Tears to Dancing

Budding ballerina, Bethany St.Clair wakes up in a hospital bed, confused and in pain. After celebrating her fourteenth birthday at the Nutcracker ballet with her parents, she remembers beginning the car ride home to unwrap her final birthday present. Her life unravels before her when she realizes she is the sole survivor from the vehicle. With a severely broken leg and a crushed spirit, Bethany is left in the loving care of her aunt Alice, and the young ballerina's desperate struggles begin. Dealing with unimaginable grief, Bethany embarks on a new chapter in her life, living with her young Christian aunt. A waging war in Bethany's heart pulls her further away from God, and her only hope of comfort is beyond her reach. How long until she can dance again? One evening, Bethany discovers the unopened birthday present from her parents, but is unable to muster the emotional strength to unwrap it. She buries it beneath her bed; the constant reminder of that fateful night hidden from sight. Every day brings its own mountains for Bethany to climb, and she is forced to choose between old friends and new, forgiveness and bitterness, and ultimately life and death. Moments of joy in the form of her puppy, the theater, and a new guy with a fascinating past start to break through Bethany's hopelessness, and she begins feeling human again. But an appointment back at the hospital threatens to cruelly shred every fiber of hope she clung to, and the downward spiral accelerates. Nobody else can understand the ramifications of this news. Bethany's lifelong dream was to be a ballerina. If there even is a God, how could He do this to her? She is utterly devastated, and there is only one way out. Too exhausted to care about life any more, she needs to be with her parents. It's too much for her to handle on her own. The bottle of painkillers will do the job. As a final act of respect to her parents, there is one last thing she feels compelled to do. Bethany gingerly unwraps the present from the night of the accident. But will her discovery be enough to save her life?