Author's Note: Most chapters following this one will be much longer in length, but this is just to give everyone a taste of what the story will be like...enjoy and let me know what you think!

Into the Unknown:

Why are we here? This is SO STUPID! Why would any girl want to spend her summer in a place like this, with her grandparents?

Unfortunately for me, that question had never crossed my parent's mind as they packed me up and sent me off to live with my grandparents in New Hampshire. They hadn't even had the courtesy to go with me to the airport to make sure I got onto my plane and in the air safely. As I rode away in a rusty blue Buick that served as my taxi, they waved to me with mock happiness. I could do nothing but continue to watch them miserably out of the back window.

I had looked upon the beauty and serenity of our magnificent Californian vineyard for the last time in my life. I would miss it all: the smell of the grapes, the way the sun shone through my window each and every morning rousing me gently out of a deep slumber, the sound of the rain drizzling off of each leaf on the vines as the grapes soaked in the surrounding scents and tastes, and everything else that was connected with the life my parents and I once shared serenely in California.

Who are you kidding? Your life is going nowhere and your past is as dead as the history in your school textbooks! It was true, my parents were divorcing and separating miles apart. My father escaping to his hometown in Michigan and my mother fleeing back to her roots in New York, abandoning our vineyard completely, as if it were a sullen wasteland of death and decay when the only death that our family had suffered was the death of my parent's love for each other, and with it the death of any hope I had at a future. I had never been particularly great in school, math frustrated me, history bored me, and science seemed all too literal. No, the only subject that was even remotely tolerable for me, was English, but what future could I have in English, when my family was known for it's remarkable scholars, doctors and lawyers?

The vineyard had simply been a hobby for our family, never a necessity, but what they didn't understand was that for me, it was life. I needed the vineyard like an artist needs paint, or a canvas. Within my misfit and dull day to day life, I only found one small joy in my spare time after school and that was my writing. I would get home, park the car, and run. I would run though the maze of wooden supports, vines and grapes, past the barn where barrels of grapes were kept and beyond, to where the coast met our property. There I had the most magnificent view of the ocean laid out before me. No one could ever imagine such an inspirational scene. Every time I escaped to 'my paradise', I drank in the beauty, the colors, and the vastness of the aqua water. I drew all its power, majesty and beauty away, through my eyes, down through my heart and out at the tip of my pen, each time composing something that truly made me feel as if, 'yes, I could do something with my life!' But now, all I saw out of the car window was one bland oak tree after another. The monotony of it all became too much and I had to close my eyes. Where was the beauty in this place?

My parents had to 'hammer out the details' of their divorce and so they thought it would be best if I went ahead to Michigan with my father's parents. I fought with them many times over it, telling them that I did not wish to leave, and that I needed to be at home with the vineyard and the sea. But they would not hear about it, telling me that I had to get used to calling another place home. So I was packed up with boxes and packing peanuts, like a china plate, and shipped off to be set on some shelf to collect dust, never to show my true beauty again. My grandparents had picked me up from the airport, their faces bright with excitement. I felt slightly guilty that they had to see my gloomy mug as apposed to that of a normal and joyful teenage girl. I remained silent through most of the ride, ignoring any and all questions directed at me.

I was miserably depressed by the time we reached the house of my grandparents. Tree after tree surrounded me as I got out of the vehicle and I felt confined almost as if this place was a prison and the trees were the iron bars, caging me like a wild tiger in a circus. I fought the urge to cry out in frustration at this lack of control I had over my own life as my grandparents showed me around, pointing out the attached house which was to be mine along with my father's. Great! I get to live in a house attached to my grandparent's house… All thoughts turned sarcastic in the blink of an eye as I had to smile and pretend like I appreciated what they were doing for me, all the while nearly gagging on each forced 'thank you'. Absently, I noted smoke coming from deep within the woods that enclosed us all.

"Where is that smoke coming from…?" I asked inattentively.

"Oh, Issy…that is simply….well…there is a house deeper within the forest, but do not go searching for it…the man who lives there…well, he is said to be the son of Satan himself…do not go near there if you value your life……" My grandfather whispered mysteriously.

"Oh come now, John, you know he is no devil, although he is a dangerous man, convicted of many unspeakable crimes…simply watch yourself my dear and all will be well! So, that having been said, why don't we go inside and I will pull out a tin of my chocolate chip cookies…I baked them just yesterday morning!"

I followed her in silently, but I could not tear my eyes away from the grey smoke billowing up from a chimney somewhere amongst the trees.