Bones: Prologue

Catherine’s Note: This is straight out of the first draft, so it definitely is not polished – it has been checked for typos and spelling errors though. This is mostly just a taster for everyone who has been asking about this project and is excited about Bones.

It was supposed to be the beginning of a new stage in her life, not the end of it.

Although she was upset about having to leave her friends behind it was something she had done before. Her father’s job had moved them several times, from house to house, school to school. She had survived each time, and looked forward to the good things instead of the bad: her new school had a better art department than her old one, her new house was close enough to Disneyland that she could finally visit the park.

The shortness of breath was put down to asthma, or a cold, or just excitement. The pain in her left leg the result of twisting a knee, or sleeping wrong, or just plain forgotten in the chaos of moving and starting senior year at a new school.

It was only when she fainted in art class, spilling paint all over herself and the floor, did she think something was not right.

The doctors spoke with her parents, using low, hushed tones, and if this wasn’t enough to indicate that something was seriously wrong, the sound of her mother’s broken sobs, swallowed down as not to disturb her daughter, were the breaking point.

When the doctor came in finally and spoke to her, he used words she didn’t know – like osteosarcoma and metastases – as well as ones she did – cancer, and terminal. All the words scared her. They made her cry and throw things, and lie back in the hospital bed staring at the ceiling late at night.

She was only seventeen years old. And she was going to die.