Cassandra's vision was blurry and wet. The air warm and acrid with the smell of burned rubber and exhaust. Her whole body ached, and there was a sharp pinch in her side. Her chest hurt, the seatbelt digging into her ribs each time she took the smallest breath. Cassandra looked up at the ceiling at where her doll had fallen, it's little porcelain face shattered with one blue eye staring at her. It's sweet, serene smile was missing. She coughed, wincing as the belt tightened around her. Rubbing away the wet on her eyes, Cassandra looked up ahead to where her parents were. Her dad sat at the driver's wheel, buckled securely in his seat like he'd told Cassandra how to do. Her mom's must have come undone because she had fallen from her seat, her head perpendicular to the metal roofing.

"Maman?" Cassandra called out softly, quietly, kicking her feet as they started to tingle. She'd never been upside down for so long, even on the monkey bars at school. "Daddy?" she called again. Neither of them moved at the sound of her voice. Cassandra moved her hands to the buckle, bracing herself far too late as the belt whipped across her small body and gave her over to gravity. She fell to the upturned ceiling with an "oof!", her head hitting her dolls and cutting a sharp line down her cheek.

Cassandra whined softly at the pain, rubbing a hand down her face and feeling it come away wet. The prick in her side grew stronger. Ignoring them both, Cassandra crawled to the front of her car. "Maman…Maman, wake up," she told her mother, putting a hand on her shoulder and softly shaking her. Cassandra felt her gut clench when her mother sank down a few more inches. In the light of the flickering dash Cassandra saw her mother's eyes staring up, the electric greys dulled and unseeing. Her expression betraying none of the pain Cassandra knew she must have felt at the bone protruding from her neck.

"DADDY! DADDY! Maman's—!" Cassandra turned to her father next, fear and panic chocking her from the inside out as she took in the pale color of his face and the red, red blood ruining his sandy hair. Fat tears fell from her eyes as her bottom lip quivered. "…daddy…?" He said nothing. Cassandra inched closer to him, her mother's eyes staring at her as she leaned her ear close to his face and waited for him to breath. And waited. And waited. Speechlessness was all she knew before a wretched sob tore itself free from her throat and left her raw. Anguish filling her as she sat trapped with her dead parents. Alone save for the sound of cars passing them by in the dark.

She wouldn't hear the roaring sound of an ambulance until hours later when the red-gold light of dawn leeched into the black of night. She wouldn't be free until long after she'd stopped trying.