Serendipity - A Chance Encounter

Nancy shrugged her shoulder, "Mia accepts the dare so she has to do it."

As soon as Nancy spoke, she and Mia got up and went outside the bedroom. Samantha scrambled out of the bed as she tried to catch up with her friends. "Nancy, Mia... wait up!"

"Shhh... be quiet or they"ll wake up.", Nancy said as she helped Mia search for the keys.

After a minute of searching, Mia and Nancy didn"t find the car keys. Samantha was standing by the counter fidgeting her hands anxiously.

The three of them froze when they heard footsteps coming towards them. "Oh shoot."

"What are you guys doing?", Mia"s 10-year-old brother, Maison, came into the living room in his pajamas. He was scratching his eyes as he walked towards Mia.

"You scared me!! Why are you up?"

"I was thirsty and I heard some noise so I checked."

"Maison, do you know where your dad keeps the car keys?", Nancy asked the little boy.

Mia clenched Nancy"s s.h.i.+rt, "Nancy!"

"What? He won"t tell... right, Maison?"

"What are you going to do?", Maison asked his sister.

Mia bit her lip before she lowered herself to talk to her brother, "Maison, do you know where dad keeps his car keys?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Why?"

"I"m going to borrow it."

Maison reasoned with his sister, "But you"re not allowed to drive by yourself."

"Found it!", Nancy declared as she shook the keys with her hand. "Let"s go!"

Mia bent down and kissed Maison on the forehead, "Be good. Don"t tell mom and dad. I"ll be right back.", she said with a smile.

Without hesitation, Nancy and Mia went outside the house and walked towards the car that was parked on the street while Maison and Samantha followed behind though they stopped by the front door.

"Nancy, Mia... just forget about it. Don"t do this.", Samantha said to her friends.

"It"ll be fine and we"ll be quick!", Mia replied with a smile on her face.

"You"re not coming, Sam? Are you scared?", Nancy bravely taunted Samantha before she turned to leave.

Maison prodded Samantha"s arm, "Sis Sam...", the little boy spoke in a very worried voice.

Samantha looked down and thought for a second before she replied to Maison, "Don"t worry, I"ll go with them. If we don"t come back in 10 minutes, tell your parents."

Maison didn"t say anything. He watched Samantha"s back as she caught up with her friends. He was very reluctant to let them leave, he was afraid that something might happen to them.

Mia sat on the driver"s seat while Nancy on the pa.s.senger"s. The door from the backseat opened and Samantha got in, "Wait for me.", she said as she quickly sat down and put on her seatbelt.

Nancy looked at Samantha and smiled at her sinisterly, "Good."

Mia turned on the ignition and the car roared to life. "All right, buckle up ladies!", she said.

Samantha swallowed as she clenched her seatbelt tightly. It wasn"t even 20 meters since they moved when she spoke, "Mia, I think this is enough... We should go back."

Nancy scoffed, "What are you so nervous about, Samantha? There"s no car in sight. Mia"s driving so well, see?"

"But Nancy, this isn"t right. You didn"t ask permission and this is dangerous."

"You are such a sissy! Just be quiet, we"ll do a quick turn at the end of Marble Road."

"It"s okay, Sammy... We"ll be fine.", Mia smiled at Samantha through the rearview mirror.

Samantha didn"t talk anymore. She just sat quietly at the back while looking at the front.

Mia was driving at a speed of 30 km/h. She"s quite a tall girl so it wasn"t hard for her to reach the pedals with her feet. Just as they were approaching the end of Marble Road, a car from behind them was honking wildly. *beep* *beeeeep*

Mia got startled that her speed increased to 40 km/h.

"What"s going on?", Samantha frantically asked.

Nancy looked behind them and there was a 4x4 truck that was moving in a zigzag pattern. "It looks like the driver is drunk."

"Then pull over, Mia! Let it overtake---", Samantha was interrupted by the sound of horns from the car behind them, she looked behind and the 4x4 truck was closing in. "It"s coming! It"s coming!!!", she yelled.

