Chapter ONE

December 21^st, 2:16 p.m.

Jeni slipped on her denim jacket, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and closed her locker. Almost as if she had triggered it, her boyfriend for less than a year came leaping down the halls of Woodford High School, singing his version of "School’s out for the Summer," "Schools our for the Winter." He spun her around, and attempted to kiss her. She resisted at first, but quickly succumbed to Will’s viscous tongue, and gave in, half-heartedly. Will pulled away and stared into her deep, dark brown eyes he’d been lost in so many times before.

"Finally. A break," he said as he put his arm around her and began leading them down the hallway. He considered himself to be one of the luckiest people on the planet, especially when he was around Jeni. Easily enough, he’d connected her to Aya Brea, a very attractive video game character from an almost extinct game he’d obsessed over years before. The only thing was that she was so quiet. The most he ever heard from her at a single time was when she was acting on stage, which, fortunately, was fairly often. She’d been taking acting lessons for about… 13 years now? He could never remember, except that it’d been a long time. And she was damn good at it, too.

"Jones has been making this year hell so far. I’m just glad we won’t have to put up with him next year," he said, trying to make conversation. That was something else about her that he liked, she never swore.

He noticed that his vain attempt had failed. Will ran a few steps ahead and opened the doors for her. It was snowing outside, and a layer of about two to three inches had already accumulated.

"Gotta love Colorado in the winter," he said.

Jeni smiled and nodded. "Except it’s always so cold," she said, quietly.

Will and Jeni walked through the parking lot to Will’s SUV. They turned and looked at each other. Shyly, Will put his hands on Jeni’s hips. Her skin was smooth, like silk.... only not as smooth... It was just perfect, in that indescribable way. He could feel her hip bone, but it wasn’t so noticeable that it made him sick to his stomach, much like girls he’d once known.

"Are you doing anything this weekend?" Will asked.

"Yeah, performances."

He felt like hitting himself in the forehead for forgetting. "Oh, that’s right. I’ve already got my ticket, and I still managed to forget. Well, then, I’ll see you there."

"Okay, see you then."

"Maybe sooner." They kissed and went their separate ways.

10:33 p.m. December 23, 2003

The final minutes of the performance drew nearer. Jeni still had one more solo to do, and it was coming up very soon. But now, she stood backstage in costume, a strapless black and white dress that was supposed to appear that it had been designed in the early nineteen hundreds, surrounded by older people in their twenties, some thirties and even forties.

Who would have ever thought that a seventeen-year-old would wind up snagging such a big part. Especially in a musical. She had been performing thirteen years, most of her life, which gave her a small advantage. She was nervous, sure, but she had the support of Will. Suddenly a jerk of movement from her right, as the curtain closed, and a roar of applause erupted from the audience. The actors from the previous scene walked silently backstage, and the new actors and actresses took their places on the stage. Now, as Jeni took her place, she became even more terrified and began shaking, because this had to be the largest crowd she had ever performed before.

Blazing lights suddenly shown down on the actors and actresses on stage, especially Jeni, who had center stage for her solo. The low, quiet music began to play. She took a deep breath, and began to sing like there was no tomorrow.

Her voice was music to his ears. The ghost of a smile appeared on his face, of disbelief and joy. Disbelief because he could not believe he had wound up dating such a beautiful young woman, joy because he was. Will had had something for Jeni for several of years now, since his good friend had introduced them, but really didn’t get to know her until earlier this year, third period history. They had sat side by side through the whole first semester. They didn’t start to warm up to each other at first, but Will knew someone would have to break the ice at first. So, he stepped out on a limb and shot a look at her. She looked frustrated, as if she knew something was right, but she wasn’t sure how to put it down on paper.

"Do you need some help?" His first words to her echoed through his head, again and again.

He was snapped back to reality when the lights were shut off and everyone around him began applauding and leaving the theater. He stood up, and walked out front. The cold, December air bit at his face. He leaned against the handrails leading off the massive stoop. The crowds had cleared, and the glass doors were locked. He sighed, and watched his breath linger in the air.

"So you decided to wait." A voice he was incredibly familiar with, high and sweet, he recognized it as Jeni.

He closed his eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Ah, well I decided that you were important enough."

She hopped up the stairs. Will wondered how anyone could climb stairs as fast as she did wearing high-heels and a black dress that was open along the left leg. Her dress had spaghetti straps, and Jeni didn’t have a sweater, or a jacket, or anything.

"You look cold. Take my jacket." He slipped it on her. They hugged each other. "You were wonderful, hon."

