Prologue

I guess this is the part where I'm supposed to introduce myself...

So.. it's me, Elysabeth Oliver, well Lia, that's the name I answer most often. A way too classic and boring to introduce myself and to tell what I call "my story" to my liking. But I always wanted to do something spectacular without really having too many brilliant ideas. I am 16 years old with 11 months and I am Franco-American. I have a big brother, James, who is 18, and I think it's fair to say that my parents didn't want to waste any time. He is a senior at the (very) Catholic high school, St Joseph, which I am about to integrate with my best friend Alya Bellah, after our return from boarding school in Paris. So I'm going to see my brother again for the first time in 2 months, and I have to admit I missed him a lot! Even though sometimes he pisses me off so much, my only relief is when he shut the fuck up. He always has this tendency to debate the slightest word that dares come out of my mouth! IN-SU-PPOR-TABLE...

Four years ago, I lived here, near Lille, in a town -or rather a village- where there are so few inhabitants that almost everyone knows each other. With a few exceptions, of course. Country landscapes as far as the eye can see. What I remember anyway. I had my friends and family close to me until...the accident. Who forced us to leave, with Alya. So four years ago when we were still just two 12-year-old girls, Alya was separated from her twin, Jayden, my childhood friend, and her aunt, Naela, her only living relative. We've never been back since, the only visits we've had have been from Naela, my brother, my geek little sister, and my parents...

This story, I am sure you know it, has already been experienced by many other young women before me and is similar to so many other stories already told. The only difference is, this time, the storyteller is me. It is a sad reality to see that man does not know, and most of the time does not want, to look elsewhere than around himself. As I say, my life is that of an abnormal child, completely matrixed in reality, but who thinks she knows where she's going even if deep down she knows she doesn't know. This is my story.