53 pages • 1 hour read
On a windy mountain road in upstate New York, a white Toyota collides head-on with a black Mercedes. Allie sits in the front seat of the Toyota and has taken off her seatbelt to adjust her shirt. She’s arguing with her father about the radio. In the center backseat of the Mercedes, Nick eats a half-melted chocolate bar without a seatbelt.
Allie’s dad hits a piece of steel in the road, blowing out the left front tire and sending the Toyota into oncoming traffic. Nick and Allie see the other car coming toward them, and when the vehicles collide, the two children go through the front windshield. Allie feels herself moving through a dark tunnel with a light at the end of it. She bumps into Nick, and they both spiral out of control. They hit the ground and fall into a long, dreamless sleep.
A young boy jumps from tree to tree high above the forest floor. He hears a crunch of metal, which startles him and causes him to fall to the ground. He climbs the steep, rocky slope to the mountain road and sees numerous emergency vehicles surrounding a car accident. When he doesn’t see anyone, he returns to his forest.
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By Neal Shusterman