"You're not coming, Prue?"

Prudence sat up lazily at the sound of her younger brother's voice through her bedroom door. A swift puff of air escaped her lips to reposition the jet black strands that obscured her view from the wall. A quick glance at the calendar and the clock confirmed her fears. It was time for church. She collapsed back into her mattress and covered her face with the pillow.

"Ya know, Malachi" she started with her voice muffled by the sandwich of pillows, "God rested on Sunday. Perhaps we should honor that and do the same. I mean...since we are made in His image and all." Her brother let loose a bridled chuckle which she knew had to mean their mother was nearby as she undoubtedly wouldn't have had found the humor in her daughter's sarcasm.

"That's not how it works, dear," her mother said obviously mildly bothered by the comments. "Our faith require us to be humble and obedient servants. One of the ways we do that is to wake up on this holy day and do His name an honor by praising Him in his house once a week. It's the least we can do."

Prue had long since lost her faith. She hadn't attended church since the day she turned 18 and had lost interest in it years before that. It wasn't even that she didn't believe in God, she didn't know what she believed anymore. She couldn't understand that if there was a God, then why did he have to make her so....special? Why did God's creations find so much hate and resentment in that they do not understand and those who will not, or cannot in her case, conform? Her apparent heathenism had long ago driven she and her mother apart.

"Maybe I'll start my own religion," she said lethargically as she began to drift back to sleep. "I'll call it....Prudenism. We'll all observe God's day of rest and sleep until football comes on."

She heard her mother whisper a few things under her breath before hearing her footsteps fade away. Undoubtedly pleading with God not to send her to the fiery abyss or perhaps reminiscing about how she was supposed to be a blessing to the world because she was the child that wasn't supposed to be. Prudence's birth nearly killed both Prudence and her mother. There were various toxins existent in her mother's bloodstream which, to this day, are of unknown origin. The police investigated her mother since they were under the belief she was trying to kill the child throughout the pregnancy by poisoning herself. At the same time though, her mother was sure the hospital staff had made some type of mistake in the administration of the drugs during labor. In the end, the cause was unknown. No one obviously cares enough to investigate unless someone dies.

"Prue..." her brother's voice, barely above a whisper startled Prue as it came from only a few inches away. She sat up quickly and gripped her chest as if to keep her heart from leaping from it and used the opposite hand to cover her eyes. Aside from her being startled, she seemed afraid almost. As if a demon was creeping up from some dark recess to claim the life of her and her brother. Perhaps, in not so many words, there was.

OK, Prue...calm down. You have to calm down. Breathe....breathe...1....2...3.

"Don't hide your eyes, Prue. Their so pretty," her brother's kindness always caught her off guard. She dropped her hand and smiled although clearly trying not to do so. The words also succeeded in calming her down enough for her not to have another episode. The last thing she wanted is to turn her brother into a victim. She kept her gaze down on her plain white sheets as their tabby cat Drew hopped up on the bed and demanded their attention.

"It's just...I...the light. The light is bright," she said stumbling over her words. Her glance rose to meet her brother's blue-eye gaze. He was small-statured even for a 12 year old but the suit he took so much time to make look perfect on him always made him look handsome enough for a woman twice his age.

He gazed into her eyes with wonderment. "I wish my eyes could be purple like yours." Her irises were indeed violet. Another of the reasons her mother believed she was destined for greatness. Of course the greatest minds in medical science called it a "genetic anomaly" but her mother told them that it meant she would come to see the will of God with a great acuity than the rest of us and would lead His people to the promised land.

"I'm sure your deep blues will make all the girlies go crazy, little brother. You're the lucky one. Now go run on to church so I can better observe this day of rest." She kissed him on the forehead and he smiled before gleefully skipping back out into the hallway to catch up with their mother.

Malachi peaked his head back into the doorway "I know how you feel about it big sis but I pray for you all the time." Malachi disappeared again without waiting for a response.

Prue smiled.

"Thanks," she whispered to no one..

Before she could get back to sleep she decided to take a quick trip to the bathroom to empty her bladder. She swung her legs out from under her covers revealing her dark blue boxers and arose straightening out her oversized white tee shirt. She stood and glanced at her violet hued eyes in the mirror.

"Help me see the will of God my a..." she was cut short as she quickly withdrew her hand from the sink where a solitary safety pin lied with a drop of her blood on it. "Son of a..." she became upset at her clumsiness and watched a trickle of blood ooze out of the tiny pinprick in her fingertip. She stuck her finger in her mouth as she searched the medicine cabinet for a band-aid.

"Aaaah!" she screamed in frustration. "Never have anything we need around here." She slammed medicine cabinet shut as she pulled her finger from her mouth to let it run under the warm water from the sink. She began to notice black streaks in the water and yanked her hand back as a look of disgust crossed her face. She looked at her finger to make sure none of the black liquid had gotten on her. To her dismay, a drop of it had. She wiped it off with a piece of toilet paper but was surprised by what she saw next. A new black drop grew right where she'd wiped the old one from. In fact, it was coming from her tiny wound.

"Am...I bleeding black now? This just keeps getting better and better." She glanced up into the mirror and was even more horrified by what she saw. The red arteries in the white part of her eyes had become visible as if she had been strangled. She then watched the red arteries slowly begin to turn black. Starting at the outside of her eyes and working their way to her beautiful violet irises. Once the black fluid reached the tiny hued muscles in her eyes, she watched the violet shade turn into a deep, dark black one. Her pupils now looked like she'd taken an unholy amount of drugs as they'd seem to have more than doubled in size from the change in color of her irises. Drew strutted into the bathroom and rubbed his side against his owner's leg still craving attention.

"What's happening to me drew?" she asked of the cat not expecting an answer but honestly hoping the feline would have one for her. She dropped her hands to her side staring into the mirror as she stood nearly catatonic. Drew, perhaps knowing something was wrong, licked her wound seemingly in reassurance.

"Thanks for trying to make me feel better, Drew but..." she stopped and jumped backward into the wall in fear and astonishment as she saw her beloved tabby lying dead on the bathroom tile with a trickle of black blood threatening to drip from the cat's hanging jaw. She sat in the corner and pulled her knees to her chest as she buried her face into the back of her thighs.

Mom...clearly you were wrong about me..