Prologue
If you had passed Kathy Murnings on the street, you wouldn't have thought anything of it. She was an ordinary 17 year old. Nothing extraordinary, or special. Even Kathy refused to think of herself as anything sensational. But her mind and imagination had other plans. When she was 16, her views on the world changed. She began to think the world was running short of wonders and miracles. Then a man swooped in, with his amazing blue box, and changed everything. Alright, now that sounds rather romantic, but you have not heard the story yet.
But scout's honor, this is not a love story. This is not one of those stories that make you feel good when you read the last sentence. This story is about death and destruction, about torment and struggle. But it's a beautiful and lovely story, about family and togetherness, making changes for the better. Now, as they say, it's always best to start at the beginning.
Kathy grew up in a small town named Torch, Minnesota, with a population of about 900 people. It was one of those towns where everyone knew everyone for the most part, but allowed to meet some new faces every once in a while.
Her family's name was quite renowned around town. Her grandfather wrote a column for the local newspaper focusing on local life, so he knew majority of the town based on that alone. Not to mention, he had amazing people skills. Her grandmother was usually involved in something having to do with local churches and women's activities, meaning that she knew most of the women population. Kathy's father owned a photography business and took almost everyone's wedding pictures and such.
The Murnings were famous for their friendliness and humor. If Kathy had a dime for every time someone complemented a family member of hers, she would be richer than Donald Trump. But Kathy grew used to it and just smiled and nodded when it did happen. It became a normal part of life.
Kathy's father married later in life to a woman who had had depression for a good portion of her life. She gave birth to Kathy, Marie; Kathy's little sister, and her little brother, Daniel. Soon, her mother's depression started to get in the way of her marriage and parenting, leading her to leave the family. Kathy, who was only in second grade at the time, felt obligated to give her younger siblings a mother figure, and assumed the role herself at age 7. To this day, Kathy feels as though she has raised her siblings. Being the "mother" caused Kathy to miss majority of her childhood and, therefore, had to mature much faster than one would ever want a child to mature.
However, when she entered 6th grade, her father remarried to a woman named Robyn, who had three children of her own. The marriage seemed to be a match made in heaven, but soon, the occasional fights turned to heated arguments every other day. Her step-mom eventually lied to the police, saying that Kathy's father was abusive, and got social services involved. Kathy and her two biological siblings were ripped from their beloved home and new family and bounced from foster home to foster home. Eventually, they lived with family members until they went to live with their dad, who was separated from her step-mom.
Since the ordeal with the police, her father was low on funds and worried about college tuition coming soon for Kathy, a high school senior. Kathy agreed to get a job to help pay for college. So she worked at the local grocery store, Mike's, as a cashier. Every day she agreed to go to work without complaints, but she hated her job. All she wanted was adventure and to travel around the world. Instead, she was doomed to say, "Paper or plastic?" every day until college.
And that is what brings us to the day when everything changed. The day when one girl could change one man and his future. When one action changed the course of the universe in one instant.
This is Kathy's story.
