I got up startled as usual, thanks to my alarm clock.

As I dragged myself from my bed, I noticed that the house was very quiet.

This was a very strange occurrence because my parents were early risers, I always woke up to them either arguing about something or celebrating their new conquest.

Whatever. I thought as I entered the kitchen to make breakfast. My parents never prepared any meal for me, they always made theirs, ate and left, I was used to it by now. 

As I walked past my parents room on my way to the kitchen, something just felt very wrong. I had this strong bad feeling and I decided to check up on them in their room.

I hope they aren’t dead? I thought. 

I walked into the room carefully, heart in hand as I opened the door, what I witnessed was worse than anything I could’ve expected.

I opened the door and realised that my parents weren’t dead, they were much much worse….. gone! 

I ran to the drawer where I saw the documents last night, it was empty! Ah, I should’ve known!

These people didn’t care about me so I don’t understand why I thought those documents were for us all to travel. 

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I noticed the weird looks people were giving me as I walked down the hall. A few guys were even smiling and winking at me. 

Weird. Something was definitely wrong, I just hadn’t figured it out yet. 

Well, whatever. I’ll just pack up and go home.

Before I could quietly wriggle myself out of the school’s massive doors, Beck approached me.

“Hey beautiful”, he said while spinning around me, a gesture that I believe he thought was romantic. “Wanna go on a date with me tonight? We’d get Pizza and Icecream then eat them all up in my car while looking at the stars”.

Beck wasn’t all that, but he wasn’t that bad either. Besides, I didn’t have anything interesting to do tonight so I decided to accept. “Uhm, I…”

“Dude, is that the best you can do?’ Jake interrupted with a grin on his face.

“Bro, don’t kill my shine”.

Jake ignored him and turned to me. He held my hand and kissed it.

“Cat. I have a big-ass cinema in my house with chefs and cleaners obeying my every command. Spend the night with me instead and I can assure you that we’ll have the whole night to ourselves, no one will dare interrupt us”. 

“Huh?”

Why in the world would Jake, the school player, ever think that I’ll want to go out with him? He may have been a millionaire but he knew I hated him. 

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“Hey Peekaboo! Have your bath quickly before someone comes”.

We had our bath and dried ourselves as fast as we could, before running out of the restaurant. Once we got to a  safe zone, we started laughing, so happy that we hadn’t been caught this time. 

The last time was so embarrassing, the security man didn’t even let us finish up! Thankfully he had the courtesy to call a female security officer who was even more ruthless than he was. We were forced to put our clothes back on despite the fact that our bodies were still filled with soap. We bowed our heads as we were dragged out of the restaurant, our faces still covered in soap lather. 

After that, we avoided taking baths for a couple of weeks till today. 

“We smell soooo fresh!” I giggled. 

This was our life now, sleeping under egg cartons and sneaking into neat restaurants when no one was looking to have our baths. 

It wasn’t always like this though, we used to be quite comfortable. My dad was a lawyer and his company rewarded him greatly. 

Unfortunately, he was hit by a stroke and we lost him. My mother couldn’t pay for our house and our survival with the tiny revenue we got from her shop and just like that, we started sleeping in my mom’s shop but when her landlord noticed this, he sent her packing also. We had no option but to move to the streets after trying the shelters and figuring out that they were all filled up.

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As I ran towards the goal, dribbling the football as I went, I suddenly noticed my Mom watching from the sidelines. My heart filled with joy, it wasn’t often that my Mom managed to make it to one of my games. You see, she has a very busy job as an accountant with a big city firm. She works long hours and usually isn’t able to watch me play.

The referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the match. I shook hands with the players from the opposing team and went to join my Mom.

“Mom! I can’t believe you made it! I’m so happy you’re here!”

But instead of giving me the smile I expected my Mom just scowled at me,

“I’m so disappointed in you Luke, you played terribly.”

I was so shocked and confused, I couldn’t understand why my Mom was being so rude.

But little did I know things were only going to get worse, just wait til you see what she did at the end of this story!

I got into my Mom’s car and we drove home in silence. I was upset that she had criticised my playing and she didn’t seem in the mood for chatting either.

When we arrived home I took off my coat and was about to head upstairs to my room when my Mom came into the kitchen. 

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Up to my room, I’m going to play a video game with Ben.”

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“So what’s your secret?”

“What?”

“We’re the same age but you look like a man and I still look like a kid. How did you get your beard to grow?”

“Genes bro, genes! Hahaha. ”

My best buddy Ron had this conversation with me almost every day. We looked really different from each other although we were both sixteen.  I was tall, muscular and I had a lot of facial hair. I had a really cool beard and a mustache that made the ladies faint. My voice was also deep and extremely attractive. Ron on the other hand looked and sounded like a baby.

“I bought this beard growth serum the other day. I’ve been putting it on my face every night. I hope it works soon!”

“Don’t worry. Maybe you’re just a late bloomer! It happens!”

Despite our differences, we were still good friends and we did almost everything together. Life was great! I also had an adorable girlfriend. Her name was Clara and she was great for my ego!

“Oh Garth! You’re so handsome and muscular! And I love your beard! You’re the most gorgeous boyfriend on the planet!”

“Thanks babe.”

My only real difficulty in life was fighting off all the other girls who wanted to be with me too. I was a babe magnet – I guess they just love beards and muscles and that stuff. Luckily, Clara wasn’t insecure so that was great for me.

Sadly, my awesome life was about to take a strange twist.

