The Juronas

Sara really wanted to slap PJ. He always did this. He was always late when Sara had somewhere to be. Her and her other triplet, Nathan, had made themselves comfortable on the hood of their older sisters car.

“I’m going to literally murder that boy.” She seethed, staring blankly around the dirty asphalt parking lot. Most of the students had already gone home for the day, but as usual, Sara, Nathan, and Danniella Jurona were left waiting.

Nathan glanced up at Sara silently, from the ground. He raised his eyebrows. Sara stared back at him.

“I swear! Coach is going to murder me!” She turned her body to face Nathans.

“Ok... And?” He mumbled, grumpily, “If you care that much, go help Danny look for him...”

Sara sighed and folded her arms across her chest. Any time PJ had a game, Sara knew to be quick to the car. It infuriated her that her brother didn’t show the same decency. After suffering through Nathans stare for a few moments longer, she pushed herself off the hood of the car and stomped away in the direction of the school.

PJ, who was at the other end of the school, had completely disregarded his sisters game. Instead, he and Rebecca Jenson, his girlfriend of two years, were behind the school cafe, sucking each other’s faces. Completely unaware of the world around them. They were so immersed in each other, in fact, that they didn’t notice Sara standing in front of them, even when she coughed at them.

“Patrick!” She yelled and immediately the two love-birds sprung apart like the other person was on fire. Sara glared down at their startled bodies and Rebecca smiled nervously.

“Evening, Becky.” Sara greeted with a wave. Rebecca waved back. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to have to take Patrick away now.” She smiled, before grabbing PJ’s arm and hauling him to his feet. “You can see him tomorrow.” PJ stayed silent during the entire exchange, apart from a mumbled ‘don’t call me Patrick’. As his sister dragged him away, PJ waved over his shoulder to his girlfriend.

“L-later babe.” He called.

As she approached Daniella’s car, Sara shoved PJ ahead of her.

“Got him...” She smiled, seeming utterly proud of herself.

“Oh whatever, it was barely a couple minutes.” PJ scoffed, turning around and flicking Sara’s cheek. She erupted with anger.

“A few minutes!?” She slapped his hands away and then pushed his shoulders. “I’ve nearly missed half the game!”

PJ pushed Sara back, harder.

“Look, it’s just one game!”

They were glaring at each other now, rage coursing through Sara’s veins. When suddenly, she pounced on him and they tumbled to the ground. They tussled and punched on the dirty road, while Nathan watched the battle lazily from the hood of the car.

“HEY!” A voice rang out through the air, sending cold lightning bolts down the three triplets’ spines. The triplets froze. The fight stopped. Sara was on top of PJ with her hands wrapped tightly around his neck. His face was beginning to turn a deep shade of red but Danniella stomped towards the two and pulled Sara off by the back of her collar.

“Why do you three always have to fight?” She sighed, distancing PJ and Sara from each other.

“What did I do?” Nathan yelled, pushing himself off the car.

“You’re always doing something.” She stared at him knowingly as she clicked the car open. “In.”

As the four drove along the winding highway through the rain, Daniella sighed.

“PJ, next week if you’re late, we’re leaving without you.” She told her brother, trying to keep herself calm.

“What the hell? You want me to walk home?” PJ complained.

“I do have a life, you know, I’m not your personal chauffeur.”

The car shook once and the engine rumbled. From behind the steering wheel, Daniella glanced nonchalantly over the dashboard. There didn’t appear to be anything wrong on the dials; nothing was blinking and she wasn’t low on gas. The engine shuddered once more and this time, Daniella sighed and pulled onto the roadside.

“This damn, cheap car,” she grumbled, dragging her hands down her irritated face. Daniella was sick of taking care of her spoilt siblings. They were ungrateful and while Daniella had saved up to buy her own second-hand car, their parents had given a brand new one to PJ for his 17th birthday.

PJ piped up from the back seat. “What’s happening?”

“Take a wild guess PJ,” Sara scoffed, still curled up in the passenger seat, glaring out the window with her Oxford blue blazer draped over her legs.

