the adventures of haven

by alyssa griffin

chapter 1

good byes and hellos

   hi. my name is alex. i’m new at this, i’ve never tried to write an autobiography, so forgive me if i confuse you, i will try and make it as clear as possible. so it all started the day of my dad’s funural- wait, sorry, there i go not telling things in the right order, maybe before i start, i should tell you a little about myself and my family. I am a 14 year old girl, the first born. i love getting into trouble, pulling pranks on people, and i love amusement parks, oh, me and my sister almost got kicked out of an amusement park once, it was so fun- sorry, i also get side tracked really easy. well as i was saying, im basically an extremely fun loving and awesome person. and i have a huge ego. now moving on to my family, i have a really cool sister, even if i do want to strangle her sometimes, but hey! that’s sisterly love, her name is lizz and she is 13. i also have an adopted brother, his name is neal, and he is also 13, he is quite a boring chap(and yes i have an obsession with british accents), and last but not least, my parents and my dad’s brother, my dad was a construction worker, and an accident happened, that’s how he died, my mom was the ceo of some huge corporation, so we see her that much, and my uncle matt, well we didn’t know a lot about him, all we knew was that he was dad’s brother, and every christmas, he would visit and give us awesome gifts, like laptops and ipod shuffles, and a dog! sadly the dog was hit by a car… rest in peace mango, rest in peace…. well that’s about it, so on with the story. like i said it all started at my dad’s funural (it was an outdoor funural), “..and he was a hard worker, and a good father, and a beloved husband..” my mom managed to get out before she broke down crying, “and..and.. i will mi..miss him grately…”. at this point, my grandpa got up and took my mother out of sight. “is there anyone else who would like to say a few words?” asked the pastor,”well then, may mr. john tyler rest in peace.” and with that, they started lowering him into the ground. its all quite a blur from there, i remember seeing the clear blue sky, and birds chirping, and i hated it, how could the world be so happy and alive when my dad had just died? well anyway, after the funural, my uncle approched my mother as we were leaving, “marry” “oh matthew, i’m so sorry, he was your brother.” and with that she broke down again, my uncle started crying a little too.”it’s quite alright, you have nothing to be sorry about.but i think, you could use some time to cope, and so could i, i was actually wondering if alex and elizabeth-” “lizz,” lizz interrupted.”yes, alex, lizz, and neal would like to come and stay with me for awhile, i’ve never had a real chance to get to know them, i would like too though, and you could use the time alone.” “well, to anyone else i would say no, but you were his brother, alright.” “but mom-” i started,” no but! you will leave with your uncle tonight, and that’s that.” i would have argued more, but she had just lost her husband, and i had just lost my dad, neither of us really wanted to argue. and with that said, we all got in grampa’s car to go home and pack, cause we would be leaving that night, but not for a little while like they said, but forever. so when we got home, we quickly packed, cause uncle matt’s plane left at 6:30 pm and it was 5:00 and it takes and 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to the terminal. “where’s my good hoodie?” yelled neal, “lizz did you steal it again?!?” “no! i never touched your hoodie, it smells!” “well if you didn’t touch it then where did it go?””i didn’t take your hoodie!” “excuse me, but is this it?” asked uncle matt. “yes” answer neal sheepishly. “your lucky your mother is outside taking a walk, if she heard you yelling and fight in her state? well to put it nicely, you would be grounded.”yes uncle matt.” they said in unison. “ alright, i’m sorry” “yeah? well what ever” said lizz. “i’m all packed” i said, “are you two ready yet?” “yes” answer neal, “stop nagging, your not the boss of me” answered lizz in a snotty voice, “but yes i am.” “alright, say goodbye to your mother and then we have to go-” we all ran past uncle matt carrying our suitcases down the strain, threw the entrance hall and out to the car, where we set them down and ran down the sidewalk to where our mother was leaning on a fence, we all rushed up and hugged her, and begged her one last time not to send us away, “please mom, we want to stay here with you” said neal, “me too” said lizz.” i however did not join in, i was secretly glad she was making us go, i don’t think i could have stayed in that house without him, without my dad. she hugged us one more time, not that any of us knew then, except perhaps uncle matt, that that was the last hug, the last goodbye, the last time we would ever see our mother. “i love you, but that man standing by the car, do you see him?” “yes”lizz answered, “ that man was your dad’s brother, its time you knew him, besides, you are going to have so much fun with him, did you know he lives in a mansion?” “no” we all answered. “well he does, and you are going to love it there, that house has been in his family for generations… that’s where me and your father first met.. but that’s a story for another time, it’s time that you leave, i love you and  i will miss you so much my darling.” and with that we walked back over to the car, uncle matt opened the back seat door, and we crawled in. he closed it and got in the front, and pulled out of our driveway, and drove down the road till you could see our house, or our mother any more, and then he said,”hello children, i’m your uncle matt, your dad’s brother, and it’s long over do that we get to know each other. so tell me, what do you like to do?” “i like to hangout with my friends” said lizz, “i love soccer” said neal, and i said,”i like to read and explore.” and threw the mirror, i could have sworn, i saw uncle matt’s eyes twinkle. “really? then you are going to love my house, lots of rooms and such to explore.”