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Part 1
When Slade was 15 years old, he spent much time at the train station in his hometown, Greendale. He was very eager to leave town, so he often watched people leave town, and he dreamed about leaving himself. Greendale was a town for people who wanted to get away from the big city. It was small, and everyone knew their neighbours.

Slade's mother, Grace, was a first grade teacher and enjoyed visits to the library in her spare time. She was also renowned for making the best apple pie in town and was friend with children and old people alike as well as with the birds and animals who were brought to her, sick and injured for some tender loving care.

Garth was the name of Slade's father. He tought driving school, and his patience and dedication to the job were admirable without fault. Most of the youngsters in Greendale had been signed up to learn to drive with him. Garth was also known as 'Green Light Garth' because his pupils never failed on their driving tests.

Slade had a sister called Carla. She was tall, blonde and slender, and everybody loved her. She had a great and sunny personality and was never seen to be down or sulky. Carla was friend to the needy ones and was always throwing sleepovers and parties.

Everything was perfect in Slade's life. His parents were angels and loved him unconditionally, nd he had the best sister anybody could wish for. His grandparents were always available and did often show up with a few dollars as 'treats for the kids'. Yes, Slade had it all. But still, Slade wanted out of Greendale. He wanted to see what life was like outside his hometown.

 

Part 2
Slade was now at the age of 9. He loved life, he had fun every day, and he knew 1that every night he would be read a story by his favourite person in the world; his mother, Angie. She was the one who kept Slade's world together. His father Garth was great, but he was out driving a lot. Angie and Slade kept each other's company.

Suddenly, Angie's mood changed. She was being distant and didn't have as much time to her son than before. And when she stopped reading bedtime stories to Slade at night, Slade knew something was wrong.

One night Slade could hear his parents arguing. His mother said that she wanted to go back to the man who knew how to treat her. After hearing this, Slade cried himself to sleep. The next morning Angie was gone. His father never fully explained to Slade what had happened. lade became a loner for some months and took to hiding out in the treehouse at night, looking up at the stars and wondering whether his mother was looking up at the same time and thinking of her son. As many children at Slade's age, he began to think that he had been the cause of his mother's abandonment. Confusion soon turned to anger, and he made sure to get rid of any trace of her from the house and from his life - everything but one picture showing Angie who was pregnant with him.

Garth found later the new love og his life. Her name was Grace. Slade accepted Grace as his new mother figure with open arms. He so desperately needed to feel love. And Grace had also a daughter from before, so Slade got a new sister as well. Soon he came out of his shell and started to make friends again.

One day Slade went up to the attic and opened an old trunk. In the trunk were drawings he had drawn when he was young and some of his grandfather's old clothes. He also found one of his father's old jeans, and buried deep inside a pocket, Slade came across a letter. He opened it... Another child. Angie had another child. Slade couldn't believe it. His own mother, his best friend in the entire world - she had a whole life away from Slade and Garth. Not only a whole life, but a whole separate family.

 

Part 3
The virus had striked in the town. Slade's father Garth was one of the first persons who got it. He had had some horrendous headaches for a week and therfore cancelled a lot of his driving lessons. Slade had to face the facts that his father was dying. Garth was soon taken to 'a holding area', as well as Carla's boyfriend's mother. Slade wanted to know what 'a holding area' was, because he found out that the sick ones were not taken to the hospital for appropriate treatment. Both Slade and his sister Carla demanded to know what was happening. They were told that there was going to be an announcement by the President the following morning.

The night was endless and worrying, and in the morning Slade, Carla and Grace sat down around the kitchen table and watched the broadcast. The President told the nation that something big was happening, that things would never be the same again. Slade went to the train station to try and relax, but it just made him worse. Parents were sending their children away. Kids were crying, mothers were hysterical and fathers were shouting to the military men who was getting the children on the train. This was the first step of the upcoming evacuations.

Back at home, things weren't much better. Carla had been arrested along with her boyfriend Jim for trying to break into 'the holding area'. Grace was really worried for her husband Garth and now also her daughter Carla. She hadn't heared anything about her husband, and her brother had also just been taken away.

After a while Grace started to complain over an excruciating headache. She wanted to go to the doctor for medicin, but Slade wouldn't let her. He told her that she would end up at 'the holding area' just as the others if she went to the doctor. Slade made the woman he called Mom to lie down, and he vowed that he would do something, anything to make some sense of what was happening around him.