“Oh shut up…” PJ groaned, rolling his eyes.

“No, you shut up! This is your fault!”

“The hell did I do?!” PJ slid forward in his seat and grabbed the back of Daniella’s headrest in anger.

Sara spun around to face PJ, her hair whipping across her face. “If you hadn’t spent so much time with Rebecca, we would be at my game by now and this wouldn’t have happened!”

“No! We-”

“Both of you!” Daniella yelled. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles had turned milky white. At the sound of their older sister’s voice, PJ and Sara’s mouths snapped shut like they’d caught flies, though they still glared at each other.

“Just… Shut your mouths.” Daniella let her hands slide off the wheel. “The engine is acting up again, so… You three can stay in the car while I have a look. I don’t want a peep out of any of you.” She turned and looked pointedly at Nathan, who had been sitting quietly in the back seat, picking at the grout around the window.

Daniella clicked open the door and slid out. As the rain patted down on her she shivered and pulled the hood of her black jumper over her head and popped open the hood of the car. Inside, there didn’t appear to be anything strange, other than a small silver pallet sitting on the rumbling engine. She lifted it to her eyes and examined for a moment. It looked like one of Nathan’s two dollar pranks, cheap plastic. It was suspicious but Daniella doubted it could be the cause for the engine breaking down. She dropped it into her pocket and shuffled away from the car, dialling a number into her phone. Just to be safe. The old car broke down so often, calling the tow-truck was almost a habit by now. She held the phone under her hood and heard it ring into her ear.

“Is Gérard there?”

In the car, the three triplets were still fighting. From outside, Daniella could barely hear their muffled voices over the rain.

Nathan sighed, “Literally… No.”

“Well, you certainly weren’t helping Nathan!” Sara seethed.

“I shouldn’t have had to.”

“You could have called me...” Pj mumbled, twiddling his thumbs in his lap.

“We did!-”

When suddenly, the engine spluttered and a hot black cloud of smoke erupted from under the hood, blasting it open and spraying ash into the air.

Daniella yelped and dropped her phone onto the ground where it bounced and splashed into a puddle. Her siblings were in the car. She felt her chest tighten as she lurched towards the car with her arms outstretched.

“Oh shit!” Nathan yelled, already reaching for his door handle as smoke puffed through the air-conditioning. The car was suddenly filled with ash, the smell of petrol and rusty metal. Sara screamed and unlocked her door. On the other side, Daniella was already yanking on the handle, but as the three tried to escape, wheezing -

‘BOOM’

The engine exploded into smoke and flames that threw Daniella backwards through the air. She let out a cry as the fire scorched her arms and she landed on her back in a patch of wet gravel. Daniella groaned and pulled her suddenly throbbing wrist to her chest. Shards of metal rained down on her, slicing through her skin, so she leaned herself on her good hand and forced herself onto her feet, shaking. At the sight of the still blazing car, Daniella felt a sob force its way from her chest. She watched Nathan’s door swing loosely on one of its hinges with the boy’s leg hanging limply out the door.

Daniella could feel her skin stinging as she approached the open door. The flames licked at her face, but she continued on through the inferno.

“Nathan..” she wheezed, pulling on the cuff of his trousers which crumbled to ash under her grip. She collapsed to the ground, feeling the stones stab into her knees. Her eyes watered from the smoke and she coughed, when suddenly a pair of large, strong hands were on her shoulders, pulling her back. Daniella cried out and grabbed for Nathan’s charred ankle.

“Get off!” She shrieked. She dug her nails into one of the hands and it left her shoulder, only to wrap around her arm and drag her through the stones. Whoever was pulling her along the ground dumped her in a puddle and ran back to the car. The man was silhouetted against the flames, but from the foggy vision Daniella had, he looked like an average civilian. With her last shred of determination, Daniella pulled herself along the ground towards the fire. She had only made it a few feet before her arm gave out underneath her. She wailed into the ground as her stinging eyes closed and she blocked out the sounds of the sizzling metal and the crushing rain. As her chest heaved, in the back of her head, she heard: “You did the right thing...”