Prologue:

Every year since she turned eight, she noticed that she was growing older with each year. Yes, we know that every child and adult gets older with each year, but not in the same way as young Anöuk Williams. Anöuk noticed that she was growing weaker and weaker with each year and how she had some white hair by the age of fifteen. Finally, the day after her sixteenth birthday, her parents took her to a local hospital for scans.

Anöuk went through every test imaginable; cat scans, x-rays, even simple tests like blood tests. However, no hospital could find a thing wrong with her. The only thing they could find was a small bump the shape of a pair of wings on the side of her heart, but the doctors were positive that it was nothing sickly and was definitely not a tumor or the beginning of cancer. As far as they knew, it was just a strange form that had been there forever and could cause no harm upon the girl once so ever.

So, since the tests showed no illness, Anöuk and her family went on with there daily lives and took no notice of their daughter’s strange looks. However, she never became ill nor did she get the look of a sickly one. The only thing different from the average teenage girl and Anöuk was that Anöuk had streaks of a silver white in her shoulder length chestnut hair. Of course, if one looked deep into her gray green eyes, they would notice a strong defiance which seemed to secretly hide a deadly secret that only the mind knew.

So now, Anöuk was halfway through her junior year of high school and things were very distressed in her world. Her two best friends had just moved away, one to Boston and one to Sunrise, Florida. They were all she had; her links to the outside world. Sure, they still chatted on AOL instant messenger and called each other frequently, but it still wasn’t the same as having them with her through her school year. So when the first day of school without her friends pounced up on Anöuk, she felt as though she would rather eat mud than go to Bealten High School.

First thing she did was collecting her books and went to her first period class, Chemistry. Though the class seemed almost unbearable to her due to the low energy of the teacher, she somehow managed to move herself from her second period Algebra 3-4 to her third period Spanish class and eventually to her fourth period class, Band, where she met some news that, to her, could only mean boredom.

“Straight after school today, we will have to play at the Tiger’s football game. So go to the bleachers directly at three o’clock so we can play at the beginning of the game. Any questions? No? Good, see you all after school!” called the band conductor, Ms. Goldbloom.

Yes, Anöuk had many questions, like, what’s the point? and why are we even bothering playing for a loosing team? But some of her other questions were ones concerning only her. One’s like, why am I always feeling so alone and old? Or why am I different from the others? But these were questions no person could answer, not even the doctors.

Straight after her fifth period class since she had no sixth period, Anöuk walked down to the bleachers, alone and with low spirits. Her day had been one of boredom and despair for her departed friends. She climbed into the highest corner of the bleachers and sat down with her flute. She sat there watching the football team practice for the game, and began to play her flute softly.

Calming melodies came out of the silver flute as she played into the silence. A soft breeze began to fly through her hair and for a minute, she felt a sweet peace come over her. For a few minutes of slow notes, she forgot all of her worries and differences and fell into the bliss of her fantasies. That is, until she was interrupted by a low voice beside her.

“Hey, who are you?”

Anöuk started and turned to face a boy sitting next to her with a guitar in one hand and a slip of paper in the other. He was tall with hazel eyes and windblown brown hair that had a small strand of white within the rest of its dark company.

“Me?” she asked startled.

“Who else is there here?” he asked somewhat sarcastically.

“Oh,” she began quietly, “I’m Anöuk, Anöuk Williams.”

“Cool,” he said almost shyly, “I’m Mike Fresk.”

She smiled at him and he gave a small grin back. For some reason, Anöuk trusted this boy even though she didn’t know him. It was something about his eyes, the small tinge of silver among his eyes, almost as though he had a secret, a secret that only Anöuk could understand. For little did she know that this boy could be her key to freedom from her own curse. And maybe, to the boy, she was his key to freedom as well.