Book I - A Girl Adopted By Wolves

Wondering through the woods I remembered the first time I ran in here. That was the worst and the

best day of my life.

I am Amara Cross and I am sixteen years old. I am an 11th grader. My hair are reddish brown in

color and eyes, chocolate brown. I have pale skin and I am 5 foot 3 inches tall. I skipped a grade, so I

am in the same grade with my sister, Elena. Elena and I moved in with our father Robert Cross this

year and by that I mean Elena moved in with our dad and I moved to a cabin in the woods. Robert

lives in Greycoast. I know weird name right. It's a small town surrounded by thick woods and you

can barely see the sun due to the clouds covering the sky almost every day. Ironic, isn't it. But I love

it here. I have my own little heaven in the woods waiting for me, so I was quite excited to move

here.

Elena and I lived with our mother Emma Cross till now in Esterden. This place is a total opposite of

Greycoast. It's hot there most of the time through the year. I love the warmth in Esterden though.

We used to spend our summer in Greycoast every year, which never felt like summer due to the

weather. My parents got divorced when I was barely a month old. They got married when they were

just out of school i.e. at the age of eighteen. Teen love and all that shit. My mom was pregnant with

Elena at that time. They used to live in Esterden, a warm place with lots of beach. Almost eight

months after marriage my sister was born. One kid is not that much of a problem for a low income

family right. They managed pretty well. But after about three months, my mom got pregnant with

me and that's when things started going downhill. They were not ready for a second child. They

were barely managing with the first one. When I was born the situation got far worse. With so less

money and two kids to raise, their relationship snapped. They were not ready to handle the

pressure. They started fighting a lot and eventually ended up getting divorced. That's what everyone

tells me. I was too little to know anything then. My father moved to Greycoast and my mother

stayed in Esterden. I for the part, became a bitter memory for them.

But that was just the start of the problems. My mother wouldn't look at me and father, he did not

even consider me as his daughter. Elena, she hated me for breaking her perfect family. I was a kid

back then, barely a month old at that time and can't take care of myself. That's when Uncle Dale and

Aunt Claire stepped in. Uncle Dale is father's older brother. He is eight years older than father. Aunt

Clair is his wife. They took me in. They have a son named Alec. We are two months apart. Alec is two

months older than me. So, we practically grew up as twins. If it wasn't for uncle, aunt and Alec, I

wouldn't be here. My mother, father and Elena are just my family on papers but my real family is

uncle, aunt and Alec. My parents refused to let Uncle and Aunt officially adopt me. Nobody knows

the reason why. Maybe they wanted to see me suffer more. Who knows!

But the summer ritual was compulsory for Elena and me from when we turned five and four. I didn't

want to go there as father practically ignored my existence whenever I was there. I always felt lonely

and unwanted in that house. I never understood though why they would send me there if they don't

want to see me. I mean I was happy being away from their scowling, loathing faces. I used to take

care of myself. Dad used to smile at Elena and would never pay attention to me. He would take her

to eat outside, to the movies and I would be home alone starving or eating anything I can find in

the kitchen, which they made sure not to leave much. But I would still wait for them in hope to be

noticed just once maybe. I studied hard and got good grades so that mom and dad would praise

me. I made myself perfect in extracurricular too but, still no avail.

The year I turned ten, we went to Greycoast as usual for the summer break. It was almost the end of

the summer break. On that particular night my father came home early from work. Elena was

staying at her summer friends Leah and Mia Butler's house. Dad went in the kitchen and started

drinking. I was watching him from the small storage room door which I would get as a bedroom

over the summer every year. After an hour or so he stood up and started coming towards me. That

was the first time he looked me in the eye. The emotions in his eyes were not what I wanted to see

though. His eyes were full of hate and that hate was directed towards me. He stood right in front of

me and started shouting at me, "Because of you my family broke. Because of you Jessica left me. I

wish you were never born, then we would have been one happy family. I will make you suffer for

everything you put us through.” And with that said he slammed his fist on the wall, an inch beside

my head and went in his room. I started crying. I didn't knew he hated me so much. I always used to

think he is just mad at me about something but hate, it was a whole different level.

And I did the most rational thing a scared ten year old could think of. I ran out of the house and

into the woods that were surrounding it. It was raining at that time as the summer break was about

to end. I ran aimlessly in the woods, tears streaming down my face. After sometime it got harder to

see as it was getting dark and the woods were dense. Only little light passed through. I tripped on a

tree root and fell face first and hit my head on a rock. Everything became woozy after that. My head

hurt like hell and I was in and out of consciousness. I thought I would die here with nobody to look

for me. Even if they did try to find me, what was the possibility that some wild animal wouldn't eat

me up first? I mean it's a freaking jungle for crying out loud. I thought I was done for.