Chapter 3My Family Refused To Be My Emergency Contact

I had originally arranged my vacation so I could take an extended break after Thanksgiving and take Mom, Dad, and Nellie on a trip to a neighboring state.

After returning to work early, I canceled the flights and hotel reservations I had booked.

The next morning, I saw a post from Nellie on social media.

[Family trip!]

In the photo, she was standing outside Dreamhaven Adventure Park with Mom and Dad, all three of them huddled together for the picture.

They had not invited me, yet somehow they were still calling it a “family trip”.

I muted Nellie and my parents on social media. Then, I pulled on my hiking boots and headed into the mountains to clear my head.

I had only recently been assigned to work in that area, so I figured a hike would give me a chance to get familiar with the terrain.

Since I was used to working outdoors, maybe I was too distracted by everything that had happened. I misjudged my footing and suddenly stumbled forward.

I slammed hard into an old safety railing.

I had barely managed a breath of relief when the railing gave way beneath me, making me tumble over the edge with it and crashing into a narrow gap between the rocks below.

My head hit a rock. Warm blood began running down the side of my face.

My vision quickly started to blur. With what little strength I had left, I dragged myself forward until my fingers finally brushed against my phone a short distance away.

I tried to call 911.

However, everything was going dark. My hands were shaking so badly that I could barely control the screen.

I did not have enough strength left to make the call, so I triggered the emergency SOS instead.

The alert automatically went to my primary emergency contact.

I had not changed it yet. So, it was Mom.

As the phone began calling her, I lay there fighting to stay conscious, silently begging her to answer.

“Mom, please pick up. Please.”

Then, I heard the call disconnect.

She had declined it.

That sound felt like a blade cutting through the last thread of hope I had left.

In the end, I closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in the mountains.

The sun that had been high overhead when I fell was already sinking toward the horizon.

Somewhere in those four or five hours, my life had quietly slipped away.

Somehow, my spirit found its way to Dreamhaven Adventure Park, where my parents and Nellie were having dinner.

As they ate, they talked about the SOS alert I had sent around noon.

Mom turned to Nellie. “Your sister is probably copying you. You pulled that stunt with the SOS the other day, so now she’s trying the same thing.”

Nellie scoffed. “That’s what she gets for lecturing me. I was just messing around that day, and she went off on me like I’d committed some horrible crime.

“I left her out today, and of course she couldn’t stand it. Now, she’s trying to lure us out to the middle of nowhere and ruin our day. Does she seriously think we’re that stupid?”

Mom nodded. “It’s so annoying. I’ll unblock her tomorrow. Otherwise, she’ll probably keep trying to call.”

She picked up her phone and blocked my number.

The setting sun cast its warm glow over me, but all I felt was a cold, hollow ache.