"Thanks. I’m glad you could make it."

They released each other and headed down the stairs. Will put his arm around her. "Let’s go get some food. I’m starved."

She glanced up at him with eyes so beautiful and blue you could stare at them for ever and never think of anything else.

A faint smile appeared on the ends of her mouth. "It's eleven o’clock. What’s going to be open this late?"

"Oh, I know of a place." He could see his Honda parked on the side of the street. They walked the rest of the way in silence. Silence, except for the clicking of Jeni’s heels.

Will reached for the door handle, and opened the passenger side door for Jeni. It was no limo, but it was still a car, and as far as he was concerned, it was good enough for him, and while Jeni was in it, she deserved to be treated like a queen. He walked around the other side and reached into his pocket for his keys. He started the car and drove down the road.

Eventually he came to a Boll Weevil, which just so happened to be where he worked. Suddenly, and oddly, it began to snow. He climbed out of the CR-V and crossed over to Jeni’s door and helped her out. He had to admire how precariously she did it, not really cautious but not really reckless either. He led her across the snow covered parking lot to the locked doors.

Will looked through his keys to find the key that would open the front doors. He found it, it was the key with the giant ‘B’ on it. As he turned his keys in the lock, suddenly all the lights flashed on and waiters flooded into the dining room. Will felt proud of himself. He had spent weeks putting this whole thing together, now it was finally coming true. He had always and only wanted for Jeni to be happy, and judging by the smile on her face, it worked.

"Well, honey, what do you think?"

"Honestly, I have no idea what to say or where to even begin!" She suddenly hugged him. Hugged him so tight that he though her arms would suddenly start bleeding all over his tux. He hugged her back, but not as hard because he didn’t want to hurt her.

Eventually she released her grip and stared up at him.

"I love you baby," he whispered to her.

"I love you too," she replied quietly.

They finished their ‘dinner’ talking about random things like school work and friends. Will kept wanting to talk about sports, but Jeni wasn’t too thrilled on the topic, and he didn’t want to leave her out. He just couldn’t believe how different they were. He ordered a ¼ pound steerburger, she ordered a Coke. He liked movies, she liked Broadway. They were two entirely different people with two things in common: age and they both loved each other.

He reached out to brush her long, brown hair out of her face, when suddenly a cell phone rang. It was some waltz theme as a ring. He retracted as Jeni bent over. She dug through her purse and pulled out a cell phone.

"Hello?" She asked. She paused. "Ok, I’ll be home in a bit."

"Who was it?" Will asked.

"Parents. Just 'checking up,'" she stated. They finished eating and went outside.

Street lights blurred past her as she drove down the empty, icy roads in her Eclipse. Snow had piled up in the banks on the sides of the road. She slowed a little bit, but not too much as her headlights danced across the midnight ice covering the road. Snow was falling so hard that she could barely see.

Suddenly she saw the faint image of headlights straight in front of her, about twenty, maybe thirty feet. A loud horn blew, the kind of horn from semis. She slammed on the brakes and cranked it hard to get out of its path. The truck caught the passenger side of the Eclipse, sending it spinning madly on the ice. She had learned something about what to do on ice, but she couldn’t remember anything or think of anything. The car kept spinning and spinning. Suddenly it stopped, and her head flew forward and hit the steering wheel. She blacked out.

9:52 a.m., Christmas Eve Day

Will woke to the cold of the December air. It was ten o’clock in the morning, Christmas Eve day. He sat up and looked around his room. It was incredibly plain. A computer sat on a desk in one corner. He had a t.v. and a CD player against one wall, a Dreamcast and a PS2 on a small shelf next to the t.v. He had a nightstand covered in miscellaneous junk, a lamp, and a picture of him and Jeni. He had his arm wrapped around her. It had been taken after a performance she had a while ago. He was wearing the same tux he wore last night, and she was wearing the same dress.

Suddenly he remembered Jeni. Did she make it home OK? He had pulled up beside her silver Eclipse (silver was her favorite color) and let her out, they hugged, and she climbed into the Eclipse and drove away into the night. That was the last he saw of her last night. He took his cell phone off the nightstand and dialed Jeni’s number. First her house. No one was home. Then her cell. It was off. He dialed her best friend Victoria’s number.

Victoria picked it up. "Hello?"

"Victoria? It’s Will. Have you heard anything from Jeni?"

"Oh Will! She’s going through hell right now. You see, there was an accident last night. It was a car crash."

"Oh my God! Is she okay?"

"I don’t know. I haven’t talked to anyone yet."

