Hi, my name is Michael. You might recognize me from the cover of Time magazine a few weeks ago. Of course, you’d be forgiven if you missed me, seeing as I was sitting in the lap of my kid brother Sean. Ya see, he kinda overshadows anyone he’s with, seeing as he’s twenty feet tall.

You haven’t heard about us? Well, let me tell you about how all this started.

It began three years ago, when I was twelve and Sean was ten. We were riding in the back seat of our parents’ Honda Accord, which our Mom was driving, coming back from a wedding of a friend of hers at work. It was an icy night; snow had been falling for a few hours, and the plows and salt trucks hadn’t gotten to the roads yet.

Sean and I were bugging each other in the back seat, as brothers usually do. “Mom, Michael’s crossing the line onto my side of the seat!”

“Mom, Sean's kicking me!”

Mom turned around, “Boys, you better stop fighting, or I--”

Suddenly, the car started to skid. Mom turned around and tried to keep control, but couldn’t. The car spun off the road and into a tree.

The rest of that night was kinda hazy. I remember waking up in the hospital with a splitting headache. A doctor stood over me with a clipboard.

“Hello, Michael, my name is Dr. Parsons. How are you feeling.”

I sat up slowly, rubbing my eyes. “My head hurts.”

“Try not to move too much, Michael. You have a slight concussion, and a few scratches and bruises, but other than that you’re going to be fine with enough rest.”

“W-what happened?” I asked

“Michael, you were in a car wreck. Evidently your car lost control and skidded headlong into a tree. Thank goodness you were wearing your seat belt; otherwise you might have been thrown from the car, and who knows what would have happened.”

“Where’s the rest of my family?”

Dr. Parsons checked her chart. “Your brother, Sean, is in the OR right now. He’s been banged up pretty bad, but we expect him to pull through.”

She paused, and I noticed her gentle smile begin to drop. “What about my parents?” I said. “Are they okay?”

Dr. Parsons placed her hands on mine. “I’m so sorry, Michael. Your mom and dad-- their injuries were just too much.”

My eyes started welling up. “They’re dead?” I asked.

“I’m sorry Michael.”

At this point, the room started to spin, and I closed my eyes, softly crying.