It was a gloomy night. The snow was falling and the moon was shining. Dad and I were headed home from work. We didn’t have a lot of money, so we lived in my Uncle Jason’s basement.

“Hey dad?” my eyes started to water. “What happened to mom?” he sighed. His breath smelt like tuna and carrots.

“Amber, I already told you that when you turn 16 I will tell you but not till then.”

“But dad! That’s in two more years!”

“Yes I understand, but I don’t feel like you’re ready to know.”

“Daddy! Yes I am”

“Well then I’m just not ready to tell you” He bent over in his seat to scratch his leg. I looked up at the road.

“DAD!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, my heart fell out of my chest. A semi truck was headed straight for us. I screeched in terror. My father looked horrified, he slammed on the brakes, and I saw a tear run down his face. The semi truck hit us, head on, it all happened so fast. Our impala LT rolled down the hill and hit a tree. My dad looked like a rag doll. All of our coins we had saved up had been thrown all over the place and all of our windows were broke. Once the car had finally stopped I said “Dad..?” I shook him and took his right arm to feel his pulse, I couldn’t find it. My heart shattered, I almost throw up. I looked down at my body, I was bleeding a whole lot; my arms, my legs, my nose, my stomach, my everything, I also couldn’t feel my left arm. I tried looking for my dad’s phone, I couldn’t find it. I got out of the car to try to find help. I needed to be strong, I needed to be fearless.

I struggled to climb the hill we rolled down. Once I finally got to the top I burst into tears. There was only darkness; no headlights, no streetlights, no noise, no nothing. Suddenly I lost all the little hope I had. My dad was dead, its dark, and I had nothing to keep warm with. I just lost it.

I figured I would go back to the car to sleep and then start my journey in the morning. I climbed in the trunk because I couldn’t stand sleeping next to my dead dad. I snuggled up but it felt like forever until I fell asleep.

Finally, morning came. The reflection on the broken glass woke me up, but I had no idea what time it was. It seemed like it was around 9:30 but I couldn’t tell. My arm hurt really bad, my heart did too. I knew I needed to find help, but I hurt way to bad too much.

I struggled to get out of the car. My clothes were mainly hand-me-downs but still, I was really upset. They got dads and my own blood all over them. I just wanted to curl up and die. I was done. My life now sucked, I had no mom, no dad, and no siblings. Where was I going to go after I find help? Would in go into an orphanage? I honestly didn’t know my family besides my dad and Uncle Jason. Maybe Uncle Jason would take care of me, but I doubt it because he already has four kids and one on the way. All my grandparents were either dead or didn’t know I existed.

But finally I got to the top of the hill again, I saw a car. I felt like it was god reaching down to carry me away from all my problems and mistakes. I went and stood in the road, they slowly stopped, and it was a female driving with a little boy in the back. She got out of the car and ran up to me. “Oh my gosh!?” she looked like she just saw a zombie or something, “Honey are you alright?!”

“May I use your phone ma’am?” I fought back the tears and the clogging in my throat made my voice creek.

“Yes let me go grab it” The little boy in the back looked confused, whipping his head around to find his mom. She came back and handed it to me; she felt my freezing cold hands and went back to her car. She took out a blanket from the trunk. I called 911.

“Hello, what is your emergency?”

“I’ve been in a car accident”

“Is anyone hurt?”

“Yes my father is dead and I am really bloody and I think I have a broken arm and a concussion.

“Where is your location?”

“West Sonal Street, about half way down.”

“Alright, the police and the paramedics will be there as soon as possible.” I gave the phone back to the nice lady.

“Thank you very much.”

“What’s your name?”

“Amber Dooru, what’s yours?

“Polly Higgins. I want you to wait inside my car for the police to get here.”

“Oh, ok. Thank you.” I climbed in the back seat so I could play with the little boy. It only took the paramedics about 5 minutes to arrive on scene with the police.

I got out of Polly’s car and walked up to the officer that was staring down the hill where the beat up impala and my dead dad laid.

“When was the accident? And what is your name?”

“Amber Dooru and it happened last night. What’s your name?”

“I’m Officer Richard. Are you positive your father is dead?” My throat clogged up again and I started crying. I wrapped my arms around Officer Richard. He patted my back.

“Yes…”

“Amber I am going to have the paramedics take you back to the hospital. They will take very good care of you, I will check on you during my break.” The paramedics came over with the stretcher and instructed me to get on. They rolled me to the ambulance. I jumped off the bed crying still, almost falling over because of my dizziness. I stood at the top of the hill, looking down at my dead dad and the broken glass.

“Goodbye daddy!” My voice cracked, “I LOVE YOU!” I ran to the ambulance, balling my eyes out. I lay back down on the stretcher, they shut me in.

A paramedic, Derrick, came over to take my blood pressure.“Hello Amber, can you tell me what hurts?”

“My head, my arm and my heart.” I hesitated to look at him.

“Are you feeling dizzy or do you have headache at all? Have you thrown up since the accident?"

