Prologue

"Come on people we're getting late!" Uncle John said getting irritated by his family's laziness.

"Where are you guys going? My bday is just like in an hour..." I complained with a pout, showing my best puppy eyes. It didn't work though. But a girl can try!

"No complaints sweetie, after all it's about your birthday surprise" my mother said, wearing her pumps.

Okay now that got my attention and I started wondering what my present could be, but my thoughts were soon interrupted by my crying nephew. Well I guess even he was just as curious about my surprise.

If you guys are wondering what's going on so let me clear it to you. You see, it's currently 22:25 and my birthday would be starting in like 1 hour and 35 minutes but my family is going to bring my surprise and gonna be picking up my father from his office. And they are asking me to be home with my cousin Amy and nephew Ashton(he's a year and half, smol baby) and to babysit them. And well to be honest I don't mind babysitting them 'coz after all they are going to bring my surprise(I love my Ash and Amy anyway.) But you see, it's my 18th birthday and I just want my complete family to be here with me.

"He's sleeping now, try not to wake him up" my cousin Chase informed referring to Ash.

"Well yeah thanks bro for having so much faith in me!" I said rolling my eyes.

"Okay children behave till we return." Aunt Cassie shouted while getting in the car.

"Bye guys."

Okay well now it's just me, Amy and my little sleeping nephew in this big house. What are we suppose to do for the time till everyone come back and may I add come back with my SURPRISE!. I giggle to myself.

My rambling was soon stopped when I heard soft snoring coming from my cousin who was laid on the couch across me. Ha now it's just me. Happy birthday Susan, I thought to myself!.

I didn't have anything to do so I decided to go through my father's camera. Sometimes I feel so lucky to be a part of this family, well everytime actually but sometimes I feel a little sad when I see my aunt's family. My aunt Cassandra, my mother's elder sister, since my maternal grandparents died aunt Cassie decided to shift near us 'coz my mum and aunt Cassie were the only children grandparents had. Aunt Cassie has a beautiful big family. She has a loving husband, a wonderful son(my cousin) Chase, who himself has a sweet family, his son Ashton and Jude(his wife), and Amy, an amazing daughter who is 12 years old. All of them live together just two blocks away from our house. It's good to have your family near you but what makes me sad is that our family's not that big as aunt Cassie's. It's just me, my mum and dad. I always wanted a sibling but since mum couldn't conceive after me, I was the only child they had. Being the only child has it's perks afterall! but downsides too. I sighed.

As I was going through all old photos, I saw a photo , when Amy was born. I still remember how much chase was happy for becoming a big brother and I was so excited for having a sister since it was just me and chase when aunt Cassie shifted here. Whenever me and chase used to go to the park together most of the people thought we are real siblings since I and chase both of us got our looks from our mothers who look very much alike. Both, I and chase have brown hair like our mothers but our eyes makes the difference. Chase and Amy both have hazel brown eyes like aunt Cassie whereas I have blue eyes like my father. I inherited mostly all of my facial features from my mother except my eyes. Chase's just three years older than me that means he's 21 years old and it was a shock to the family when we heard Jude, his Gf was pregnant with his child, that was when they decided to get married at the age of 19(yeah! pretty young age to get married!)

Amy has the same reaction for becoming an aunt as her brother when she was born. And well I was excited as usual.

My dad believed in capturing moments, hence this camera. He had all the good, funny, embarrassing moments of the family in his camera. He even had a photo of our maid Sienna when she was playing with baby Amy and me. Sienna has became a member of this family. She's been working here since I was 5 when mum decided to open her own publishing company with Bethany. Beth and my mum are good friends and her daughter Jaimi who is my best friend(my only friend honestly!) lives a door next to me.

All in all I have a great family and friends. My life has been really good. It's my 18th birthday and I'll be graduating my high school in just few months. My thoughts were paused when I heard our house phone ringing. I picked up the phone.

"Helloww, Collins residence." I was being creepily cheerful but what can I say, I was happy. Not for long though.

Because what I heard next was enough to wipe my smile off my face.

It's all it took to turn my world upside down.