Prologue

Everything Begins

Summer, 2009

The paper slid in and out of focus as she moved it closer and farther away from her face. But no matter what she did, it still remained blurry, the words smeared like ink that had gotten caught in a rainstorm.

Casey sighed. She had never had vision problems before, the doctor always pronouncing her vision 20/20 and her mother telling Casey to count her blessings, since both she and Casey’s father had terrible vision. Maybe now it was coming back to haunt her and her time to get glasses bestowed onto her face was here. It was getting ridiculous, anyways. Not being able to read her SAT study guides for her fourth attempt of the test before she started her college applications was starting to become a hindrance. She had only three months of study left. Her time was wasting away.

So, resigned to her glasses wearing future, Casey went to schedule an appointment with her mother and father’s optometrist, cursing her genetics.

But if she had known that it wasn’t really her genetics causing the eyesight problems, but something much bigger and scarier, she would have been much, much more worried.

The wind whistled through Adam’s ears as he zoomed down the highway on his Suzuki 650 V-Strom motorcycle. He couldn’t help but smile under his face mask. Even though he had been riding this motorcycle for nearly two years the feeling of it, the wind, the whoosh of cars passing by, never failed to amaze him. There was nothing like in the world.

It was nearly midnight and although the highway was still full of people, it was calming down, Adam’s favorite time to ride. That was why whenever he had off work or baby-sitting duties the first thing he did was hop on his bike and ride the twenty minutes to the highway, where he could throttle the engine and weave through the cars. Although he knew it was dangerous, he was experienced enough on bikes to not hurt himself. And besides, the little edge of danger always there made it even better. The unanswered question of what would happen if he didn’t have total control. That edge was what he thrived for in life.

Adam zoomed around a small car, gunning the engine to get ready to pass the car he had previously been behind. He easily did it, his stomach flipping a little with the quick change of direction, but nothing he wasn’t used to.

As Adam studied the car next to him, deciding when would be best to pass it, a thought jumped into his head that made him groan. He had been given the task of taking his younger siblings to camp in the morning since his parents both had to go into work early. That meant getting up at seven to get the kids ready to go. And he had work tomorrow afternoon too so it would suck if he was exhausted for it. He sighed. Responsibilities sucked. They took up his precious motorcycle time, the only time he really wanted.

He decided to get off at the upcoming exit and turn around to head for home, hoping tomorrow he would get more time for himself and his bike. But to do that, he had to pass the huge truck looming up ahead. Oh well. It had to be done. He gunned the engine, figuring he would pass the truck right before the exit and everything would be good.

Only, he had never really been good at judging speed, and so he was nearly on the exit and not at the front of the truck. He gunned the engine harder, feeling it thrum under him with all the power he was trying to exert from it. Then, just at the ramp, he cut in front of the truck, thinking he had just enough time to get past it and safely off the exit.

But he didn’t. The truck honked, loud and long, and tried to stop, but it was to no avail. The truck smashed into the tiny motorcycle like a giant hitting a dwarf, and the bike flew one way and its rider the other. The bike instantly flew into traffic, making a car screech to a stop and nearly causing another accident.

But Adam didn’t see this. He had flown high into the air, landed in the grass by the exit sign, bounced a few steps before skidding to a halt, and laid still.

And now, the wheels were turning, the pieces falling into place, for two strangers to meet under circumstances that they would never want to be in.

Circumstances that were leading to the end of their lives.

Author’s note: Ok so I shouldn’t be putting up a new story. I should work on one of the five billion I’ve started and put up here. I’d like to promise this one I will see through but I kind of suck at that. But just know that as of right now I really like this story and really want to see where it goes and if you guys want to see that with me that would be really awesome :)