KJ Viajar

Chapter 1 – The Only Survivor

At 1924 Miller’s place there was a loving family of three: the father, John Langley; the mother, Eliza Langley; and their daughter, Cassandra Leigh Langley. Cassie wasn’t but three and if you were to take a tour of the house and stopped at her bedroom, you would be able to tell that she was spoiled. It was decorated in hues of pink, lavender and light blue. On top of her pale pink chest of drawers, she had a Hello Kitty television-DVD combo.

On a dull gray Monday morning, which is when our real story starts, the Langleys were awake and having breakfast. Mr. Langley had finished his toast, kissed wife and attempted to kiss his three-year-old daughter before giving up and chuckling to himself as he left through the door that lead to the garage. After getting in his car and backing out of his driveway, it was already five past eight in the morning. He waved to his neighbors as he drove past them, smiling politely.

When he got to the front door of Jackson Drilling Company, he noticed a reflection on the glass door behind him. He spun around quickly only to see that nothing was there. He shook his head, turned back around and entered the building, aiming for the elevator. He decided against it and went to the door that lead to the fire escape stairs. He wanted to think about what he had seen. After arriving on the fifth floor, Mr. Langley thought that he had done enough useless thinking and took the elevator the rest of the way up to his twentieth floor corner office. He told his secretary that he didn’t want to be disturbed until after lunch. He locked himself in and got on the phone to an important client that he was hoping to have over to dinner that night. It took him almost an hour to persuade the person on the other end of the line to agree. Another three hours passed before finalizing the deal with who all should be at the dinner party that night. He called his wife and told her the good news so that she could find a babysitter for Cassie that night while they were away.

After the phone call to his wife, Mr. Langley unlocked his door just as his secretary, Miss Zhou, was about to knock on it. She looked scared but she hid it quickly by telling him something that grounded him harder that anything else.

“Your sister and her husband were in an accident, sir,” she announced. “Their three-year-old daughter appears to be the only one that survived the crash. Sir?”

“Where is she?” he asked, quietly. “Where has my niece been taken to be treated, Miss Zhou?”

She handed him a small square yellow Post-It note with an address. He looked it over quickly, shoved past her and raced to the fire escape stairs. About fifteen minutes later, he was in his car catching his breath. He started the small four door sedan and almost bulldozed an elderly lady over that was trying to cross before any more cars went in and out of the parking lot. He thought back to the last time he saw his sister and brother-in-law. It had to have been little more than three years because it was before Cassie was born and the missus had just found out that she was pregnant. So had his sister.
Andrea and Brandon, he thought as he drove along. Why did it have to be them? Why couldn’t it have been me and Eliza? I didn’t think that Andrea could get pregnant with all the tests that she did on herself. Not only that but look at where she works and what she does there.

After fifteen minutes of driving, Mr. Langley had arrived at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He parked and went inside. He asked a nurse if a three-year-old girl was just brought in. She pointed him to the pediatrics department. He raced down the halls until he arrived at the pediatrics desk. He asked that nurse the same question. She asked if he was family and he confirmed that he was her uncle and last living relative. She told him to go to room two-fourteen.