Retracing your steps.

I was fiddling around my phone as I stood against my car, waiting for my parents to pick up my sister. Today was her high school graduation. I had just taken a temporary leave from my college for the rest of the semester just so that I could celebrate and hang out with my family after being gone for so long.

My name was John Doe. I'm twenty years old, and I'm in my second year of my bachelor's degree. It's been two years since I've been able to see my family face to face, so I've been really excited to be reunited with them after all this time. I was just an average guy with average ambitions. I don't ask for much, only for a nice quiet home to live, and a steady job with good income.

"Johnny!" A familiar feminine voice excitedly shrieked nearby.

I smiled, putting away my phone and looking up to see my sister rushing towards me like a torpedo on crack cocaine, with our parents following slowly after.

I withstood my ground as my little demon sister tackled me into a bear hug, wrapping her arms around my waist and rubbing her face all over my chest. "You're here! You're here you're here you're here!"

"Hey, Shells. Long-time no see." I greeted her calmly, patting her head.

"Oh, I can't believe it! It's been ages since I've seen you!" She squeed giddily, happily accepting my attention. "You should have told me you were going to come!"

"Once we told her the surprise, she came running to the car! Nobody could even stop her." Dad exclaimed.

"You should have seen the way her face lit up like a Christmas light! It's like we just told her she won the lottery!" Mom laughed.

Shelly Doe, the little sister of two years apart. We have a good relationship together. I haven't seen her since I left for college, so I've missed her equally as much.

Johnathon Doe Sr. and Glynda Doe, my father and mother. Loving parents who've spoiled us since Shelly and I were kids. It was impossible to think of anything negative to say about them.

"Mom told me that you were taking a break from college for the next two months just to hang out! Is that true?" Shelly asked excitingly. Her graduation gown was all wrinkly and disheveled, most likely from when she dashed over here the moment she heard I was coming. How she made such a mess so quickly, I have no idea.

"Yep. Two months' worth of free time, all so that we can hang out together, just like the old days." I assured her.

"EEEEEEEEE-" She could barely contain herself as she hugged me even harder.

"So, who's driving us home? Me? Orrr...?" Dad asked, drawling out the question.

"I can drive us home. This is my car after all." I offered.

"Ooh! I want to sit shotgun!" Shelly already pulled herself off to jump in the window of the passenger seat, not making room for any arguments.

I gave a small sigh, wondering if this was going to be a long and hectic day of doing nothing but pleasing my little sister.

Eh, it'll be worth it though.

"I can't wait until we get home! There are so many things we have to catch up on, and so many things we have to do together!" Shelly started excitingly rambling on as I drove us back home. "There are so many movies at home that I bought and saved just so that we can watch it together for the first time! Oh, and I gotta bring you over to the coffee shop that I work at! All my coworkers are so nice there, and my manager is such a sweetpea, you wouldn't believe it! Oh, I got to get you to see all of my friends again, Ashley hasn't seen you since forever! The next two months are going to be so much fun, we'll go around town again and revisit all the old spots, it'll be just like back when we were kids!" Shelly randomly started to latch on to me again, "I just miss you so much, brother!"

"Shells, I get that you miss me, but I kind of need my eyes to see the road to avoid causing a car accident." I calmly told her.

At that point, a truck screeched its tire as it narrowly avoided crashing into us, before the driver honked his horn and screamed "WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD, ASSHOLE!"

After that, Shelly meekly let go and sat back in her seat, giving a scared and embarrassed, "Uh, right. Sorry."

"Ohoh~ This brings back so many memories." Mom chortled, remembering the old days, "Honey, remember back when she was still in elementary school, she used to tell everyone how she would marry John once they both got older?"

"Ha! Oh yeah, that used to be a thing. Good times." Dad laughed, "You remember that, John? She couldn't shut up about it!"

"Heh, sort of? It's been a while, I've almost forgotten it." I chuckled, feigning partial ignorance to spare my sister the embarrassment.

She was beet red at this point, growing annoyed as she turned around to whine, "Mom! Dad! Don't remind John about that stuff!! I haven't said anything like that since I was, like, seven! You're going to start making this weird for everyone!"

We all laughed at her expense as I continued to drive us home.

We stopped at a red light at an intersection.

Shelly took this downtime as an opportunity to try and catch up with me, "So, Johnny, you haven't gotten me up to date yet with your life yet! How's college going? Are you working on a job yet? Have you been dating anyone? Come on, I wanna know all the juicy details!"

