Chapter Text
“Come on, you’re not even gonna look at me? I got you close to tears because we might be late to this new ‘emo’ band you like?”
“It’s not an emo band, dad! They’re the coolest and I like their music a lot, it got me into writing a-and I worked my ass off to buy us these tickets at that stupid frozen yogurt store-”
“Woah, woah! I was just teasing, I know this band means a lot to you.” Her father held up his hands in defense, “I’m sorry, really. I’ll do my best to get us there as quickly and legally as possible.”. Despite looking upset, Alison couldn’t help but snicker a little. “There’s my pretty girl, now just be patient. We still have a few hours before the concert.”
Truthfully, Alison was still impressed that her dad even agreed to this trip. He had this unspoken fear of driving on highways. She always chalked it up to him being a cop, probably countless accidents, drunk driving incidents, and whatever else he had come across.
Calming herself down, Alison wiped at her eyes before looking out the window for anything of interest during the drive. Pressing her face against the palm of her hand, she looked at all the cars around her, trying to count all the different state licenses she could. As some cars stayed stationary, she glanced into the rearview mirror spotting a massive truck with logs. “Good thing we’re ahead of that, right dad? Looks like an accident waiting to happen.” Alison sat up, gesturing her dad to look.
Turning his rearview mirror to face what she saw, he visibly paled at the sight of the log truck. “Yeah. Good thing.” He muttered, before turning his attention back to the road in front of them.
After a few beats of silence, the cars before them finally started to move. “Finally.” Her dad drove forward, in that moment another car flew forward to cut in front of them. “LOOK OUT!” Alison screamed too late, the car striking theirs and sending their car tumbling. A scream ripped through her before her head swung into the window, rendering her unconscious.
The first thing Alison hear when she woke up was screaming, making her startle awake. Looking around, Alison realized how bad the situation was. Their was was completely upside down, her father was unconscious, and the front of their car crushed in like a tin can due to crashing into the massive truck before them. But the worst part no doubt was the wood chipper attachment that had sprung to life, tearing into their car as the machine pulled them closer. “Dad, dad, DAD!” Alison screamed, shaking his arm the best she could.
Her father groaned, easing her slightly in the fact he was still alive, but they weren’t safe yet. “Oh, shit-” Not wasting a second, he worked on undoing her seat belt. A pained yell left her, falling onto the roof of the car. “Get out the window! I’ll meet you outside!”
Looking back at him terrified, she hurried out through the broken window, cursing as the broken glass cut her skin. Climbing out of the car was chaos, seeing all the other cars knocked over in the carnage. Before she was even out of the window, someone was helping her out of the way. “Are you okay? Is there anyone else in the car-” Before they could finish talking to her, a loud bang was heard behind them making her turn around, horrified seeing the wood chipper tear through the front of their car, blood spraying out the back. “DAD!!!!”
“Has anyone seen him?”
Alison snapped back into reality hearing Bobby talking, making her take out one of her earbuds. “Sorry, what were you saying Bobby?” She asked, turning off her music.
“Paco made his great escape again, I’ll check upstairs.” Julia rushed past her younger brother before making her way upstairs while Erik continued to play Mortal Kombat.
Setting down her phone, she got up from the couch. “I can help, no point in me trying to play. Erik will just button mash me to hell.”
“Not my fault you suck at the game.”
“That’s not playing if you just mash the buttons!” She groaned, going to help Bobby and Julia search around for Paco.
Bathrooms? Nothing but smelly BO from the boys. Fridge? Nothing, wait why the hell did she look there? Under the couch? No, but she finally found the spare remote for them. He wasn’t under her backpack or in her shoes.
She stepped aside as Bobby tore apart the couches, stopping when she heard the door open. “Hey?” She awkwardly said, recognizing Charlie, not the woman with him.
“Steffy!” Bobby paused his frantic search to rush over and hug the woman and in that moment it clicked for her. This must be the older cousin they had mentioned before, the one who went off to college.
Holding onto her, Bobby eventually pulled away to go back to searching. “What are you guys doing?” Stefani asked.
“Searching for Paco. Before you ask, it’s his pet turtle.” Alison quickly explained, offering a hand out, “My name's Alison but you can just call me Burke.”
“Burke? What kind of nickname is that?”
“It’s actually my last name. Alison Burke.”