Prologue
It was hard to see through the snow. The husband was gripping the steering wheel with both gloved hands and squinting through the windshield. With the lights bouncing off the snow, it reminded him of Star Wars, but without the excitement. There was no light speed or passing stars. Just the rumbling of the car engine and the slippery road. The wife was sitting in the passenger’s seat, nervously staring out the window. She was chewing on her thumbnail, which was what she did when she got nervous. Her strawberry blonde hair was sticking out from under her fluffy hat, and her coat was bunched up around her neck. Even though the heat in the car was all the way on, the air still had a chill to it. It was probably because of the snow and harsh wind on the outside. The husband and wife kept glancing at each other, silently praying that they would make it home safely.
The two had taken a trip to visit the wife’s sick parents. They weren’t going to be alive much longer, so the couple had taken a trip to see them. The husband told his wife that she could stay with her parents and he would go back home to the kids, but she just shook her head. It was going to be harder to watch them waste away than it would be to get the call. So they said their goodbyes, got in the car, and started driving. It was snowing when they left, but it wasn’t as bad as it was now. They could barely see three feet in front of the car. There was nowhere to pull over and wait it out, and they didn’t want to pull off to the side of the road. So the husband pressed the gas pedal lightly with his foot and slowly navigated the car forwards. They just wanted to get home safely so they could be reunited with their two daughters.
Dana was old enough to be on her own, but she still lived at home and helped take care of her little sister, Emily. Emily was in high school and was a stubborn thing. She definitely got that from her mother; at least that’s what the husband always told his wife. Emily and Dana disagreed on almost everything, so at first, the parents were tentative about leaving them together for a couple days. But Dana reassured her parents that everything would be fine, so they left. And now they were driving through a blizzard, determined to get back home. Maybe they should’ve pulled over and waited, but the wife just wanted to get home to her babies.
The road was dark and there were no other cars except for theirs. It was a shock to the couple when a large truck pulled up behind their tiny vehicle. The husband thought the truck would be patient just like him, but he was wrong. After several minutes of tailing, the truck slid into the other lane and prepared to pass the couple’s car. The driver of the truck evidently thought his vehicle could handle anything, because he pressed on the gas and sped it forwards. Unfortunately, the truck wasn’t invincible, and it began to slide. The husband and wife watched in horror as the large vehicle got closer and closer to their car. The driver of the truck lost all control as he stomped on the brake and over-corrected the direction of the vehicle. The truck came tumbling into the little car and pushed it off the road. The air bags exploded as it rolled and flipped down the hill, throwing the husband and wife against the inside of the car. It eventually slammed into a tree and stopped. All of the windows were shattered, and every inch of the car was beaten and bruised. The husband and wife sat in their seats, unconscious, leaning forward against their seatbelts. Blood was dripping from their heads, but it was also seeping from every inch of their bodies.
The driver of the truck eventually got his vehicle stopped and he ran down the hill in a panic. He eventually reached the crashed car and nearly threw up due to the sight he saw. The bodies of the husband and wife were barely recognizable and didn’t even look like humans anymore. Knowing that he had caused this, the truck driver yanked his phone out of his pocket and called 9-1-1. He nearly made himself sick explaining everything, but he knew he couldn’t just leave them there without telling someone. So the truck driver waited until he saw the flashing lights of the ambulance, and then he escaped from the situation, driving into the night.
Dana and Emily were oblivious to the situation, of course. Dana was reading on the couch, and Emily was perched against the window with a cup of hot chocolate. She was watching it snow, hoping that her parents weren’t stuck in the middle of the blizzard. Dana kept telling her little sister that everything was going to be fine, but she honestly didn’t believe it herself. She continuously checked her phone in case her parents had tried to call her, but there was never a missed call; her phone was always blank. Dana sighed and looked over at her little sister.
“They’ll be home soon,” Dana repeated.
“I know,” Emily replied, taking a sip from her mug.
The older sister pushed herself off of the couch and wandered into the kitchen. She left her phone on the coffee table next to the couch and opened the fridge. Her parents always kept the fridge extremely full; some people would say it was overflowing. Dana reached in and grabbed a bottle of water and an orange. She then kicked the fridge door shut with her foot and flopped back down on the couch. She was about to start pealing her orange when her phone rang. Both Emily and Dana stared at it for a second, not recognizing the number. The older sister then snatched it off of the table and brought it to her ear.
“Hello?” she inquired.
“Is this Dana Parsons?” a woman on the other end requested.
“It is,” the older sister responded. “Who is this?”
“I’m sorry,” the woman began with a sniffle. “It’s your parents. We found them at the bottom of a hill. Their car was smashed in and they were unconscious. We couldn’t find a pulse.” Dana nearly dropped her phone. “I’m so sorry sweetie, but they’re dead.”
Dana looked over at Emily, who was staring at her older sister with concern. A look of horror spread across Dana’s face and she began to cry uncontrollably. Em bolted out of her seat and raced over to her sister, embracing her; together, they fell to the ground. The woman was still talking on the phone, but Dana had thrown it across the room. She didn’t want to hear another word about her parents. She wished it to not be true because she didn’t want to have to tell Emily. But as Emily looked at her, Dana knew. She knew that her parents weren’t coming back home. They were never coming back home.
“You’re an overcomer and more than a conqueror. You have nothing to fear. God is for you, so who can be against you? You’re the child of the one true King who loves you with an everlasting love. Press on and have hope because God is faithful.”
- Unknown
