Chapter One:

Sienna brushed a strand of long blonde hair out of her eyes.

She stared over at the ballet shoes that had been a part of her life.  A life that seemed so long ago, but in reality, it had only been seven months since she danced for the last time.

Funny how you take things like that for granted until the day comes when you lose them.  It’s the same for people.

Things were so different now through no fault of her own, it had simply been a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and then her life was forever changed.

She looked at what she was wearing wanting to make a good impression, she was going back to school for the first time in seven months.  Sienna wanted to look good, because it would allow her to feel good.  She wasn’t vain, but Sienna knew the importance of looking good in high school and this was the last half of her Senior year, for the first half she had gone through so much, she had only been out of the hospital for a couple of weeks now, but she had to go back to school.  Sienna had to get back on with her life.

The good Lord doesn’t want me sitting around feeling sorry for myself.  I know that, I have to move on.  I have to live my life.

Sienna struggled to get her shoes on, simple things were like such a struggle now things she had taken for granted, they were getting easier, but things would never be the same.

This is hard Lord, so hard. 

She looked down at the wheels of her wheelchair, all in an instant her life changed. 

She had been shot, an innocent victim of someone else’s hate, Sienna’s only crime being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I never thought I would be shot by someone I didn’t know caught in the cross fire of a gang war, all in front of a mall.

Sienna had gone to the mall that day to get a new pair of ballet slippers, her old one’s worn down to almost nothing. 

She had been clinging to the shoes when she fell to the ground, not knowing what had hit her, but in an instant she had gone numb.

She still had those slippers, sitting unused on her dresser.  She had no idea why she had kept them, they represented everything she had lost, but she was here.  Sienna had survived, and she was glad for that.  Never once had she thought she would have been better off dead.  Not that she was scared of dying, she knew that when her time came Sienna would be welcomed into the arms of the Lord, but she had so much living left to do,

God had something special planned for her, Sienna knew that.  Despite everything she had been through, despite the bullet taking her ability to walk away, it had not taken her love for the Lord, and her hope in him away.

Lord I know people are going to have questions and some may even act differently around me, but show them I am the same person I was before, I just happen to sit in a chair now, and Lord let me be a witness to others for you.  I was so busy dancing before I did not always take the time to reach out to the kids at school.  I know now that life is short though, and the time to reach out to them is now.

Sienna saw her reflection in the full sized mirror, looking for the first time at the chair, at herself, looking down at her now lifeless legs, but instead of grieving she took the time to thank the Lord for giving her another chance at life. 

I wasn’t ready to die at seventeen Lord, and you knew that, thank you for getting me through that.

“Sienna honey are you ready?” Her Mom asked.  Since the accident her Mother had been doing everything to make sure Sienna was okay, and yet at the same time understanding her need for independence, and she knew she was blessed.

“Yeah Mom, I am as ready as I am ever going to be.” Sienna said smiling.  She felt good despite everything, a little nervous yes, but good despite that.

“Kelsea, we are ready.” Sienna said, waiting for her sister, who was only nine months younger than her to grab he backpack and get going.  The sisters were close and after Sienna was shot, Kelsea had worried about her sister, but she saw now that she was going to make it.  Sienna was strong, her faith unshakable it seemed, and Kelsea thought that was a good thing.

Sienna was the one shot Lord, and I am the one bitter about everything.  I should be doing everything in my power to thank the Lord that she is still with us and to help her through this, but for some reason I am afraid to get close to her, afraid to hurt her.  I know it’s silly Lord, and I know she is not glass, but this is all so hard on me.

Think about what it must be like for her.

“I’m coming.” Kelsea said, rushing out the door, not wanting to be late, and not wanting to make her sister late on her first day back.

Kelsea made herself comfortable in the back seat, while their Mom helped Sienna into the front seat.  She was getting better at doing things on her own, but some things she still needed help with and it was hard for Kelsea to watch her sister struggle, she had lost so much more than her ability to dance.

“Kel I am going to be okay.” Sienna said knowing Kelsea was worried, that she felt she should be doing something to help Sienna.

“I just don’t understand why this happened to you.” Kelsea managed.

“Kel that may not be something we ever understand, bad things happen though, but God spared me, and I am grateful for that.”

“So am I.” Kelsea managed.  “I just wish things were different.”