Mia stepped on the gas and the car"s speed increased some more; they were now at 60 km/h.

"What does it want? Why isn"t it going past us?", Nancy was now panicking.

Mia was confused too, "I don"t know, it"s not----",

The 4x4 truck sped towards them and just a few seconds before it was about to collide with their car, it veered to the side avoiding their car. But this frightened Mia Chang that she suddenly swerved the wheel to the right and because of panic, instead of stepping on the brakes, she accidentally stepped on the gas causing the car to accelerate its speed violently.

"Watch out! Watch out!!", Samantha screamed her lungs out when she saw concrete roadblocks in front of them but her warning was of no use because just a second after, they drove into the concrete and a loud crash echoed in Marble Road.

The three girls fell unconscious. It was only several minutes later that a siren from an ambulance was heard; it woke up Samantha. She hit her head against the window when they crashed into the roadblock, so a sensation of pain was felt on her left head. She raised her hand to touch the area and felt a wet patch. Samantha looked at her fingers stained with blood and she winced.

Her eyes s.h.i.+fted in front of her, where she saw Mia"s side face. "Mia...", she whispered but Mia didn"t respond. As Samantha"s sight became blurry, she squinted her eyes to look at her friend closely. Blood trickled down Mia"s face dirtying her fair complexion. Samantha tried to move but her body failed to cooperate with her, the impact of the crash made her unable to move. She got so scared that she tried to scream her friend"s name, "Mia!!".

She screamed and cried but Mia didn"t wake up.

The emergency team arrived and they helped Samantha out of the car but she struggled out of their hold. Samantha wanted to rush over and get Mia however the personnel held her back trying to calm her down. The more she was being restrained, the more she went hysterical. Samantha refused to believe that Mia is gone.

Because of experiencing too much emotion, Samantha fainted and when she woke up, she was already in the hospital.

The first thing she saw when she woke up was her brother who was sitting on the chair beside her.

"J....n"

Samantha"s voice was very hoa.r.s.e and Seo Joon was startled when he heard his sister.

"Thank G.o.d, you"re awake!", he held his sister"s hand and pressed the b.u.t.ton to call the doctor.

After a thorough check-up, the doctors left.

"What happened to me?"

"You don"t remember?"

Samantha tried to recall the events from last night but she only saw bits and pieces. It wasn"t until her parents arrived a few minutes later that she remembered what happened.

Her eyes widened, "Where"s Mia?", she asked.

"She"s... she"s currently in the ICU. Nancy is in the next room."

She became frantic again as she pulled the needles from her arm and rushed out of the room.

"I need to see her!"

She was so fast that her brother and parents were left behind. They called from the back but Samantha didn"t plan to stop as she sped towards the ICU.

"Sammy be careful! You"re injured!"

When she arrived, Mia"s parents were in the hall and their eyes met. Mia"s dad was holding her mom as she cried. They didn"t say anything to Samantha, their eyes were unreadable.

Samantha slowed down and stopped in front of the gla.s.s window. There she saw her friend who was barely recognizable with all the tubes and wires attached to her.

Mia was a really good friend to Samantha. When she met her in middle school, she never judged Samantha, unlike their other cla.s.smates who were only befriending her because of her family background. The others were all smiles in front of her but when she turns her back, they"d call her names and gossip about her. She didn"t know this at first but she once overheard a conversation while she was walking down the hallway. Samantha didn"t mind them but Mia heard it all and she scolded the girls. Ever since then, she had always defended Samantha.

Samantha really liked Mia that"s why she was very willing to give the precious teddybear keychain to her.

But at that moment, Samantha"s friend was inside the ICU. Her heart broke and she started to cry as she tapped the gla.s.s with her hand in an attempt to wake her up. *bang* *bang* *bang* "MIA!!!"

Her brother held her back and tried to calm her down.

"Joon, why won"t she wake up?", she looked at her brother as tears formed in her eyes.

Just as she said those words, beeping sounds were heard from inside the ICU and all of them outside turned their heads toward Mia. The beeping sounds didn"t stop and Mia"s body jerked before a long beep was heard.