The music pounded through my bedroom, an alarm clock that I didn't want to smash with a hammer. I got up and made my bed, taking extra care to tuck the comforter in tight.

Still in my cashmere, blue-and-green striped pajamas, I walked over to the windowsill and stared at the Gotham City skyline with emerald eyes. I curled a strand of red hair around my finger. I scowled at my hair. It separated me from my family, who were all amethyst-eyed, and had black hair. I'd been told I looked like my aunt Lauryn, who'd died before I was born from leukemia. I had never believed my parents, however, and suspected I'd been adopted. I picked at the stitching of my pajama top and trudged over to the closet, dreading another day of school.

It was autumn, my favorite season. I normally loved school, but sophomore year was already proving to be a lot more challenging than freshman. I'd skipped second grade, and nearly fifteen. My birthday was November 11, and the cut-off date was October 1.

Popularity was the one word that kept my life together. I was probably the most popular girl in school, following in Kami's footsteps. Like always.

I dressed in a shimmering lavender top with hip-hugger jeans. Quickly brushing on a thin coat of lipgloss and slipping on a pair of white boots, I rushed downstairs. On the way, I picked up my backpack. My stomach was rumbling like mad and I would have paid quadrillion dollars for a simple waffle.

What I saw at the bottom of the stairs made me stop dead in my tracks. At that moment, my perfect, flawless world collapsed.

I should have known that nothing in this entire universe was perfect.

Fresh and dried blood dyed the walls a sickening red, a far cry from the cheerful buttery yellow it had been the night before. Three lifeless bodies littered the wooden floor. Bones where all over, as numerous as if they were the chicken bones from someone's meal. The unearthly faces of my younger brother and parents looked eerily back at me.

Panic and fear overtook me. I stood there, paralyzed, for what seemed like eternity. Finally, I reached for the phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?"

"Kami…"

"Yes, sister dear?" I could hear the hint of impatience in my older sister's voice. Kami was a freshman in college, and probably had been leaving her apartment when I called.

"Mom… Dad… Ryan…" I couldn't finish. Hanging up, I fell to the ground and cried myriad tears.

The day matched my depressed mood exactly. October 31st, the most terrifying holiday of the year. Now it was the day nearly my whole family was buried.

My black dress rustled in the wind. Raindrops fell from the cloudy sky, the color of ashes. Tears from the people around me mingled with the rain, but I refused to cry.

Crying only brought pain.

The graveyard was near a lake. I looked out at the cerulean waters, lapping the bank like a dog licking. My melancholy was inevitable, and most people kept away from me, instead chatting to Kami.

Someone, a man, put his hand on my shoulder. "Such a terrible loss… you and your sister must be heartbroken. You two are only fourteen and eighteen, much too small to care for yourselves…"

I jerked myself away. "I'm nearly fifteen." As I walked away, I could hear him muttering. "That doesn't sound like the sweet Korinne I knew at all… in fact, she sounds just like Kamilla."

More than anything, Kami and I loathed our real names. We'd always called each other Kami and Kori affectionately, and our given names were normally nonexistent.

The caskets were lowered into the graves. I felt hot tears spring to my eyes, like getting pricked with thousands of needles at once.

A minister droned on and on, and I wanted to throw a cinderblock at his head. Who knew someone could actually be so boring?

As his tedious speech drew to an end, Kami and I placed flowers on top of the coffins. My mother had loved flowers, hence our names, Kamilla Lily and Korinne Rose. She loved unusual names, and with the exception of our brother, they were pretty uncommon.

Dirt was piled firmly on top, and that was it.

They were gone.

All the cars left, and the cemetery resembled a ghost town. Metaphorically speaking, it was a ghost town, if you were superstitious. A group of social workers stood around, vaguely reminding me of pesky ants that you wanted no more than to flick them away.

"Kamilla and Korinne are too young to take care of themselves. I vote we place them in foster care."

"Kamilla is eighteen, and fully capable of caring for herself. It's Korinne we should worry about."

"Where will she go? An orphanage, I suppose."

Anger rose through my body. "I'm NOT going to an orphanage!" Kami, who was not far off, nodded in approval and messed with her jet-black hair, vastly different from my fiery locks.

"Then where are you going to go? A pretty little girl like you-"

I scowled and interjected once again. "I could live with my sister, ever thought of that?" My natural chipper nature was fading away, slipping through my fingers.

'Idiots,' I thought crossly.

"Very well." They left, leaving Kami and I to drive to my new home.

Staring out the window of Kami's red Ferrari, I sighed. I couldn't get the picture of their bodies lying on the floor out of my mind.

I suppressed a scream. The blood… crunched bones covering the floor like sand on a beach… I could feel the pain. I wanted to fall to the ground and cry.

Why was I spared?

I vowed to enjoy life. My parents would have liked me to stay as perky as possible, and I didn't want to let them down.

Little did I know; I'd break that promise.

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter of Glitter Girl! I hope you liked it! Please review. ;D