My face was beet red, fury plastered across my expression. My sister, Kriss, tilted her head cockily. I sat on my hands, restricting my instinct to punch her. I ground my teeth together as she took out her cell and headphones innocently. Up ahead, my dad was chattering away about sports. My mom was listening as intently as she could to his blathers, nodding along as he went. That left me with nobody. I sat alone staring out the window at endless plains. My sister started to absent-mindedly dance along to the song she was listening to, humming to the tune. For whatever reason this annoyed me; everything Kriss did annoyed me. In fact, we had just gotten into a fight about her annoying behavior, and, of course, my parents took her side. They always do. 

SCREEEECH – THUNK! The car skid and then stopped unexpectedly, sending me face first into the seat ahead of me. I groaned and slumped back down into my seat. My head throbbed, and my face twisted into a grimace. I looked around to my sister, who lay curled up on her seat, wailing miserably. My father was out of the car, surveying the scene and searching for the source of the issue, and my mom sat trembling with shock in the front seat. 

“Car broke down. We’re going to need to get help,” my dad explained wearily. My mom sighed, shaking off the shock from the sudden stop, unbuckled, and hopped out of the car. “You girls stay in the car. We are going to find help, just wait patiently. Don’t get out unless you absolutely need to!” My eyes widened, and I opened my mouth in protest, but the door was tightly shut in my face before I could utter a word of argument. I grunted loudly and crossed my arms, turning away from my sniffling sister. Then, I heard rustling coming from her seat and turned around to see Kriss yank a blanket up to her chin and shut her eyes suddenly in order to pretend to sleep. I rolled my eyes, and then punctuated my annoyance by bothering to huff a great, exasperated sigh. I turned towards the window, determined to stare out into the wilderness. My eyelids felt heavy as I stared out at the nothingness, and slowly, they dropped, encasing my vision in darkness. 

BANG! I woke up with a start. I spun around to Kriss, who was also on high alert. We locked eyes,  meeting each other’s gaze for the first time in a while, and pure panic written on her face. Her lower lip trembled, and I’m sure mine did too. No animal could have made that sound; it had to be a human. I crept to the floor, crouching down below my seat and motioned for Kriss to do the same. Eyes wide and screaming with fear, she nodded before shaking her way down to the floor. 

The banging noise never returned, so the only sound to be heard was our heavy, staggered breathing. Every so often, Kriss would whimper, her eyebrows knitted together in fear. My gut twisted in pity, lurching to comfort her, but then I remembered who I would be comforting and stopped myself. I did not want to interact with her; I was still mad. Kriss looked at me, her brown eyes wide with anticipation. I knew what she was feeling. My heart hammering against my chest, worry pulsing in my veins, I had never felt so fearful or threatened in my life. There was a giant possibility that a human was outside our car, and that person could possibly mean us harm. 

“Amy,” Kriss whined, her features contorted into a grimace. I glared at her, suspicious. She never spoke to me unless it was an insult. “I think we should check.” I had to hide my shock. Kriss wanted to find who was outside our car? With me? I nodded slowly, solemnly. She scooted over towards me, our hands grasping each other. I glanced at her, but her eyes were closed, and her body frozen and rigid in a silent prayer. When she was done, she nodded to me once. I gripped her hand tighter, and I pulled her up to the window with me to inspect the situation. 

A back clad in a gray sweater met my eyes. I heard a low grunt, and the man reached up to wipe his brow. My dad. I slumped back down into my seat, relieved. Kriss followed closely after. We were safe. My panting eventually slowed, so did my racing heart. Kriss was close to joyful tears as was I. There was no evil gang outside our car. 

I felt warm arms wrap around me, and I peered down to see Kriss. Her face pressed into my shoulder. Hesitantly, I wrapped my arms around her too. 

“Well you too look happy,” my dad practically yelled. I sprung up from the embrace, leaving Kriss giggling madly. A grin eventually overtook my face. “Car is all fixed. We are going to get going now. Sorry about not telling you we were back; you were both fast asleep.” Kriss and I both nodded, still smiling. My dad sat down in the driver seat, waiting for mom. He hummed a tune happily, matching the lively mood of the car very well. 

My mom hopped into the car, giving my dad a knowing look as she peeked behind her. Next to me, Kriss was beaming. I was happy too, but a bit surprised. All my life, Kriss had hated me, despised me even. I didn’t know she looked up to me that much, that she would rely on me for protection. I guess I may have been more mean to her than she really deserved.