Chapter 1: Everything Changes

Stef and Anette were ordinary children. Of course, no two children are exactly alike, but there was nothing about them that made people think they were unusual.

Stef’s real name was Steffen, but he was always called Stef. He was six years old and had recently started school. Anette, his older sister, was 10 and in fourth grade. They lived in a townhouse in a suburb of the city of Rindum with their mother. Their parents had divorced when Stef was two years old.

After school, Stef and Anette went to the after-school club until their mother picked them up on her way home from work. Their mother’s name was Heidi, and she loved spending time with her children. In the afternoons and evenings, they often did things together until the children went to bed. They played cards and board games. Heidi would read stories to them, often with Stef on her lap and Anette sitting next to her so they could look at the pictures together. Sometimes Anette would read aloud to Stef while Heidi helped out with difficult words. Anette liked doing things for Stef. They also sang together sometimes, and other times Heidi sang to the children while playing her guitar.

The children also played in the small backyard of their townhouse or at the neighborhood playground with other children.

Stef didn’t have any homework yet, and Anette usually finished hers at the after-school club.

On weekends when there was no school and Heidi didn’t have to work, they often went on outings together. They would usually drive to a nature area and go for a walk. Anette especially loved birdwatching. She had a bird book and always tried to identify the birds she saw and heard. Identifying birds by their calls wasn’t easy, but she read the descriptions in her bird book and also had a CD with bird calls. She had a little notebook in which she wrote down every time she saw a bird species she had never seen before. It could make her happy for days.