"Well let me know if you hear anything, will ya?"

"Sure thing. Bye."

She hung up. He was suddenly so very nervous. So nervous he could think of nothing but his girlfriend. He climbed out of bed, put on some jeans and a t-shirt and ran downstairs. He grabbed his car keys off of the hooks by the door, and reached for his letterman and realized it wasn’t there.

Shit, he thought to himself. He had left it with Jeni. Oh well, he could freeze to death. Maybe, and for all he knew, it could be the only thing keeping his girlfriend alive.

10:02 a.m. Christmas Eve Day

Jeni woke to find herself slumped over on the steering wheel. She forced herself up and looked around. She could see a little light through all the snow her car was under, meaning it was starting to melt. It was still freezing cold in the silver car though. The car was totalled.

She tried the heaters. No luck. She flipped down the mirror and took a look at herself. A cut above her right eyebrow. She was lucky. She bent down and picked up her purse and dug through it looking for her cell phone.

Damnit! No battery! The last thing she thought of was trying the door. It opened, but the snow was packed incredibly tight around it. She could open it enough to see the snow covered ground and trees surrounding the road she was on. She kept pushing and pushing the door until it was open enough for her to squeeze through. As she stood up a sharp pain shot through her leg.

10:13 a.m. Christmas Eve Day

He was sure something had happened. As he stood looking at the spot where her car had been parked the night before, Will just knew something had happened. He climbed back into the CR-V and drove slowly down the road from which he saw Jeni drive away the previous night.

He continued to travel slowly along the road, until flashing lights and people caught his eye. He turned off the road. Now he could make out the shapes of police and police cars. People crowded around a police line.

Then Will felt his heart stop. The wreckage of a silver Eclipse was almost entirely buried under snow. He had his CR-V turned off before it had even stopped moving. He was afraid of what he would see when he got there, but this was too important to let his fears stop him. He pushed through the crowds to the line. The car was pretty much totaled, Jeni would be incredibly lucky to be walking away from this mess without a few broken limbs.

Then he saw her, tied to a stretcher, bleeding from above her right eyebrow. That was all he could see before the ambulance was closed off and drove away, sirens blazing.

She was a kid again, seven years old. She liked the feeling of being young. But was she awake, or was she asleep? Was she alive or was she dead?

The seven year old Jeni looked around the room. It was a typical second grade classroom, nothing out of the ordinary. Desks neatly lined up, children sitting in them, a teacher at the front of the room. She then looked at her own desk, a pencil and a piece of paper neatly lay on top.

"Now class, who can tell me what twelve minus two is?"

The students all raised their hands, except Jeni. She never was the best student, it wasn’t until her freshman year that her GPA was in the 3’s.

"I would like to hear it from…" the teachers eyes scanned the room. Jeni sank down in her chair, hoping she wouldn’t be seen. "Jeni."

She sighed. "Uhm… Is it…" She tried to work it in her head, but failed. She knew either way she was doomed, so she blurted out the first number that came to mind. "6?"

"I’m sorry Jeni, but that is wrong. If you don’t have to catch a bus, I would like to see you after school."

"Yes ma’am," she muttered. The rest of the school day dragged on and on. She was sure that it had gone over or something, but still the students were held. She jumped when the bell actually did ring, right on time, 3:15.

The rest of the class was out before she knew it, but she had stayed sitting at her desk, hoping her teacher had forgotten about it and would soon tell her to be on her way.

"Jeni, it has come to my attention that you are not performing at your full potential."

She tried to process that information. "Ok, is that all?"

"No, I was kind of hoping that I could talk to your parents, say, tomorrow at three thirty?"

"Ok, I’ll tell them."

"Ok, then I’ll see you tomorrow."

Jeni stood up and dashed out the door, eyeing the parking lot for her dads Chevy truck. She didn’t see it. As a matter of fact, she didn’t see any cars, anywhere. She waited for a few hours, until finally the truck came. Her dad just sat in the car, didn’t get out and help her in like he normally did, he just sat there. She opened the door and slung her backpack up on the seat, then climbed in.

She looked at her dad. He was wearing the same leather jacket he always wore, only there was a tear on the right sleeve, he looked like he hasn’t slept in ages, and his pants were stained.

"Are you all right daddy?" She asked.

"I got a call from your teacher. Your mother and I are very disappointed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter and a cigarette. He put it in his mouth and lighted it. Every time he smoked something bad would happen to her. He bent over and picked a large stick off the floor. He swung it at her, and it made contact right in the jaw.