez, what the hell did I even do?’ Nick thought to himself.

‘Knock Knock’

“Yeah?” Nick answered

Aaron walked in, “Mom wants you downstairs,”

“And why is that?”

“She just does, okay?”

Nick let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. Nick stood up, turned off the radio and walked downstairs while Aaron went back into his own room.

                                                                                           ~*~

“You call?” Nick said, smirking, as he saw his mother in the living room walking back and fourth impatiently.

Jane turned and faced her son, “You mind telling me what happened?” Jane demanded.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Nick, you know what. Aaron said you made Kaylie cried,”

“Cry?? Oh my god, she cried?” Nick shook his head in disbelieve.

“Um, hello! Could you please fill me in on this!”

Nick rolled his eyes and flopped down onto the couch as Jane sat down next to him, “It was just nothing. I woke up this morning and she said good morning and so did I. We than sat down the table to eat and I wanted to break the silence between us, so I asked if she was our new maid and if she was, could she get me some more milk. And she-”

“YOU ASKED HER IF SHE WAS OUR NEW MAID?!?!?!” Jane screamed, "AND YOU WANTED HER TO GET YOU SOME MILK???"

Nick’s eyes widened in complete shock due to his mother’s reaction, “She is our- our new maid, right?” Nick asked, nervously.

“NO!” Jane replied, angrily.

Nick gasped out in shock.


                                                                                             ~*~


“Who the hell does he think he is? Calling me a maid? Ordering me around? Disrespecting me? Ugh! What a jerk!” Kaylie said to herself as she threw her hands in the air, but accidentally knocked over a picture frame instead, “Oh no!”

Kaylie quickly kneeled down to the shattered pieces of glass and picked the piece of picture up. A piece of glass went ripping through her skin and made a quick cut, “Ouch!!!” Kaylie screamed out in pain, but careless when she realized the picture that was ruined, now was a picture of her and her family together. Happily and peacefully. They were at the park on her sweet 16. The day before they died.

“Dammit! Why?!?” Kaylie cried out in pain and loneliness, “Why this? Why them???” Kaylie cried as her memory brought her back to the night of the accident.


::Flashback::

‘Ring Ring’ the phone rang just as Kaylie was turning on the TV. She ran over to the kitchen counter to pick it up and answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hello, may I speak to Kaylie Summers?” A deep spoken voiced asked.

“I am she,”

“I am Dr. Vasquez. I would like you to come down here to The Hartford Hospital. It’s an emergency.”

“What? What happened?” Kaylie demanded.

“Please, it’s easier for me to explain this in person. Come to the hospital and I’ll meet you in the waiting room.”

“Okay, I’ll be there,”

“Thank you,”

“Bye,” Kaylie quickly hung up and dialed up another number. She called for a taxi. In 2 minutes, it came. Kaylie jumped in and directed the men to go to The Hartford Hospital. When she got there, she quickly ran to the front desk and asked for Dr. Vasquez.  The lady pointed behind her. There stood a tall man waving her over.

As Kaylie walked over, millions of things was going through her mind, but she quickly shook her head and stared at the doctor for answeres.

“Please, sit down,” Kaylie sat and so did the doctor.

“What happened? Why am I here?” Kaylie wanted to ask all the questions that were going through her mind, but she knew she had to calm down before she gets a nervous breakdown.

“I’m the one who called you earlier. I’m Dr. Vasquez,” They shook hands, “You’re here because something happened earlier this afternoon,”

“Oh no,” Kaylie thought, as her heart started beating faster.

“You’re family’s plane crashed earlier this afternoon when it took off and about 20 minutes on the air, it went down near a town here in Connecticut,”

“No!” Kaylie mumbled, “No! This can’t happen! It was suppose to be a vacation. Not a disaster! NO!!” Kaylie started screaming, as she stood up throwing her hands in the air.

“Miss. Summers, I’m sorry, No one knew what happened. They say it might off been an engine difficulty and-”

“Where’s my family? Where are they? Are they all right? Are they here?”

“Yes, but-”

“I want to see them,”

“Mrs. Summers, they’re- they're dead,” Dr. Vasquez tried his hardest to explain, “I’m very sorry,”

Kaylie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She looked around the room and saw families, children’s, husband, wives, boyfriend, girlfriends, all waiting for information on there loved ones. Kaylie knew they were the people who are here due to the plane crash. Some were crying and some were screaming, “NO! And “What happened?” Kaylie turned her head back to Dr. Vasquez.

“No, you made a mistake! You have it all wrong, you see, they were supposed to go on a vacation this afternoon! They promise to be back! ” She heard herself screaming, she knew she was hysterical, she knew this was not polite. People were now staring at them, but Kaylie didn’t care.

“I’m so sorry, miss.” The doctor said as he gave her an understanding look and walked back into a room that says: Emergency Room.

Kaylie felt like if someone just stabbed her right through the chest and as if she can’t breathe. She flopped herself onto the chair and cried to herself with her head in her hands.

::End of Flashback::