Keely is a fifteen-year-old teen living in the big, chaotic city of New York City! She is an extremely intelligent, confident, mature, aware, and outgoing girl. She loves school and learning and is very interested in law and being a prosecutor, like her father. Keely has a best friend, Isabelle. Isabelle is Keely’s polar opposite. She is a spitfire who always has a comeback for everything, is rebellious, wild, carefree, and flexible. Isabelle is Keely’s partner in crime and she brings out Keely’s wild side. When they are together, it is as if time freezes and it’s only them. They live it up and make the most of living in the big, crazy city. Keely loves spending time with Isabelle and their other friends by walking around the city, shopping, and taking her adorable English bulldog, Katie, on runs. 

Though Keely loves to live it up and have a good time, it hasn’t always been that way. Eight years ago, when Keely was seven, she experienced the most horrifying and tragic event of her entire life. It was a Friday and Keely had a half-day at school.  After school, she immediately headed over to her dad’s law office on 55th Street as she always had.

Guess what?! You're father just got called up! You better hurry so you don't miss it!

When she arrived, she talked to Mrs. Francis at the front desk and told her all about her long day. When Keely was done venting, Mrs. Francis informed her that her father was called into a trial, which was going to start in ten minutes. Keely was thrilled and quickly hollered “Thank you!” as she grabbed her backpack and ran out the door.

COMING THROUGH!!! EXCUSE ME!!

She hopped on her bike and quickly rode three blocks till she reached the courthouse. She rode around to the back of the building, ran to the back door and placed her bike in the corner where she always kept it. Once she got everything settled, she needed to come up with a game plan on how she was going to get in.  

Hmmmmm.......

Keely was always told that “No Keely, you can’t come to the trial today. It’s going to get too heated!” by her father when she asked if she could come.

  But, little did her father know, she always found a way to come, whether it was actually sneaking into the courtroom, listening through the crack in the door to the room, or showing up thirty minutes before the trial ended so she could wait outside and hear all about it as the jury and everyone was released. She always had some plan. Normally, she would have spent the entire night reading up on the case and learning all about the defendant and what was going to go down the next day.  However, since she had just found out about this case, she decided she wanted to actually go into the courtroom to watch the case because she didn’t have any prior knowledge of it.

Keely slightly cracked the courtroom door open so she could see where her father was. She couldn’t see him, so she quickly sneaked in through the crack and found a seat near the back. Luckily, she was petite and was hard to see from the back. Immediately after Keely sat down, the case began

I think I'm in the wrong case.... oh well, it is pretty good!

She scanned the room looking for her father, but she couldn’t see him. She thought that was weird but didn’t think much more of it. She just figured that maybe she came to the wrong case or they found someone else to prosecute. She was enjoying the case so she decided to just stay and watch. The case lasted for two and a half hours and Keely enjoyed every moment of it.

Hi John! Was my father here? Mrs. Francis told me he got called up, but I didn't see him.

Hi Keely! Ummm... he was on his way--- have you talked to him yet? You better go call him.

 Soon after the trial was closed, Keely was on her way out when she was stopped to see one of her dad’s co-workers, John.

John approached her and said, “Have you talked to your father?”.

Keely was confused and said, “No, I came here straight after going to the law office because Mrs. Francis told me he had been called up to participate in this case. When I got here,  he wasn’t here. Did I go to the wrong trial?”. 

John said, “He did get called up, but then he got a call”, then he hesitated and said, “You better go back to the office and call him.”    

Is something wrong? What could be wrong? It couldn't be mom.... is it grandma or grandpa...! I am getting worried.

Keely suddenly got concerned. So many thoughts were racing through her mind, none of which concerned her mother. Her mom had been dealing with a disease for several years. It was something that was incurable but, with medication, it was very controllable, at least it was supposed to be. So, Keely did not think it was her mom, but she was concerned that maybe it was one of her grandparents or a family member had gotten in an accident. Keely rode faster than she ever had before. She peddled as if her life depended on it.

Dad... Dad?! What's going on? Is it mom? Oh no... I need to come now. Okay, I'll be waiting here, tell them to hurry! Love you.

Keely, where on Earth have you been?! It's your mother. She's in very critical condition. You need to come now. Your Grandpa and Grandma are on their way now. Love you too.

When she finally reached the office, she jumped off her bike, letting it fall to the asphalt, ran inside, frantically grabbed the phone off of Mrs. Francis’ desk, and called her father. It took two calls for her father to pick up, and when he did, he was upset. He was upset about not knowing where Keely had been and extremely upset about something far greater. He told Keely that her mother was in the hospital and was in critical condition. He said it has something to do with her disease. Keely knew it was bad because she could hear it in his voice, she could tell her non-sensitive father had been crying, hard. He told Keely that her grandparents were on their way to the office to come to pick her up and take her to the hospital. She was scared. She was afraid of losing her mother, and thinking about a life without her seemed utterly impossible.

RUN!

After what seemed like an eternity, her grandparents finally showed up in their old-school, red, Ford truck. They raced to the hospital through navigating the disastrous city traffic. After what seemed like another eternity, they finally got to the hospital. Keely in a tizzy jumped out of the car without waiting for it to be fully parked.