Prologue

Normalcy and Lies

I'd had a pretty normal life. Grew up in a home where my parents were still together and my older sister was mean to me. My mother was a stay-at-home mom while my sister and I were little, and my father was the main moneymaker in the family; he was a lawyer and had been for quite some time. When I was ten years old my mother began college. She had aspired to become a doctor and now that's exactly what she is.

Seven years later and my mother is working at the local family clinic. My father is still a lawyer and my sister is off teaching children in a third world nation. Me, well... I'm still an average kid just wanting to get through high school, both grade wise and socially. I'm kind of a social outcast. I either know too much or just don't fit in. On top of that, my so-called 'best-friends' left me for the more 'popular' people. Not only was I an average kid, but I had an average day. You know the whole getting up, going to school, getting in trouble, eating and sleeping. Oh and of course…homework; the dreaded word that brings down my grades. It's not that I'm not smart, I'm just a huge procrastinator, I never do my homework and if I do, it's all done at the very last second possible.

Well, it all started out as a normal, average, everyday, day; but like I said, that's how it started. I got out of bed and did my morning routine, at my breakfast and left. I walked down the dreary streets for a couple miles till I finally got to school and sighed. 'A new year, a new start' I thought as I walked through the parking lot. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I don't have a car, so the way to school is down the highway and then up a couple blocks on a busy street.

"Hey, Nysa!" I hear from behind me. I turn around and see Greg. I wave at him and say 'hi'. He's my best guy friend in the whole wide world. We tell each other practically everything. Practically, mind you. You see, he doesn't know that I liked him in the seventh grade. I waited for him and we walked the rest of the way to our home room class together.

"So, you ready for the new school year?" I asked as we sat in our seats.

"Ch'yeah!" he answered, a typical Greg answer.

"This is gonna be stupid. We've got more freshman this year than we did last year." I whined as I walked back out the door. Everyone was on good terms since it was a new year, but as the year progresses things will happen, arguments will occur and friends will part. But none could have started sooner…

"Matt, don't follow me! Don't say anything about us being related. Don't talk to my friends and don't hang around me! Got that!" I heard Liz screech at her little brother as she came down the hall. Greg and I look at each other and I sighed, shook my head and walked in the opposite direction. Liz and I were friends, yeah, but she could be a little… well, a little eccentric when it came to certain things, especially her siblings. I walked quickly down the hallways and out to the front steps to wait for more people to arrive. I don't know exactly why I was there early, but there I was. I was so excited that school was here again. I really loved it. They only reason I loved it though was because I got to see my friends and it took up half of my day, therefore making it seem eventful. Nobody I knew was driving up and it was a little chilly, so I headed back to my homeroom.

"Hey, Nys, you wanna play poker?" Greg asked, running up to me with a deck of cards.

"Sure." I replied and walked with him back to our 'usual' spot. Greg really likes to play cards. All the time through our freshman, sophomore and junior years, Greg, Davey and I played poker, speed and any other card game we could learn. Greg had already dealt the cards out by the time I had say down. I picked up my five and we began our game. It didn't last long though, because everyone else showed up and Greg greeted Amber in the same way that he always has… "What are you doing here? Why don't you leave? No one likes you!" There's nothing you can do though. He will always be like that, and nothing will change that. Amber just ignored him and walked away. The bell had rung and the teacher had walked to the front of the class, so we quickly cleaned up our card mess and sat in our seats. There was rumored to be a new kid joining our class. He's be a Senior just like me. No one knew who the kid was, but someone said that we should find out by, I think it was, third period.

Homeroom started and ended. It was quite uneventful. In second period English, there was nothing to do, so we just sat around talking. Davey and I were sitting together and I just happened to knock my Dixon pencil, my favorite kid of pencil, on the floor, so I reached down to grab it. When I grabbed it the ground opened up underneath me. I screamed as I fell in, but no one knew what happened. No one could hear me and I continued to fall into the endless pit. I could have been falling for five minutes by now when I remembered this stupid saying from Home Star Runners' Teen Girl Squad: 'When you fall in an endless pit, you die of starvation.' It made me laugh at the irony of it all, and right as I began to laugh it got bright and SLAM! I hit the ground hard and rolled over. The ground was wet, really wet and sticky too. That and a burning pain on my left side were all that registered before darkness consumed my mind.