Prologue

Ivy's POV

It was later at night, much later than my parents had promised to be home that the house phone rang.

Thinking it was them calling, I quickly ran up to the phone and picked it up, ready to give them a piece of my mind for not picking up their phone or informing me that they'd be home late.

It wasn't them, though.

It was a police officer.

And nothing in the world could've prepared me for what was waiting on the other side of the line for me.

"Is this the Emerson household?"

"Yes. This is Ivy Emerson. Who's this?"

"I'm speaking from the town's police department. I have called to inform you that Mr. Jonathan Emerson has been in a particularly nasty car wreck over at the willow creek bridge. I am speaking from the site of the accident-"

I cut the call as soon as I heard where they were. My hands shook as I picked up my car keys and made my way to the door, ready to drive to the bridge.

In a daze, I made my way to the bridge, taking in the various police cars and the lone ambulance with wide eyes.

I got out of the car and walked closer to my parent's car, my heart hammering in my chest as I took in it's mangled, upturned form.

There was no one inside.

"Ma'am? Ma'am please step away from the vehicle," a police officer said, making me turn towards him.

"My...my parents. The ones who were in this car, where are they?" I asked, my ears ringing as I waited for a response.

The officer looked at me with something akin to pity in his eyes.

"This way, ma'am," he said, turning around.

Almost as if on autopilot, I followed after him towards the ambulance that was to the side of the road, it's back door open.

We made our way to the back door. 

A paramedic stepped down from the ambulance, silently shaking her head at the police officer before leaving.

What did that mean?

I shook my head, focusing on what was inside the ambulance instead.

On the stretcher inside, lay a body covered in white, spots of red tainting the white sheet.

The body wasn't moving. Nor was any paramedic trying to do anything to the body.

Shouldn't they be trying to save the person?

Moving forward, I tried to step into the ambulance to see who the person was but the officer held me back by my arm.

"Ma'am, please don't. He's dead, you don't want to see that," he told me, his expression sympathetic.

"No, no, no," I repeated the word over and over again, shrugging the officer off. Whether the no was to tell him the person wasn't dead or that I did want to see, I didn't know. 

I moved into the ambulance anyway, pulling the white sheet away from the person's face with trembling fingers.

It was my father.

I sat there next to his dead body, frozen in shock, unable to take my eyes away from his lifeless form. 

One side of his face was bashed in and covered in blood, making him almost unrecognisable. But I knew without a doubt that he was my father.

It wasn't until my tears hit my trembling hands did I realize that I was crying.

My father was dead, gone just like that. And my mother....where was my mother?

I dashed out of the ambulance at once.

"Where's my mother?" I demanded through my tears, looking at the officer who had brought me here in the first place.

He looked confused at the question. "Your father was the only was in the car."

I shook my head at him. "No, my mother must've been there with him too. They had left together. They were supposed to come back together. Where's my mother?" I asked, my tone bordering on hysterical.

What if they had forgotten to get my mother out of the car?

I ran towards the car again, ignoring the officer behind me who was telling me to stop.

I crouched down next to the car, trying to look into it. 

It was empty.

Suddenly, strong arms pulled me up.

"Ma'am, you're not allowed near the vehicle. Calm down, please."

I wrenched myself away from him. "Where's my mother?" I shouted at him.

The officer huffed. "I've told you, your father was the only one in the car. He was alone when the car crashed," he emphasized.

I sobbed. "But then where's my mother?"

I didn't understand. 

Where was she? 

"Calm down, ma'am. Try calling her?" The officer suggested.

I wiped at my tears before pulling my phone out of my pocket, thankful that I'd remembered to pick it up on my way out of the house.

I quickly called my mother before putting it to my ear.

It rang, and weirdly enough I could hear the ringtone.

I looked around frantically, trying to make out where the sound was coming from amidst the voices of the officers and paramedics all around me.

Shut up, I wanted to shout at them all so I could better listen to where the sound was coming from.

After a few seconds of listening, my eyes zeroed in on an officer who was holding a plastic bag in his hand with something glowing from inside it.

It was my mother's phone.

I ran towards him at once.

"Officer? Where did you find that phone?" I asked him, making him turn to look at me.

He looked down at the object in his hands which had stopped ringing now. He looked at me again before looking behind me at something. He nodded once before looking down at me again. "I got this from inside the victim's car."

My eyes widened. If her phone was here, then she must be somewhere here too. My mom never went anywhere without her phone. "Where's the owner of this phone? My mom. She has really pretty red hair, and...and she's really fair too. Green eyes like me. Have you seen her? Where is she?" I asked, desperate to see my mother again.

The officer sighed. "No, ma'am. I haven't seen someone like that. There was only a man inside that car."

"You're lying!" I burst out at him. He had to be! They were all lying to me. If her phone was here, then she must be here too. Why wouldn't they tell me where she was?

Was she dead too?

Is that why they wouldn't tell me?

I whipped around to face the officer I'd met earlier. "Is my mom dead too? Is that why you're not telling me where she is? Please, just tell me. I need to see her. Please, officer," I all but begged, frustrated tears leaking down the sides of my face.

"Ma'am I've told you before, the only person inside the car was your father," the officer repeated making me cry out in frustration.

"I just want my mother," I wailed. "I've already lost my father, I can't loose her too. Please, tell me where she is," I sobbed hysterically, my shoulders shaking as I dropped to my knees in the middle of the road.

My father had just died and now my mother was missing too.

I couldn't even remember what the last conversation I'd had with my parents. 

Had I told my dad that I loved him often enough?

Because I did. I loved him a lot.

And my mother too. I loved her more than anything in the world.

How was I going to live without either of them?

I was eighteen years old, I'd only recently graduated from high school.

My parents were supposed to come with me and help me shift into my dorm when left for college in a few months.

There were supposed to lecture me on how I didn't visit home often enough even though I did.

Mom was supposed to tell me how thin I'd become ever since I started college before stuffing my face full of food.

And dad was supposed to tell me to stay away from boys.

But I wouldn't listen to him, because that's the way I was. I'd never listened to him.

Not when he told me not to colour my hair in my freshman year but I did it anyway, dying them a bright blue just because I could.

Not when he told me not to go to that party in my sophomore year but I snuck out anyway.

Not when he told me not to date Jason in my junior year because he was a good for nothing brat but I did anyway. 

Did that make me a bad daughter? Did he die thinking what a horrible daughter I was?

I sobbed harder at the thought.

Why? Why did this have to happen to me? To my father? And God, where was my mother? Was she okay? Was she dead too?

I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of something happening to her.

And not long after the thought hit me, I puked my guts out in the middle of the road before passing out promptly.