Sydney

The ride back home was one I never wanted to experience ever again.

Because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop imagining everything exploding right there in the back seat where I sat.

“Mom, you should have seen it.” Brooklyn whined in the passenger seat. “There was blood on Dean’s face, on Tyler’s hand…even Tyler’s face.”

I’d swallowed more times than I could count, trying to shut out her voice by staring so hard out the window.

But it was her voice against the one screaming in my head.

“I was so scared, Mom,” she said again, and this time her voice actually shook. “I’ve never seen...