A/N: Hi, thanks for clicking this story. I'm guessing you clicked on it because my summary was good? If not I would appreciate if you let me know how I could improve. I'm new here and this is my first story but that doesn't mean I don't think it's any good, but at the same time I'm not saying it couldn't use any improvements. And now you can start reading :-)
Chapter 1: -
Alyssa's P.O.V
It was a cool, summery night as I entered the hotel with my seven younger siblings, checking that it was the right one before I did. It was around three in the morning and as we had been travelling all day just to get here, we were all very tired. Our youngest two siblings were already sleeping whilst being carried into the place and four of my other younger siblings were also on the verge of passing out. Luckily there were some soft chairs and sofas for them to sleep on as Kaine, my only brother who was still awake at that time with me, and I approached the front desk. Trying not to wake anyone, I lightly banged on the bell waiting for someone to appear. Sooner or later, a large man in pyjamas tiredly walked up to the front desk from the room in the back.
"How may I help you?" He said in a grouchy voice.
"Hi I'm- I'm-" I couldn't get my words out.
"This is Alyssa and I'm Kaine. We're the Cortells" My little brother came to the rescue.
"Do you have any reservations?" He enquired, gloomily.
"Yes, two rooms under the name, Alyssa Cortell." After my brother spoke to the man, I smiled and pulled out a card that the court gave me stating that, even though I was under eighteen, I was allowed to have my own place without parents or guardians permission and I was the guardian of my little brothers and sisters. After typing some things into the computer he reached under the desk and came back up with a set of keys which he handed to me.
"Have a nice stay at the Palm Woods." He said with a fake smile and then strolled back into what appeared to be his room. This was it, a fresh new start. I sighed and then turned to my brother, who seemed to read my mind and grabbed as many bags as he could and walked up to the elevator and so did I. After taking all our bags up, we carried our lightest siblings to their respective beds and woke the others up, so that they could follow us. After saying our good nights, we all went to sleep.
We went through a lot to get here; it all started that one night when Kaine and Bradley, and I decided to spy on our parents after weeks of arguments. Months ago, our dad began coming home drunk and abusive towards us and our mum which caused them to have many arguments ever since. Eventually all of us kids would avoid him at all costs, but our mum always waited for him to return home late in the night and every night they would argue tremendously. That night was no different, all we heard was muffled shouting, crying, screaming, things smashing and being thrown about, and then two words came out of our mum's mouth.
"I'm pregnant." She said as she broke into tears and he left, with a final door slam, never to be seen again.
Later that week, we found out that our mum was six weeks pregnant with our baby brother, due to a night when our so called father was drunk. After she gave birth to our little brother, Declan, she fell extremely ill and sadly it wasn't too long until she left us. After that we were all sent to live at an orphanage. On the day of our mum's funeral, she left us a wad of cash and a small box containing a letter and little gifts for each of us. On the letter it said that on my thirteenth birthday, I was the official guardian of my siblings and I had full custody of them until they were eighteen. But instead of thirteen, we moved out of the orphanage after I turned fifteen.
We moved from hotel to hotel, city to city, state to state, country to country but we never settled down in one place. That was until we came across a poster advertising the Palm Woods and saying that if we had big dreams, such as becoming a singer or actress, we would be able to stay there for very little money with our families. It took a lot of convincing but I finally gave in and said that I would try and get into the acting business. Plus, Kaine said he would do it too. Therefore I made reservations at the hotel and then we set off on our journey. And that's how we got to this hotel.
A/N: Hope you liked it, please tell me what you think, constuction critism is much appreciated, and saying "It's good." isn't going to help me either so try to give me reasons. Thank you! :-)