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I watched as an older lady attempted to cross the road. Immediately, I stepped towards her. 

“Do you need help to cross the road?” 

The lady nodded and I extended my elbow for her to hold on to. The older lady chatted politely as we crossed the road. Once we got to the other side she turned to me, “Thank you, young man.”

I nodded and pulled my hoodie over my face and walked away quickly. 

My story is pretty unusual, and it changed my whole life.

I’ve always been very picky with what I eat and the number of times I exercise each week, because I am a competitive swimmer. When I sat with my friend during lunch, I’d comment about the other girls who were larger than I was but were on the swimming team. I told my friends that those other girls didn’t deserve to be on the swim team until they lost weight. 

I was also a popular girl and dated the most handsome guy at school, Kendall, who was the captain of the hockey team. 

“Gigi, you really should stop speaking about your teammates like that,” Kendall said during lunch one day. 

“Why? I’m not saying anything wrong. If they lose a few pounds then maybe they can win a match or two, instead of the rest of us having to push harder to hide their flaws.” 

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“Good morning David! Do you want some cookies?”

“Sure Miss Rosie!”

“Just wait right there on the sidewalk! I’ll bring them to you!”

While I was waiting, Mark’s golden retriever jumped on me and started licking my face.

“Max! Stop that! Oh my gosh David I’m so sorry!” 

“It’s okay. Max is my dog too!”

“Mark, do you want some cookies?”

This was what a typical walk in my neighborhood was like. Ever heard of Sweet Magnolias? My town was just like that – but better. Everyone was so friendly and it was so safe that you could go sleep with all your doors and windows wide open. We all shared with each other and there was never really a sad moment.

But a crazy mystery that had been kept from me was about to ruin all of this!

I lived with my mom, dad and older sister  Lauralee. My dad worked in Tech and my mom was your typical housewife – like most of the women in my neighborhood.

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“Jones, remove these snacks, I need a place to sit down”, June complained. But Jones totally ignored her, stuffing his face with the bowls of popcorn, chips, fruits, veggies and hummus that he used to fill the whole sofa. 

June ran to the kitchen, “Mom! Jones won’t create a space on the sofa for me and our show is about to start”.

“What show?” Her mom asked. 

“Don’t you know Mom? It’s “DECEMBER WITH THE GAYLINTONS!”

Her mom rolled her eyes, went to the living room and removed all the snacks from the sofa, they carried them and sat down. The show began. 

What they didn’t know was that this year, ‘December With The Gaylinton’s’ was going to change the lives of the whole world forever, theirs included. 

Hello, my name is Martha Gaylinton and today, I’m going to be telling you about my crazy rich life, and how I became a millionaire without anybody’s help, despite the fact that I was still a cute tiny baby.

Now, let’s continue.

I will start from the very beginning, when I was just a foetus in my mother’s belly, so grab a popcorn and enjoy the ride. 

My family had a popular reality show called ‘The Gaylintons’ where they shared their whole life, like normal reality tv, some parts of it were acted but people knew and still loved the show. ‘The Gaylintons’ was the most popular reality tv show in the whole world and this made my parents and their whole family millionaires quickly!

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“I don’t think this is a good idea, Ragnar. What if he gets hurt or killed? There’s no guarantee that he’ll be safe here”.

“For Odin’s sake, Lagertha! We’ve talked about this a million times, I know you love our boy, I do too. But we are both certain that Bjorn will die at the hand of our enemies if we don’t hide him here. Besides, we’ll always watch and keep him safe wherever he is”.

“Until we’re dead, that is”, Lagertha spat back but Ragnar simply hugged her tight and got into the spaceship. 

Reluctantly, Lagertha followed him into the spaceship and shed tears as they flew out of earth to finish the war on their planet, leaving behind their newborn son and only child, Bjorn. 

Ever wondered what it’s like to live among aliens on a planet that’s not yours? Well, that’s exactly what my life was!

Sit back, relax and keep watching to know my amazing story.

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this. We’re not young anymore, Martha.”

“But do you regret coming out?” Martha asked as she lay on her husband’s chest, on a mat, under the skies.

“Absolutely not. These beautiful stars remind me of my beautiful wife”.

Martha laughed, “You animal!” Her husband always knew how to make her blush. 

Suddenly, a heavy rain began, it didn’t even drizzle, it just came down with full force and got them soaked immediately. As they tried to pack up and run inside, they heard a baby crying in the distance.

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"Pass me the plates and you take the cutlery," Kizzy, my younger sister said as we entered the kitchen.

Mom was almost finished with her famous spaghetti and meatball combo. Dad was on a business trip and wouldn't be back in three months. He had opened another branch of his business in another country and he was overseeing that everything was finalized with his new location before coming home.

Mom plated the food and placed it on the table,"Ok, girls it's time to dig in."

"Mom, did you add something else to the recipe? It's different." I placed another bite into my mouth.

"Different good or different bad?" 

"I'm not sure yet," I said as I chewed slower trying to see if I could figure out what the extra ingredient was.

Kizzy stuffed more food into her mouth, "I don't know what you're complaining about, it tastes the same to me." 

I laughed, "That's because you have the palate of a five year old." 

My life with my family is usually like any other family, normal, but the upcoming months things took a strange turn.

Over the next couple of weeks, Kizzy played in her soccer tournaments.  She was the only athlete in the family. Since Mom and Dad were usually too busy with work I made it my duty as her big sister to go to every one of her games. I was happy when Mom showed up for Kizzy's semi qualification game. 

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