Chapter One Summary

The story begins with the heroine (unnamed at this point) working out with a karate kicking bag. She speaks of "having been pretty" in the past. Comparing herself to her sister, Varena, she thinks that her sister is probably the pretty one now. She mentions that the one thing she does for herself is to have her hair permed and colored to light blond. She mentions that work out fans like the deep tans. She adds that the tans help to hide scars. She has not seen Varena in three years.

After working out, the heroine carefully locks up her apartment and goes for a walk. She mentions that it's 1:00 a.m., and therefore she would not be running into many people. She leaves her small porch, which is almost entirely covered by rose vines, and heads out of her compact...