A/N: Hello everyone! Here's the prologue for a new story of mine. Let me know what you think!

The evening air was polluted with the horrible sound of a bow, dragging far too slowly across the strings of a violin. Birds perched on a tree next to the window where the sound had come from scattered in fright, only to settle back down on the branches once more. The person within groaned and stomped her foot in frustration. She had been working on the piece for almost an hour and still could not produce anything useful, or remotely pleasing to the ear. She set down the bow of her instrument and took the shoulder rest off of the violin. For today, she was done. If she looked at another note, she was going to either get sick, get angry, or start to cry, and she didn't want any of those options. There was a knock on her bedroom door and she strode to the door and opened it.

Her sister, Emma, stood there, with her fingers in her ears. "Is it over?" she teased. "Please, Kinny, tell me it's over."

Kintra Philips nodded. "Yes," she said. "It's over." She shook her head in wonderment. "Can you please tell me why our parents deem it so important for us to play musical instruments?"

Emma shrugged. "They want us to have well rounded experiences of life," she said.

"Wow," her older sister teased. "That's almost philosophical. For that, I think we could convince mom to take us to get some ice cream if we pay for hers, don't you think?"

"Definitely," he sister replied and scurried off down the hall.

Kintra walked down the stairs and went to find her mom. As usual, the latter was in the kitchen, apron donned, looking very much like one of those women from the Depression era. And Kintra loved her for it. Kintra walked up behind her mom, but before she reached her, a bought of blurriness hit her eyes and her hand shot out to grab onto something. Her mother heard the noise and whirled around. "Kinny, are you alright?" she cried worriedly.

The blurriness faded and Kintra nodded. "Yep," she replied. "I was just on my way down to see if Emma and I could cajole you into coming with us for a ride to the ice cream shop." Kintra's mom smiled. Kintra always had loved using "big" words and she used them to let her family know that she was back to her usual self.

Kintra's mother wiped her hands of her apron and then took the piece of cloth off. "Why not?" she asked. "After all, what kind of mom would I be if I let my children eat dinner before dessert?"

Kintra smiled as her mom placed an arm around her shoulder lovingly. "Not a very good one," she teased back.

Emma joined them and the three girls almost ran out the door to claim the front seat. Now that Emma was thirteen, the shotgun seat was no longer Kintra's understood seat. It had to be shared every once in a while. "Go ahead," Kintra told her sister, waving toward the passenger seat.

Her mom glanced over at her, worried. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Kintra nodded, trying to smile brightly. "I'm fine," she told her mom, "honest." But in reality, she was being anything but honest, for the blurriness was making it hard to live a normal life, the bruises were marring her body, and the medication made her feel sick. The only bright spot that Kintra hung on to was that even though she was battling leukemia, the treatments didn't make her hair fall out. But everything else held no bright spot.

She tried to concentrate on her mom and sister as she stepped into the back seat of the van, listening to them talking cheerfully. Emma, three years younger than Kintra, was a sweet girl who loved her sister very much. When Kintra had been diagnosed with leukemia, Emma had been inconsolable. She had cried longer than Kintra herself had. Then there was her mother. Kintra smiled unconsciously as she thought about her mother. Kintra's mom was the strongest person Kintra had ever known. She dealt with the two girls all by herself when Kintra's father was away on his extended business trips, she helped Emma with her homework, and she nursed Kintra whenever the sixteen-year-old fell ill because of the treatments. Kintra smiled once more. Definitely the strongest person she knew.

The girls arrived at the ice cream shop and stepped inside, already overwhelmed by all the smells coming from the shop. Family owned, it was one of the best places in the world to come since they baked all sorts of treats to go along with the ice cream they made. Kintra and Emma struggled with the combinations they wanted, never having the same one if they could help it. Their mother shook her head, watching with a smile as her girls bent their heads together in order to discuss certain flavors. With Kintra having dark auburn hair and Emma having a light blonde, the girls stood out when they were together, but by their faces, you knew them to be sisters.

"If it isn't my favorite customers!" said a voice. The girls stopped midsentence and looked up to see who had spoken. There stood a tall elderly man with a huge white apron to cover his clothes and almost white hair.

"Hi grandpa!" Emma chirped. She always loved to come and see her grandfather, probably because he let her taste as many samples of ice cream as she wanted.

"Hello, angel," he said, using his nickname for her. He looked up a little ways to make eye contact with Kintra. "And how are you today, my dear?" The laugh lines around his face had shifted to worry lines, and Kintra once again felt guilty for worrying her family. But, she would always tell herself that there was nothing she could do about it. She certainly hadn't planned to have her genetic mutations turn out for the worst.

The girls ordered their ice cream and their grandpa waved the fees-again. They visited for a few minutes until another customer came through the door and then they left, happily licking their ice cream before it could melt and run down the sides of their cones.

Kintra's mom started the car and put into gear, heading out onto the street after looking both ways. The light at the intersection was still green, so she pressed down on the gas pedal a little more and pulled out into the intersection. One moment, everything was fine, and the next, Kintra was looking down the street and seeing a car shooting the red light on his side. He didn't see the van until it was too late, and the cars slammed together in a horrible crunch, full of squealing sounds and sickening cracks. Kintra felt something hit her throat, and then everything went white, and then black.