Chapter 4

I forced myself to sleep. A few more hours, and come morning, we'd leave all this behind for good.

But I underestimated the malice of Jack's family-they had no intention of letting us leave.

The next day was Christmas.

The small town was adorned with festive lights, brimming with holiday spirit.

Yet our family was like refugees, silently packing our belongings.

The car wheels crunched over the snow, slowly driving away from the town.

As familiar landmarks shrunk in the rearview mirror, my taut nerves finally relaxed a little.

Lily was securely fastened in her car seat, and Sarah was softly reading a picture book to her.

My parents sat in the back, quietly discussing plans for when we returned to New York.

I turned on the car stereo, hoping to dispel the gloom with soothing Christmas songs.

Just as the piano intro to "Silent Night" began, my face went deathly pale.

The steering wheel suddenly felt incredibly heavy and pulled uncontrollably to the right!

My heart stopped. I slammed the brake pedal all the way down-

The brakes had failed!

"Stop! Stop now!" I wrestled desperately with the steering wheel.

In my panic, a chilling thought struck me like lightning: this rental car had just passed a full inspection and was in perfect condition.

And Jack, he worked at an auto repair shop.

Someone who knew how to fix cars certainly knew how to make them fail at a critical moment.

On the icy road, the tires screamed. The car wrenched sideways, slid, and punched through the guardrail.

On one side of this road was a steep, snow-covered slope.

God-

Then came the shriek of my family, the deafening grind of tearing metal, and the world turning over and over as we fell.

I woke up in a medical center.

The nurse said our car had been stopped by several thick oak trees during its tumble, which was how we miraculously survived.

My left tibia and fibula had an open fracture, now fixed with steel pins and a cast; three ribs on my right side were broken, one nearly puncturing my lung.

The paramedics said if I had been brought in half an hour later, the internal bleeding would have been irreversible.

A blessing in disguise, my parents and Sarah only suffered multiple contusions and mild concussions, no life-threatening severe injuries.

After the crash, my father, still conscious, immediately dialed 911 on his phone, buying me precious time for rescue.

Lily, miraculously, was unharmed thanks to her car seat, but she was terrified.

For two whole days, she didn't make a sound, just stared with empty, vacant eyes.