PROLOGUE:
"THE DEATH OF INNOCENCE AND THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY"

"How can a world so beautiful, be so cruel to those who deserve it the least?"
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Carrie Underwood as Lorelei Barber

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NINA BARBER had been in a constant state of 'bi panic' since she was in second grade.

Mind you, at that age the dirty blonde didn't know what sexuality was, she just knew that she had a crush on her best friend and the most popular boy in her grade.

When she'd asked her mother what was going on, her father had overheard and became furious. The young Barber didn't understand the homophobic slurs that spewed from her father's mouth, but Lorelei Barber sure did.

The older woman told Nina that they'd talk later and placed a kiss on her forehead, before sending the little blonde to her room. The Barber Girl listening to the muffled shouting of her parents through her bedroom door.

Five year old, Stanley, was every bit as confused as his big sister, regarding the cause of their parents arguing. However, the little boy had sat on the floor next to Nina and read to her his favorite book.

This tradition continued as the years passed, the reading material evolving as the siblings grew.

From 'Goodnight Moon' to 'The Wizard of Oz' to 'The Complete Works of Edger Allan Poe', the Barber children read to each other as a distraction from the harsh reality that existed beyond Nina's bedroom door.

Little did they know that life had a habit of punching innocent children in the face and introducing them to a little something called tragedy.

On Nina's thirteenth birthday, Lorelei Elizabeth Barber had passed out as the young girl was blowing out her candles. After being rushed to the ER and undergoing a multitude of tests, a tumor was discovered in the temporal lobe of her brain.

The tumor was found to be malignant and the Barber woman was diagnosed with Glioblastoma multiforme. GBM is a fast-growing, aggressive type of CNS tumor that most commonly develops on the frontal and temporal lobes.

After months of chemotherapy and very little progress, Nina's mother wound up lying weak in a hospital bed. With constant headaches, fatigue, and days where she wouldn't even recognize her own children.

Two weeks later, Lorelei Elizabeth Barber passed away in her sleep. Her hand gripping that of her daughter's, as her son was curled up beside her on the hospital bed.

Nina doesn't remember much about her mother's funeral, but she does remember something that her grandmother had said.

As she stared down at the glossy black box that held her daughter's corpse and the small bouquet of white roses laying on top of it, Claudia Martin spoke the words that would resonate in her granddaughter's mind for years to come.

"How can a world so beautiful, be so cruel to those who deserve it the least?"

A phrase that echoed in young Nina's head as she watched her mother's coffin be lowered into the ground.