Chapter One: Arianna
Arianna blew her red hair out of her face, and tried to concentrate on what her science teacher was saying. She jotted down what he had written on the black board, and then went back to her drawing.
She was trying to draw a pair of angel wings, but they always turned out more like butterfly wings. It reminded her of her life.
Angel wings were pure, innocent, and strong. Butterfly wings were weak, and often looked pained, yet beautiful. However hard she tried to be like an angel, a butterfly was all she could muster.
After her fruitless attempt, she cast her bright green eyes toward the front of the room, giving the teacher the illusion that she was paying attention. She sighed and glared down at her sketch. She despised herself for it, wishing that her obsession didn't make her feel so guilty.
Her past was marked most significantly by the death of her parents. It all happened a few weeks ago, when she had been called down to the office during homeroom. She had listened to the annoying catcalls and shouts, and walked down to the office.
When she got there, the bored-looking secretary handed her the phone, and it was Ari's mom, telling her that she would pick her up after school so that they could go shopping for her dance costume.
For the rest of the day, Ari had had a bad feeling, a sense of foreboding, trying to warn her something was wrong.
The last bell rang, and Ari went out front, and saw her parents waiting for her in the parking lot. She got in the car, and her stomach felt like it was being compressed. She set her heated forehead on the cool glass window, and watched the cars go by as they turned onto the highway.
Suddenly, she was dreaming. She glanced around, wondering if she really was asleep, because everything looked the same, but in black and white. She glanced through the windshield and gasped in horror. A huge white transport truck was toppling over right in front of them. She heard her parents scream, felt the car swerve, and smelled gas. Just as quickly as it had come, it went.
She was back in reality, where there was colour. She glanced out the windshield just to check, and let out a high pitched scream as she saw a white transport truck topple over right in front of them for the second time that day. Then everything went black.
When she came to, she was laying in a meadow, with people milling all around her, and an ambulance feet from her head.
A police officer informed her that her parents hadn't survived, and that they had no idea how she had managed to remain unscathed, and had managed to escape the burning vehicle. Ari was to overcome with grief to tell them that she hadn't escaped the vehicle.
She began to sob as she was lifted onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. The last thing she remembered seeing before the door had closed was a lone black and violet butterfly, gliding amongst the smoke.