Pulling my Nissan Versa into the driveway of my parent's place in Los Angeles. I see the house is shrouded in darkness. Looking at the dashboard the red digits read. 22:30.

I was supposed to be home hours ago, but I was stuck in traffic on the I-80 into Los Angeles. During the trip, there was an announcement on the radio that said a truck ran into twelve cars before tipping over and landing on its side. Blocking most of the lanes, leaving one open for us to drive on.

When I drove past the accident scene the truck was still overturned, but most of the cars involved were cleared away by tow-trucks.

There were five deaths due to the accident and twelve other people were injured and taken to the closest hospital to be treated.

Reaching into the back I pull my overnight bag towards me. I step out of the car and head towards the house. In the background I can hear cicadas and a few cars driving past the cul-de-sac street I grew up in. Other than that everything is quiet.

When I reach the front door I knock it and wait for someone to open the door for me. I hear the chain slide across the lock. The door opens, revealing Dad.

He's wearing a pair of grey boxers and a white t-shirt. His light brown hair is sticking up and his light blue eyes are slightly closed. Giving him the 'I just woke up look.'

A smile spreads across his face. "Hello, sweetheart." He pulls me in for a hug and I wrap my arms around him. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to surprise Mom for her birthday." I enter the house and walk to the living room, where there are heaps of family photos.

Dad follows me, and we sit next to each other on the couch. He takes my hand into his. "How's work going?"

A smile spreads across my face. "I got a promotion at Wilson Inc. I'm now a team leader. I train the new recruits and get to boss them around." I look at the stairs before asking about my siblings. "How's Nate and Aleysa?"

Dad laughs. "You can't wait long enough to ask about your siblings can you?" He looks towards the stairs. "Aleysa has her good days and bad. Just like any twelve year old. I prefer her good days. Nate, well he prefers to hang out with his friends and party on the weekends."

I miss my family.

"I told Mom and you that I could come home more often and help."

He places his warm hands on my face. "You're young, Chloe. You need to live your life and not worry too much about us." He smiles. "I would love it if you come home more often."

Hugging him I whisper. "When I come home you have to take a Mom out for the day and I will take care of Aleysa. The two of you need a break at times." I turn towards the stairs and see Mom. She's wearing a pink bathrobe.

I got her that last Mother's Day.

Her brown hair is sticking up in all directions, and she has fluffy pink slippers on her feet. She wraps her arms around her stomach. "Who was at the door, honey?" Mom looks in my direction and freezes mid-step. A smile spreads across her face, and she runs down the remaining stairs. She engulfs me in a tight hug. "Chloe," she pulls back slightly to get a good look at me. "I'm glad your home."

Me, too.

"I couldn't miss your birthday, Mom."

My parents and I stay up for another hour talking, before calling it a night. We go in separate directions once we've made up the stairs.

Walking down the hall I stop in front of a brown wooden door that still has my name on it. I pull the door open and see that my room hasn't been touched since I moved out. Everything is still where I kept.

On the nightstand, I see a piece of paper with my name on it, neatly folded and it has my sister's handwriting scrawled on it. Opening the letter I read.

The early birthday present Aleysa was referring to was me. It was a secret between her and I that I was coming home to celebrate this year.

All the other times I haven't come home because I couldn't afford it and work kept me busy most of the time.

A message pops up on the work iPad screen. Swiping my finger across the screen I look at the message.

Seriously? This guy knows I'm visiting my parents and he wants to dump all this onto me.

Looking at the attachments I see twelve files on it. Opening the first one I see that it's going to take me hours to go through it all.

There's no way I'm going to do this for him. This workload was given to him for a reason and he can do it himself.

Once the message is sent I pull kindle up on the iPad and look for a book to read from one of my favourite indie authors. When I find the book I click on it and start reading.

As I continue to read my eyes begin to droop. Before I fully fall asleep my device hits me in the face causing a tingling sensation at that spot. Picking up the iPad I place it on the nightstand and reach across to the lamp and turn the light off.

The main light in the bedroom is still on and I say into the room. 'Hey, Google. Turn off light.' The light turns off and I pull the covers over my body. It doesn't take long before I fall asleep.