Chapter One: A New Start
”Can you believe it? We're here finally!” Kitty grabbed Steven and pulled him into a hug as the moving van drove off down the street.
Katherine (known to everyone as Kitty) and Steven Laine were standing outside their new home in Starlight Shores. A year had passed since the tragic death of their parents in a fatal car crash, mere days after the two arguing, cheeky teens had matured into (slightly) more responsible young adults. Selling the family home in Twinbrook had been painful, to say the least, but the twins agreed that it was time to move on and have a change of pace, where new memories could be forged.
Both of them had been drawn to the bright lights and golden sands of Starlight Shores. Kitty especially had yearned to see the city, ever since she was a young girl. After all it wasn't known as the City of Dreams for nothing. After the year they'd had, Kitty felt it was time to start looking forward again. There had been chances in Twinbrook to shine before the Accident – the lead in the school musical, some backing vocals for a friend's band, but that was then. Music pulsed through her veins, as it did in her brothers, and her heart had been on mute for too long. Maybe here, in Starlight Shores, childhood dreams could become something more. Maybe it was time to shine...
Steven hugged his sister tight. The twins had no-one but each other, no family and even friends had found it awkward to stay in touch after the Accident. Steven's girlfriend had been incredibly supportive in the weeks and months afterwards, but they gradually drifted apart as Steven was so busy looking after Kitty and the house, while Carla just wanted to be young and carefree. Steven felt a twinge of regret at how things had turned out, but knew it was probably for the best. He had spent every spare penny from the sale of the family home and what he could put aside from his job at the bar on trying to make Kitty smile again. And he was hoping that this small yet charming housed would be perfect for them, at least for now.
The view stretched down from the house to the beach and beyond, and inside there was enough room (just) so as not to get under each other's feet too much. OK, so the furniture was sparse, as they'd had to sell pretty much all of their parent's furniture to cover the deposit, but Steven had managed to at least arrange for the bedrooms to be redecorated, so that it felt a little more homely. And they were just a few minutes walk away from the Beach Hut, where they could indulge in some much needed fun, rest and relaxation..
Steven briefly felt another twinge of regret as he thought about the only possession he had found painful to part with – his piano. Given to him by his parents when he became a teenager, the piano turned the ever-present music in his head into melodies that showed the beauty of his soul. Steven heard music in everything – the birds in the air, the splash on raindrops on a roof, the laughter of children. His compositions of late had been dark in tone, and up until now his music had only ever been for his parents and his sister's ears, but it was time for Steven to dare to dream as well. He hoped that the inspiration he would find in Starlight Shores would set his music free...
Steven briefly felt another twinge of regret as he thought about the only possession he had found painful to part with – his piano. Given to him by his parents when he became a teenager, the piano turned the ever-present music in his head into melodies that showed the beauty of his soul. Steven heard music in everything – the birds in the air, the splash on raindrops on a roof, the laughter of children. His compositions of late had been dark in tone, and up until now his music had only ever been for his parents and his sister's ears, but it was time for Steven to dare to dream as well. He hoped that the inspiration he would find in Starlight Shores would set his music free...