KARVIK: Chapter 1 - Kyra's Car Crash

She used to feel awful. Not because she never saw her, but because she never had a mother. Could have been anyone, but she just wanted a mother. A proper one though, with lovely, long hair, a beautiful smile and, of course, a big heart.

Just like her proper mother.

She looked at the photograph of her mother she kept inside her sock, and she pictured herself with her. Every time she did this, it was something different. Sometimes her mother taught her how to dance, other times she taught her how to cook, and another time she showed her to make boats out of paper. This time, her mother was hugging her, caressing the back of her head and kissing her hair. Kyra used to close her eyes, and imagine all of this.

Then, she opened her eyes again at the sound of her father's sweet call, "Kiri-kyra! Time for school!" She smiled and thought, at least I have a proper dad. With that thought, she put the photo back in the sock, opened her bedroom door, walked across the corridor, went down the stairs and, with sheer optimism, she looked at her father standing in the hallway, and said, "Off we go, Dadio!" She stood like a soldier and saluted. Her father turned a serious face, straightened up, posed like a soldier and saluted back. Kyra giggled. He always looked funny when he turned serious. Imagine her trying to keep a straight face when he's arguing with her when she does something wrong. At least, the occassions are quite rare, so the risk of laughing while he's there talking seriously is quite minimal.

Her father opened the front door, and Kyra sped to the Range Rover. She opened the passenger's door, hopped onto the passenger seat, did her seatbelt and waited for her father to put his things in the car boot. She put her bag in the leg space below, and as always, she pretended that her feet are forklifters trying to lift the bag.

"Still haven't given up on that?" said her father whilst entering the car.

"It's until I get the angle right. I managed last time!" protested Kyra.

"When was last time? You never managed you silly girl!"

"I did! I did! I lifted it a bit, and it fell. But I did it!"

"All right, then. Show me if you manage to do it again", he switched on the car with a cheeky smile.

Kyra looked at him, narrowing her eyes. "You can't drive the car if you want me to lift it."

"And at what time will I arrive at work? And at what time will you arrive at school?"

Kyra swiftly turned to her bag. Her father switched off the car for the coming spectacle, and turned to face her. Kyra, showing effort with her tongue sticking out, tried to angle her legs in such a way that they would lift the bag. Her father tried to hold his laughter, but he couldn't hold it much longer as soon as the bag, well, was not lifted. She looked at him and stuck her tongue out at him this time.

"Don't you dare stick your tongue at me! You're the one who made me laugh!" he told her, still laughing.

Kyra crossed her hands, pretending to be cross.

"I know it's just an act. You really are Vivian's daughter".

She knew that he was about to say that. She loved it when he said it.

"Still got the picture in your sock?" he asked.

"Always", she replied, smiling while tapping her sock.

"Good girl", he said, smiling back and kissing her on her forehead. He turned on the car, and off they went.

Kyra switched on the car music player. She scrolled to track 1, her favourite song. Well, it was her mother's favourite song, according to her father. It was "Sit Down" by James. Its delightful melody always started the day in a happy mood. Both her and her father knew the lyrics, so, of course, they started singing... and dancing. Car-seat dancing more like it. It was a morning ritual. When the music suddenly turns to just drums and vocals, they used to stop moving. Kyra would lower herself, and as she sings the lyrics, she rises up again. Her father tried to do the same, but driving and lowering yourself were not exactly the safest thing to do, so instead, he used to crouch slightly.

"Those who feel the breath of sadness, sit down next to me. Duru-du-du", they sang, slowly rising.

"Those who find they're touched by madness, sit down next to me", rising a bit more.

"Those who find themselves ridiculous, sit down next to me", rising completely.

And then they explode into car-seat dancing again,
"In love, in fear, in hate, in tears
In love, in fear, in hate, in tears
In love, in fear, in hate, in tears
In love, in fear, in haaaaaaaaaate" and a terrible screech of tires shocked the two and BANG!

Doooooowwwwwwn. That's how the song goes, but that time, with a heavy heart, it was Kyra who went so.

Well, not exactly down. For some reason, one expects to see black and nothingness. However, Kyra saw that there was a car crash. The car was coming from the side road and hit their car right on the side, making it fall on one side and sliding quite a distance. Their Range Rover was just scraps of metal from where she looked, and the other car - no clue what it was, but also as big - with a bonnet in the shape of an accordian, and smoke coming out from it. The driver, a woman, rushed out of the car, but suddenly, she started limping. Kyra saw other people circling the two cars. Another woman climbed into the Range Rover from the passenger's side, since it ended up doorless. She tried to talk to the people inside, and then, she lifted a girl covered in blood and handed her over to the other people in the crowd. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait just a moment, thought Kyra to herself. Isn't that girl, me?

She looked at her hands, or tried to. All she saw was like invisible, faded arms. Her whole body was like that in fact. She looked around, and all there was was a sunny, blue sky, with one cloud approaching her, fast. Kyra looked beneath her. The car crash, that same one that she was involved in, was just underneath her. She could see the whole thing, even herself! Before any words occurred to her mind, the cloud covered her, only to see grey, cotton-like smoke. The greyness darkened, the cotton-like smoke got thinner, until there was nothing else but darkness.

Kyra rubbed her eyes. She could feel her hands. When her eyes opened, she actually saw her hands, and her feet, and her belly! Her whole body was back. Yet, looking around didn't feel like her being back at home. Dark, tall trees surrounded her, and dark soil was what lay beneath her. Only for a short time, as the soil seemed to open up in a circle, forming a hole, in which Kyra fell in.