ONE DROP OF BLOOD (ongoing)

CHAPTER 1: LIFE IN NEW YORK

I am Allison Evergreen. I'm 17 years of age and I live in New York, United States with my parents. I was their only daughter. I never appeared to be different, but, everything around me tells me I am.

"Sweetie, get up now! Get up, get up! Rise and shine!" I woke up because of my mom's voice. She always knocks on my door while shouting to wake me up.

I could hear her excitement from her voice. She opens the blue curtains and invites the warm sunlight to come in through the windows. "Aren't you excited? We're going to visit your grandpa! Come on!" she says.

We have been waiting for this weekend to come, especially me, since school is really no fun. I am small, petite and blonde girl, I always have the attention just because I look weak. I always get bullies wherever I go.

This vacation is the only sweet escape I have because I get to enjoy my life with my family. But then, last summer vacation to grandpa's house in Manhattan, aunt Marly came with his son Julien, my cousin, and I hate him along with his grouchy sisters.

They always look down on me and I always hate that kind of feeling, that I am small and weak, though it's true of course. The feeling drains all the confidence I have in myself.

I sit up on my bed and yawns, my hair a mess, and my eyes are still adjusting to the morning light.

"Mom.." I mumbled. "I don't feel like going." I sit up with my knees bend against my chest, hugging them.

After that last summer, I decided I will never go again, unless they're not coming.

"Allison? Why?" she quickly asks me, arching her brows.

She sits down beside me and touches my back. "Is there any problem you're not telling me? Allison, you need to come, you know your grandpa wants to see you."

I never told her, not even dad or grandpa about what happened to me last vacation trip. And I don't think I'm gonna say it to her now. I won't dare.

"Hmm, I'm going if.. we're going alone." I say. I'm sure aunt Marly will be there again. Julien will be there. Arrian and Bliss will be there too, all of them. They might pull a prank on me again and push me on the lake.

They know that I can't swim, and I nearly drowned to death that time, and all they did was to laugh at me.

I'm the one that saved myself by grabbing hold of a branch stuck somewhere and pulled myself by it unto the wooden bridge. I don't know where it came from, but thanks to it I'm saved.

I know mom will going to force me to come since it's only once in a year we could see grandpa, but I still want to try.

"What do you mean by alone?" she asks, bewildered. "Don't you wanna see your cousins? They told me how they enjoyed the last summer vacation with us and they said they're excited to see you again."

I rolled my eyes.

Talk about being fake.

"Come on, you should come." she insists. In the end, she successfully convinced me because she said it's for grandpa. I don't have any choice.

The truth is, I hate it more if I will be left alone here at home. I would just rather be bullied.

On the road, dad is driving the car and mom is sitting beside him at the front seat, while I am there at the back seat, listening to some music with my earphones while looking at the road outside the window. They are both talking about something but I didn't bother to know. I just close my eyes, and let myself drift away by the music I'm listening to.