The first memory Hunter ever had was of his mother. He remembered sitting with her on their lawn, watching the sunlight sparkle off of the cross around her neck, and flicker off of the matching cross that had hung around his own neck since even before his earliest half-memories. She was in all of his early memories, and then he thought she had to be the most perfect person alive.

Except for his father. Hunter adored his father almost as much as his mother. He remembered how his father would throw him up into the air, while his mother cried out to be *careful*. But he laughed at the sensation of free air around him. And then his father would laugh, and then his mother. For Hunter, the world was perfect. He lived in a small, but comfortable house with his parents. A few doors down, his Aunt Willow lived with Uncle Oz, and their two children. Jesse was several months younger than Hunter, but extremely smart, and better yet, devious. Together, the two boys made secret plans against Jesse's little sister, Jenny, or just made secret plans on how to avoid her. Aunt Cordelia lived on the other end of town, but visited often, bringing her own son, Trevor. They never saw Aunt Cordelia's husband, as he was a top business executive, and had to travel 48 weeks out of the year. Another integral part of his world was Grandpa Giles. It always made his mother laugh when he called him that. And so he did it often, until Jesse, Jenny, and even Trevor also picked it up. Hunter's world was perfect, until his eighth birthday, which he remembered perfectly.

That was the night his mother died.