Do you ever want to dive into a world of magic, just like in the books? Do you ever want to find out that you are magical? Do you ever want to become like Harry Potter or all the heroes out there? You are going to regret it. Trust me, your boring life is much better than mine. 

Oh, and by the way, my name is Rose, and this is the story of how my life... well, you'll see.

***

It all started one day before my birthday.

I was sitting on my bed facing the mirror, making silly faces at my reflection. I have really really messy auburn hair and hazel eyes, just like my father, and thick lashes, like my mum.

Actually, I haven't seen my mum since I was two.

Short story: Mum and Dad met in Milan, where Mum was studying. They fell in love, and once Mum finished her studies she moved to Vancouver to be with my dad. A few years after, I was born. The happy couple was happy for a while, but then there was an explosion near Mum's office, and well, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and she was killed. I was only two.

After the accident, my mum's sister Sabrina, who was a professor of biology in England, moved to Vancouver and bought her husband and daughter with her. She was a kind of a surrogate mother to me.

After the incident, Dad was never the same. He became cold and strict, and a ruthless businessman. I didn't have any siblings, and Flora, my cousin, is a spoiled brat, just like my other cousin, Aurelia.

When I turned six it all went better. I made a few friends, and there were moments when I could forget the family crisis and just be a normal kid.

On the outside, I was perfect: rich, with a huge house, good grades, nice body, lots of friends, but on the inside I was broken, with my aunts and dad fighting like cats and dogs.

This year went surprisingly better, and the summer was beginning, and I almost believed that my messed-up family became better.

Of course, I was wrong.

June came and went peacefully, but exactly a month before my birthday my dad got into a huge argument with my aunt and uncle. Flora, who had been shipped off to a boarding school in Alaska, had returned, causing even more problems. To top it off, my other aunt, my dad's sister, was going to arrive today for my birthday.

The three main adults in my life: my dad, Aunt Sabrina, and Auntie Clara, went along horribly. They couldn't be in a room without spitting insults at each other, and it was a miracle if we sat through dinner without a bowl upturned and a glass shattered. That's my family for you.

Don't get me wrong, I love all of them, but the arguing was constantly getting on my nerves.

Sighing, I reached over to my bedside cabinet and picked up the only memory of my mum that I had: a pretty blue silk-bound photo album containing all of Mum's photos. It was like a priceless treasure to me, and sometimes when I felt sad or angry I flipped through the old, weathered parchment pages. 

Now, I brushed past the childhood photos of Mum and Sabrina at the beach, the zoo, in their garden, and stopped at the photo of Mum and Sabrina after their graduation with their classmates. 

The twins were standing side by side, wearing blue dresses and identical smiles. Mum looked amazing with her wavy dark brown hair and blue eyes, while Sabrina looked as if she had just came back from a photoshoot with her perfectly curled blonde hair and scarlet lips, which was quite likely, seeing as she had a modeling career when she was young.

I suddenly had this feeling as if someone was watching me. I looked around my room, but there was no sign of anyone.

My room was the attic, which was not quite an attic. It was quite large, with a slanted wooden roof and walls and it had beautiful glass sliding doors that led to a giant balcony. In a corner there was a simple marble-lined bathroom.

 On one side of the room was a walk-in closet with a mirror as the door, one the other side my bed and desk. On the smooth floors laid a faux-fur rug, and opposite the sliding doors were huge glass panes with a small space for you to sit that allowed you to see the sea and the mountains.

I often watched the sea and the mountains from my perch, and it was especially pretty in the rain, when the fog shrouded the whole of Vancouver except the mountains. 

I had this strange feeling again, and I whirled around in time to see a shadow dart away from the glass doors.

I grabbed the nearest dangerous things- two heavy books called Mastering Algebra and Grammarly Fun and stormed to the doors. If my furious self didn't scare away the person, summer homework would.

"Show yourself!" I called out. I was expecting a bird or even a bear (things got messy when a cub got onto my balcony), but I definitely wasn't expecting a skinny brown-haired boy, about my age, walking out from the shadows with his palms raised. I pressed myself against the doors, clutching my books, my heart pounding. 

"What do you want?" My voice came out squeakier than I intended it to be. 

"I need to see Mr. Miller," the boy said. My brows furrowed.

"How did you get up here?" I asked. I knew that the balcony was only accessible from my room. And no, I was fairly sure that he didn't set foot in my bedroom.

The boy shook his head. "Please, take me to him." He begged, and reached out to take my hand. I recoiled in shock and horror.

"GO AWAY!" I shrieked, holding my textbooks in front of me as a shield.

"Please, tell him that-" The boy didn't have the chance to finish because I bought the books on top of his head, hard. There was a cracking noise, and for a horrible moment, I thought that I had broken his skull. Then I realized that it was the two heavy volumes breaking.

The boy stumbled, clutching his head. He gave me an odd look, and jumped from the balcony. When I reached the spot, there was nothing: no patch of human grease, no broken bones, nothing.

***

That was an okay first chapter, don't you think? I suddenly wanted to change the narrative to first person, I'm not sure if its the right thing to do though lol. Sorry for the short chapter!