"Hm, nothing much to tell, I'm afraid. College is going decently, and I've been spending most of my time focusing on my classwork to really find a job or get a love life." I remarked. "I guess you could say it's been same-old-same-old."

"Seriously?" She asked, almost astonished at my answer, "But what about your girlfriend from high school? Wasn't her name Bella or something? You used to gush about her all the time!"

"Uh, Bella and I never dated. Also, I didn't gush about her, I just liked to admire her from afar." You corrected, "Anyway, I haven't seen her since I went to college. I'm pretty sure she's gone to a different state altogether."

"Are you kidding me? You never even asked her out?"

"Didn't really have the courage at the time. It probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. She seemed to be more into the sporty type, so I would have just bored her to **** before long." I shrugged.

"Uuuuggghhh," Shelly dramatically slid down her seat in agony, "Johnny, why is it that your life is always so much more boring whenever I'm not around? It's like your life is on a freeway, but instead of taking charge to tell it to go wherever you want, you always sit in the backseat waiting for it to take you somewhere."

"Heh, that's probably a conscious decision on my part. Who knows?" I smiled.

"Well, I hope you now realize that I'm not going to let the next two months go to waste. We're going to find you a cute girlfriend before you have to go back to college." Shelly declared with determination.

"Yeah, I don't consent to this idea. Like, at all."

"Too bad, I just graduated and this is going to be my graduation present. That means you have to do anything I say, without argument." She playfully stuck her tongue out at me.

Sigh... No use convincing her otherwise, is there? This is gonna be a tiring two months.

Deciding to change the subjects, I wondered aloud, "Man, we've been stuck on this traffic light for a while now. The hell is the holdup?"

"So, how long will you be staying with us?" Shelly suddenly asked.

Didn't I already say? I'm gonna be free for the next two months.

I wanted to say that to her, but when I turned my head to talk to her, she was suddenly gone.

Wait, what?

Looking at the rearview mirror, I noticed that my parents were suddenly absent as well.

"Sir? How long will you be staying with us at the hotel?"

A glass of champagne appeared in my hand, replacing the wheel I was steering just a moment ago.

What the hell was going on?

"I wanna say... probably a few weeks at most? I'm visiting a friend of my wife's. She said that her friend is interested in joining me back at my castle."

Who... what? Where was that voice coming from? Did I say that?

"Ah, I see. Hmhm, hoping to add another bachelorette to the collection, are you?" The other man chuckled, "Is she voluptuous?"

I looked to my left to see my limo driver peering at me through the rearview mirror.

I held my glass in the air and smirked, "If my wife was a ten out of ten? Then this woman is a smoking hot twelve. My wife has already shown me pictures, and I find myself very excited to meet her."

What the hell was I even saying? Who was my wife? Why am I going out and cheating on her? Or wait... does she already know and not care?

Why am I...?

"Park around here. I've been told that she'll be waiting for me near this parking lot." I commanded the limo driver.

"There are a lot of cars around here, sir. Will she know which one you'll be in?"

"Of course. I'm the only one that rides a royal white limo with blue chromes after all. I'll stand out." I reassured them, taking a small sip as I patiently waited.

"Good. I was counting on that." The limo driver said somewhat ominously.

I raised my eyebrow but didn't comment on it. It was only when I turned my head and saw a giant truck speeding towards me did I realize something was wrong.

The truck driver... I don't know why I thought of her like this during the moment but... She was quite stunning. Actually, no, more than that.

She was beautiful.

The limo driver had already run out of the limo before I could even say anything.

I didn't even react.

I felt the impact. Then nothing.

Nothing.

Am I dreaming?

Am I dead?

Hellooooooo?

Is anyone there?

...

Is this a nightmare?

I don't think I'm ready to die.

My chest hurts.

Was that accident real? Did all of that happen for real?

Jesus, ow! I felt like I just got kicked by a horse for a moment there. What the hell?

Where is that random high pitch ringing sound coming from?

"CLEAR!"

I jolted awake, gasping for breath as I screamed out, "I'M UP, I'M UP- FOR GOD'S SAKE, STOP SHOCKING ME."

"He's stable again!" The doctor from before cried in relief as she saw me wake up again.

All the busty supermodel nurses gave a sigh of relief as my heart rate slowed down to stable rates.

Okay, so... The Porn Hospital wasn't a dream after all.

What the fuck.

...

No seriously, what the fuck.