Chaotic Road Trip

     “WE’RE GOING ON A ROAD TRIP!”

     “GAAAK!” Yuki cried, throwing the book she had been reading on the floor out of shock. She stood up, glaring angrily at Rosi. “Rosi! Don’t scare me like that!”

     “And where exactly are we going?” Kuri inquired, poking her head out from her bedroom door.

     “We’re going on a cross-country road trip to the Wild West!” Rosi declared, jumping onto the sofa…and then falling onto the floor.

     “Road trip? Did someone say road trip?” Rosi’s excitable sister, Ki, slammed open the door leading to the basement, her blue eyes wide with excitement.

     “Rosi, a cross-country road trip isn’t something you can just come up with at the last minute.” Yuki objected, taking the book that she had been reading earlier and bookmarking it. “Going on such an adventure requires careful planning. Where are we going to be staying? Where are we going to visit? Where are we—”

     “Yuki, Mom never planned for these things!” Rosi whined. “She always just said, ‘Let’s go on a road trip!’ and so we did! Everything turned out great!”

     “I don’t know, Rosi.” Kuri shook her head. “I have a book club meeting next week. Besides, how long will the road trip even take?”

     “No, don't think about that stuff!” Rosi cried impatiently, already dashing around the house, grabbing different ‘essentials’ at an inhumane speed. “Let’s just go! C’mon! One hour for packing and then we’re outta here!”

     “Uh. This is so unprofessional.” Yuki scoffed, but nonetheless went to retrieve her suitcase as well. She took one look at Rosi’s already packed ‘essentials,’ and raised an eyebrow at them. “Rosi, are you sure you need all of those things?”

     Rosi glanced down at her pile self-consciously. “Yeah, of course I do!” She cried as if it were common sense. She was sitting on top of her bass, carrying two ping-pong balls and one ping-pong racket, with an assortment of random junk such as darts, paintings of dogs with cat whiskers, most of her art-supplies, seven corgi plushies and an actual dog. 

     Yuki deadpanned.

***

     “Yeah! This is going to be the best heckin 'road trip ever!” Ki exclaimed, pumping her fists in the air. She sat in the driver's seat, with the seat next to her reserved for Rosi, and Yuki and Kuri sitting in the back.

     “Almost done packing the essentials!” Rosi chirped from the back. She noticed the ping-pong paddle she had thrown in at random, examining it with narrowed eyes. “Do I really need this?” She hummed suspiciously.

     “No.” Yuki deadpanned.

     “Or do I need TWO?!” Rosi squealed, materializing another ping-pong paddle out of nowhere. (In the backseat, Yuki facepalmed.)

     “Alright! Are we ready to get this show on the road?” Ki called back to Rosi just as the trunk slammed shut.

     “Ready now!” Rosi grinned. 

     “Then let’s get this show on the road!” Ki smirked, pressing her foot down as hard as she could on the pedal.

     “Wait, no, Ki, get back here—AAAAAAAAA!!!” Kuri’s warning was cut off short by the car speeding at 120 miles per hour down the neighborhood.

     “WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO LET KI DRIVE!!!” Yuki screeched from the back.

     “WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Ki sang from the front. This was way too much fun.

     “KI? I THINK WE’RE FORGETTING SOMETHING!” Rosi screamed over the sound of the engine(and the sound of police sirens in the background). 

     “WELL WHAT COULD IT POSSIBLY BE?” Ki screamed back.

***

     “They left us again.”

     Ronald shook his head, letting out an exasperated sigh. He sat back down on his suitcase, staring at the red car speeding rapidly out of sight. John sat to his side, glaring at the car.

     “They do this every year!” John went on angrily. “They invite us to their vacation, and then leave without us! Why do they have to have the memory span of a goldfish?”

     Ronald sighed again. 

***

     “HOW DO YOU ‘ACCIDENTALLY’ ROB A JEWELRY STORE?!?!” Yuki screeched infuriatingly, staring wide-eyed at the dozens of police cars slowly gaining on their car.

     “I DON’T KNOW IT ALL JUST HAPPENED SO FAST—” Rosi whimpered, hugging the bag of jewels she had ‘accidentally’ stolen.

     Kuri popped her head out from the suitcase she had been hiding in. “There’s a blockade up ahead!” She exclaimed, pointing at the dozens of cars blocking the road.

     “Looks like we’ll have to JUMP!” Ki grinned maniacally. 

     Self-preservation instincts immediately made the other three girls in the car hang on for dear life. 

***

     “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we—”

     “Rosi, if you say ‘Are we there yet’ one more time, I’m going to throw you out into the desert and leave you for the vultures.” Yuki said flatly, her annoyance and anger already ran dry hours ago. 

     “Hey look, there’s a rest stop up ahead!” Ki chimed in suddenly, pointing to a little parking lot with a couple buildings surrounding it. “We can stop there to relax a little bit!”

     “Uuuuhhhh…what’s going on?” Kuri crawled out from the trunk, glancing around blearily. She had been hiding inside the giant suitcase for the past three hours, buried with a couple books and avoiding the drama outside. 

     “WE’RE GOING TO A REST STOP!!!!!” Rosi squealed in a pitch high enough to break someone’s eardrums. Yuki didn’t respond. She broke four hours ago, when Rosi discovered a secret stash of high-sugar candy underneath the seats.

     “Wait. What’s that up ahead?” Ki said, sounding strangely alert for such a lax person as she was. Yuki glanced at the front. There was a large, gaping hole in the middle of the floor, which was sucking everything nearby into it—wait, WHAT?!

     “Turn back! TURN BACK!” Kuri cried in a voice Yuki had never heard before. But it was too late. The hole opened up even larger, the yawning cavity easily swallowing the entire car.

     And that was the end of the stories of Rosi, Yuki, Kuri, and Ki. May they rest in pieces.

     And may their ghosts remember to bring John and Ronald on their next car trip.