“I am dizzy and have a really bad headache. But I haven’t thrown up”

“Ok, your blood pressure is a little high, so I want you to try to relax. I’ll have you do an x-ray when we get to the hospital”

“Ok”

“And yes you may have a minor concussion.” I didn’t say anything back to him. I just lay there, thinking.

Once we arrived at the hospital a lady opened the ambulance doors and put me in a wheelchair. She took me to the x-ray room and helped me into the x-ray chair. Neither one of us said a single word. I tried not to look at her, but I did, I stood up and ran into her. I wrapped my arms around her and cried. She put her arms around me, patted my back and sat me back down. She took my arm and laid it on the x-ray table. She positioned it how she wanted and then went behind the wall to take some pictures. Then she came back to position my arm differently. Once we were finished in the x-ray room, she took me to a room at the end of the hallway. “Dr. Zelak will be in shortly.” She finally talked. She left the room; I was lonely, confused and hungry. There was a knock on the door, a nurse came in, she brought me some macaroni and water, she smiled “If you need anything or have any problems my name is Destiny.”

“Ok, thank you” she left the room when Dr. Zelak entered.

“Hello Amber,” Dr. Zelak got his papers ready to take notes “Can you tell me how the accident happened and where you hit your head at?” I started to tear up

“Well, we were driving home from work and then a semi hit us. We rolled down the hill. My arm cracked, and my head broke my window.” I showed him where I hit my head.

“Your arm is broken so we are going to put you in a cast for a while.” There was a silence “We did some testing on your dad, would you like to know how he died?” I started to cry. I hid my face behind my hands and sniffed snot back up in my nose.

“Yes...” I hesitated

“Your father snapped his neck. I’m thinking while you were tumbling down the hill” he rolled his stool over to his cupboard “What color do you want your cast?”

“Pink” I mumbled “Please” Dad told me to always use my manners no matter the situation. He rolled back to me with his casting supplies.

I finally got my cast on, Dr. Zelak left the room. He took me all the way down the hallway. Officer Richard was sitting at the table. I walked in the room; Dr. Zelak left the room and shut the door behind him.

“Amber, can we talk?” his voice startled

“Yes sir.” I gulped

“I did find someone that could take care of you”

“Who?!” My eyes popped out of my skull

“Your mother had a sister, Gloria”

“Does she know me?”

“She was in the hospital when you were born. She has a Pomeranian, and a 5 year old son. If you get cleaned up and have your things ready by tonight, I can call a taxi and have them take you over to start your new life. She only lives about four and a half hours away” Just then I heard the bash of a door. It was Uncle Jason. He ran to me, picked me up and held me in his arms.

“Are you ok?!” His eyes where wide as ever

“Yes I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry me and Rachel can’t take you,” Rachel was his girlfriend “I packed all of your things for you. It’s in the back of my truck.”

“Thanks Uncle Jason” He slowly released his grip and disappeared. Officer Richard began to speak again.

“So would you like to go to Kentucky tonight, Amber? I lived in a small town called Greenville Tennessee with Uncle Jason.

“Umm…” I swallowed hard. “Yes please.” It was final. I was going to Kentucky. Gloria will probably make me go to school, although I did wonder what it was like to have a friend. The only friend I ever had was, dad and my pink elephant. A nudge on my shoulder startled me. It was Uncle Jason. Officer Richard smiled.

“Good luck Amber,” I teared up. I didn’t say anything to him I just ran into his arms “Ill visit you soon. I promise” That was the first time someone had promised me something I thought may come true. I whiped off my tears and smiled just slightly. Uncle Jason led me out to his truck. It was pretty silent, I think it was because he didn’t want to see me go, he turned to me and said “Your father would want you to have this,” he pulled out a box from his pocket “It’s your mothers wedding ring” I gasped I slowly took it out of his hand and put the ring on, “You look just like your mother.” He smiled and turned away. He had that same smile and my dad, it tore my heart out.

He popped his trunk open, there were two boxes; I picked one up, it was not that heavy. Uncle Jason grabbed the other box. We took them back into the hospital where Officer Richard was standing, he smiled “I couldn’t have you leave without this” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a little bag, he handed it to me. I put down my box and opened it. Inside the bag was a necklace that had a capital A with my birth stone in the middle.

“Thank you so much Officer Richard!”

“Just call me Bud,” he smiled “But the taxi is waiting outback. The driver is an old friend.” He took the box out of Uncle Jason’s arms. He started to walk away, and so did Uncle Jason. I dropped my box on the cold, tiled ground and ran my heart out till I reached Uncle Jason, he turned around, and I squeezed him as hard as I could.

“I never want to let go,” I started to cry

“Neither do I Amber, neither do I.” He released his grip

“I love you Uncle Jason…”

“I love you too Pumpkin Pie” Pumpkin Pie was my nickname me dad always called me. I never wanted to lose sight of him, but when it happened, and I knew it was time for me to start my journey, I knew it was destiny. I walked back to the box and picked it up, walked to Bud and got into the taxi. I had just started my journey to Kentucky.