• "Nick! Nick!" a young girl's voice screeched, "Wake up! Wake up!"

    17-year-old Nick Summers slowly emerged from his sleeping world of dreams and the bright California morning sunlight greeted his tired eyes. He groaned and squinted at the little munchkin that dared to disturb him from his peaceful sleep. Even without his glasses, he knew exactly who it was. "Shannon, what did I tell you about barging into my room when the door's closed?" he mumbled.

    "It was open." Shannon, Nick's 10-year-old younger sister, replied with a grin, "Besides, Mom told me to wake you up."

    Nick was about to ask why when his waking mind finally reminded him of the occasion that was supposed to happen that day. His family had been planning this camping trip for over a year now and nothing, not even a horrendous hurricane, was going to keep them from going. Personally, he wasn't too stoked about spending a week sitting around in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees, without any connections with the outside world, but knew that he had no hope in the world to say otherwise. Price you've got to pay for having a lawyer as a dad.

    "Alright." Nick said with a sigh, "Tell them I'll be down in a minute."

    Shannon grinned excitedly and scurried out of the room and down the stairs. Nick watched her go and couldn't help but smile, because even if she was an extreme pain in the butt, she never lost the cuteness factor. With a bit of effort, he brought himself up to a sitting position and swung his legs off the edge of the bed, slipping his glasses onto his Caucasian face. The sounds of a waking suburbia floated through Nick's open window, as well as a slight breeze that ruffled the leaves of the nearby tree. Nick stood up, shut his door, and proceeded to slip on the jean shorts and red T-shirt that he had laid out the night before. He hated getting up this early, normally preferring to sleep in until one o'clock in the afternoon. With a little luck, he'd be right as rain with caffeine in his system.

    In about four minutes, he was completely dressed and made his way downstairs. The intoxicating aroma of bacon and eggs filled Nick's nostrils as he reached the first floor of the house and strode towards the dining room where his family was gathered. "Mom, since when did you start cooking?" he asked as he entered the room.

    His mom glanced up from where she stood tending to a large skillet full of the meaty strips, "Since now. We've all been looking forward to this family trip for a long time and I thought it would be nice to have a homemade breakfast for once."

    "And not a moment too soon." his dad piped in from the table behind the weekend newspaper, "I was beginning to forget what real food tasted like."

    Nick grinned as he took a seat next to Shannon and the food was served a few seconds later. It wasn't long before they shoveled down their meal, placed the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and started to head out the door to the packed four-door Subaru Forester that sat in the driveway. Mrs. Haley, their next-door neighbor and caretaker to their house while they were away, waved goodbye as they backed into the street and drove down the street towards the interstate beyond. From where he sat behind the passenger's seat, Nick watched as the industrialized landscape of the city bled away outside his window and was replaced by the more-open areas populating the city's outskirts. He figured that there really wasn't much else to do or look at for a while down the road, so he pulled out his MP3 player, plugged in the ear buds, and turned it on, falling into a light sleep as the music played.

    The hours dragged on and day morphed into night as they began their journey through the twisted mountain roads. A freak thunderstorm had formed overhead and decided to dump its entire payload right on top of them; forcing Nick's dad to push the wiper blades full bore. "Heck of a storm." he commented as he briefly looked up at the dark, foreboding clouds above, "Hope it clears up by the time we get to the campgrounds."

    "I'm sure it will, honey." Nick's mom assured him.

    Nick was only partially listening to what his parents were saying, focusing more attention to his legs which had fallen asleep and started to cramp up not too long ago. He was tall for his age, maybe a little too tall, and he paid the price when he was squished in a smaller car like this. Whenever he would go to exit a small vehicle, Shannon always joked that he looked like a clown trying to get out of a clown car, which was pretty much how he felt. Although, he always managed to surprise himself at how tiny of a space he could manage to fit himself into, but the real trick was figuring out how to get back out again.

    The car angled around a tight left-hand turn and came upon a particularly long straightaway on a steep incline, and Nick's dad took this opportunity to briefly glance at a road map that was spread out on the dashboard between the two front seats. Suddenly, a pair of bright headlights came around the corner ahead, and from what Nick could see, the other vehicle was traveling fast and on the wrong side of the narrow road. "Dad!" Nick yelled, "Look out!"

    His dad saw it and tried to swerve to avoid the oncoming vehicle, but there simply wasn't enough time. The speeding car also attempted to correct its course and ended up slamming into their left rear tire, causing them to spin on the slick pavement directly towards the edge of the road. Nick's stomach lurched as their car tipped onto its side, and then began to tumble down the steep embankment. The world continued to spin uncontrollably until something hit him in the back of the head and his vision went black.