Chapter 1: Going For A Drive

The world is practically dead at 3 am. No soul truly active, the only noises the dull buzzing of lights and critters scavenging for what little they can find. But it's at this time, when watchful eyes are closed, that the most impactful events can occur.

Take this young couple, Johnny and Amber, out for a drive in their beat up car. A quaint old thing, from before their time, but the two of them were proud of it. A compact capable of cruising with the best in its day, but now the carriage for an evening joyride. Speeding along well over anything reasonable. But these two were not the most reasonable individuals.

They were rambunctious, and in love, they only saw each other, and the immediate now in front of them. What made them happy, what satisfied them in the present. And the wind in their hair, the adrenaline of pure speed and bass from their speakers blasting obnoxious contemporary music, it was intoxicating to the two of them.

As the two sped along the empty streets, Johnny listening to Amber laugh and sing along to their tunes, he didn't care where they ended up. It was a Friday night after their date night, and while they had started towards home, as he drove he realized he never wanted this night to end. He loved Amber, and wanted nothing more than to enjoy her for the rest of his days. He put on her playlist she had made for them, rolled the windows down, and started to drive faster and faster, watching her gorgeous green eyes light up brighter than even their headlights. He was in love with her.

But love, as they say, is blind.

In the blink of an eye, the two were being flipped, violently, impacting hard into a truck far larger than their tiny vehicle. Johnny tried to avoid it, only noticing when he turned his head away from Amber for a moment. In that brief second he turned hard right and slammed his brakes, but that only served to cause the wheels to buckle, and the car to vault into the air and through the truck. The screeching sounds of metal ripping itself asunder was all that could be heard, and then, after what seemed like eternity, was silence.