Once upon a time that's how the story goes.
There was a boy who moved from England with his mother and elder brother after his parents divorce.
They lived in a beautiful one-storey house on the outskirts of Wellington at the bottom of the North Island.
He went to a fee-paying school paid for like the house by his father who was desperate to make up for the pain and disruption the divorce had caused the boy and his brother.
He enjoyed cricket, playing on his PS2, rugby and dirt biking but mostly he enjoyed spending time with his girlfriend whom he thought was the most beautiful girl in the world.
SLADE
Life is sacred.
I really believe that, no matter how bad a person is no one deserves to die.
Before the virus, before the accident I don't know if I would have said that I truly believed that.
What happened that day changed both Saffy and I's lives forever.
We took my brother Elton's car for a laugh, just for a quick spin around the block, at the time we would have given anything to see the look on his face when he found his prized possession was missing.
I remember how fast I drove, Saffy was yelling at me to go faster, her head thrown back as she squealed with laughter, her hair blowing all over the place, the tires were screeching as we took each bend and you could smell burning rubber.
The car skidded as I turned sharply back into the driveway and one of the wheels must have hit the wheelie bin because the car span suddenly out of control across our front lawn and into the oak tree that Elton and I had played in when we were kids and then everything went black.
When I came round I could see my brother, his face purple with rage running across the lawn towards us shouting into his mobile phone.
"S***, we're in trouble now" I groaned clutching my head where I had hit it on the steering wheel.
But there was no answer which was strange cos Saffy never shut up not for a single millisecond she even talked in her sleep.
I turned towards her, her side of the car had been badly crushed by the tree and it looked as if she was being squashed into the back of her chair, she was deathly white and there was a small trickle of blood coming from one corner of her mouth.
Elton had reached the car by then and the look of rage change to a look of panic when he saw Saffy and he dialled 111.
As I reached out to wipe the blood away from her mouth she opened he eyes
"What happened?" she asked me, her voice sounded as though she was far away, very faint and whispery, when I told her I had crashed she said something that I will remember forever.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you to go faster".
That was so like Saffy always taking the blame when it was me who'd f***ed up.
"I think I'm stuck". She told me.
"I know. Elt's calling the paramedics they'll get you out".
I tried to reassure her.
"Does it hurt much?" I asked her but it was only because I'd read somewhere that you should keep people who've been in an accident talking. I was scared what the answer was going to be.
She shook her head slightly "it just feels weird, sort of tingly".
I can't really remember anything much after that only Elton talking to us both until the emergency services arrived and the sound of the metal cutting gear as they cut Saffy free from the wreckage that was Elton's car before the police took me to the station.
By the time mum had arranged to bail me out it was after midnight.
It was two days before the doctors let me see Saffy and by then we knew that she would never walk again.
I blame myself for what happened and I'm going to have to live with it on my conscience for the rest of my life.
SAFFY
It's hard for people to understand what it's like to be me.
I don't want pity and I guess I have resigned myself that this is the way it's going to be for the rest of my life. Reality is harsh. Things that able bodied people take for granted are impossible or at the very least extremely difficult for me to accomplish on my own.
It's not just the things that are obvious either. I cannot dance, run, walk or even stand up, if it was just as simple as that my life would be a whole lot easier.
My spinal cord wasn't completely severed or crushed in the accident so I am what is medically known as an incomplete quadriplegic.
It has it's advantages, I have control over my bladder and bowel movements most of the time which is definitely a plus point as I don't have to be catheterised or wear diapers like a baby, I have limited feeling from my belly button downwards although sometimes I think it would be better if I didn't because it means I can feel extreme heat, cold and pain and not really do an awful lot about it.
On the down side everything that I can do without help takes me probably fives times as long as it would take anybody else. With specially adapted equipment I can do some things on my own, like getting myself in and out of my wheelchair, eat, brush my hair and wash. I can't put on make up, cook or even write because the damage to my spinal cord also means that the nerves that control my hands and arms are affected, my balance is terrible because I have very little control of the muscles in my lower back and almost none over my leg muscles this makes sitting up unaided, reaching for something and dressing myself very difficult. Even the exercises that the physiotherapist gave me at the beginning haven't helped all that much although I still do them every day because I know that without them my muscles would waste away and the stuff that I can still do would become much more difficult.
How do I cope?
The truth is I cope because I don't have a choice, yes, things are hard and I hate being dependant upon other people but it's not as if I could even kill myself because my physical limitations wont allow me too.
Sometimes I hate my life and I would give anything to have my old life back.
But I think that nearly everyone would say the same since this virus struck.
In many ways I know that I am fortunate because I am safe, I'm not starving, I have people that care about me. In a way I'm glad that the virus wiped out all the adults even my folks because let's face it they were pretty poor excuses for parents anyways.
And if it hadn't Slade would have gone to jail or been put in a children's home because of what we did and I don't know how I would have got through the last year and a half without him.