Chapter One
It all began on vacation.
We packed bags and bags of luggage for our trip to England.
I knew going on a vacation to Europe would be interesting and fun. Most of all I would be away from home for a week.
Nothing was wrong with home, except the fact that it was getting boring day after day in the long summer break.
I had no friends to be with. I had no boyfriend. I was just a typical, bored, fifteen-year-old waiting for life to start.
This week, my family decided to go to England for vacation. Though my brother and sister loved England, I thought it was indeed different but yet a little boring. I suppose I just preferred to stay in my American home.
We got on our plane that morning and flew to England.
We didn't arrive until that evening.
My brother and sister were wide-eyed and amazed by the sight of England.
I was a little fascinated, but not much amused.
We immediately went to our hotel.
It was a rather nice hotel. It was decorative and fancy.
We checked in quickly and got onto an elevator.
"Wee," said my sister in the elevator.
When the elevator stopped we walked down the long hallway to our room.
Our room was very fancy and neat.
I lied down on a bed.
"At least the hotel is nice," I said.
"Now Melanie, I think you'll absolutely love seeing London and the rest of England when we tour tomorrow," said my mom.
"Yeah, maybe," I said.
I knew I wasn't going to like it much.
Just looking at buildings and hearing people talk in funny accents and all the walking, walking, and more walking. Sounds like a fun time to me. Not.
Maybe I could pretend to be sick and just stay in the hotel.
"Pizza time!" announced my brother.
He opened the door and ran down the halls.
I swear he could smell pizza from three miles away
He came back a minute later with two boxes of pizza in his hands.
"Told ya," he said, setting the pizza on a nearby table.
I got up and walked over to the table.
I opened up the pizza box. The pizza smelled great.
"Mom, we're going home in a week right?" I asked with my mouth full of delicious pizza.
"Yes, Melanie. And please don't talk with your mouth full," she said.
"Sorry," I said, with my mouth full again.
She rolled her eyes.
After I finished the pizza, I lied back down and watched TV.
I watched TV for several hours. My parents and my siblings went outside to go swimming while I stayed inside alone.
Suddenly, at about eight-thirty P.M. I felt tired.
It was as if someone flipped a switch. One second I was laughing at the television, the next, I felt as if I were about to pass out.
Which I did.
Several minutes after I felt suddenly tired, I fell asleep.
The T.V. was still on and my family was still outside.
I wasn't awake to realize that the T.V. screen was starting to suddenly become fuzzy.
I woke up around nine.
I sat up and walked over to the window.
Sure enough, my family was still outside having fun swimming in the pool.
I sighed.
Why didn't I join them? They seemed to be having a lot of fun together and I was missing out.
I always chose to miss out. I wanted to be with friends but I had none. My family was embarrassing. I didn't like to be with them much.
I walked back over to the T.V.
I realized then that the quality was bad.
I turned off the T.V. and grabbed a room key.
I then turned off the lights and walked out of the room.
Half the hotel seemed to have been in the lobby.
Apparently, some people in the hotel lost power completely, but others didn't.
Luckily we didn't lose full power…yet.
I got in line at the front desk.
The lady in front of me was complaining about the power loss.
"I'm sorry, miss, but our custodians are doing everything they possibly can to fix the power. Please be patient," said the guy at the desk.
I was next in line.
"Hi. I think I know what had happened to the power. I think a group of aliens came down from the sky and landed here in this strange English place because all your accents are weird and awkward. Maybe we should all play country music and dance the Macarena to be rid of them," I said.
"Little girl, I'm sorry to say this but, I think you've been reading to many science fiction novels and watching too many fake movies. Please return to your room or wait until the power is back," he said.
I smiled and walked away.
I did have a rather crazy mind people told me. I liked it.
I walked back down my hallway to return to my room when I saw something strange.
It looked like a black cloud was hovering at the end of the hallway.
I had a very inquisitive mind, so I walked to the end of the hallway to see what it was.
The black smoke wasn't harmful at all. It was cool…or so I thought.