Hi, I’m Lucy Smith, but you can call me Lulu. I’m
ten years old and live in Los Angeles. I am going to
write this story because my mom’s at work and my
dad is out of town so I am soooo BORED! Well,
here’s my story. I hope you like it!
A Complex Life
Chapter 1
An O.K. Life
Once there was a 10 9-year-old girl
named Alexa Jackson. She lived in an
orphanage in the state of Washington
called St. Joseph’s Orphanage for Girls
because her dad died in a war and her
mom died when she was two years old
from a rare kidney disorder.
A month earlier, Alexa’s best friend,
Maya Carli was adopted, but they still
kept in touch by sending letters to
each other. Carli wrote that she loved
her family and her new life, and that
she would come visit soon. Alexa
couldn’t wait for the day she got
adopted, hearing about how Carli’s life
was.
Alexa didn’t have much to write
about, because there wasn’t much to do
at the orphanage. Alexa loved art and
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music, but her orphanage didn’t have
anything like that. Occasionally they
gave you some paper and pencils, but
that was pretty rare.
One day Alexa was just hanging
around in her room, playing with the
few toys she had (an old broken toy
car, an old Barbie with one eye and no
arms or legs, and a teddy bear with the
head and arms ripped off). Her room had
an old broken chandelier that was
partially ripped out of the wall, grey
walls and ceiling, and an old
disgusting bunk bed. She shared her
room with the meanest girl in her age
group, Ashley Tiffany Smith. Tiffany
always bragged about how 2 years ago
someone came to look at her, but didn’t
even like her.
Anyways, where were we? Oh right, so
Alexa was in what she called her “cell”
playing with her “toys” when she heard
a knocking at her door. She knew it
wasn’t Tiffany because Tiffany never
knocked, so Alexa knew that it must be
the headmistress of the orphanage, Mary
Kablowski. Whenever she came to the
cell it meant that either it was
suppertime, or that someone was coming
to look at her. Both were great for
Alexa. When she opened the door Miss
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Kablowski didn’t say much, but took
Alexa by the ear and pulled her into
her office. There stood a tall young
man with a cane and a top hat. He had
few wrinkles and a raised cheekbone. He
looked a bit overwhelmed by her
appearance.
“Oh, what a nice young lady,” he
said with applause. “And her name is…?”
“Alexa Jackson. She is nine years
old, and will be ten in January,” Mary
said with a grand smile.
“January 12th to be exact.” Alexa
knew just by looking that this man was
considering adopting her. She was very
excited since no one had come to look
at her since--well no one had ever come
to look at her (no one nice, anyway)!
Mary knelt down to Alexa’s level.
“This man may adopt you,” Mary said
in a hushed voice so the man could not
hear, “so I need you on your best
behavior. He will pay lots of money so
don’t blow it.”
“But I don’t even know his name.”
“Does that really matter?”
“Yes, it does. So what’s his name?”
“This young man’s name is Tony
Valedier.”
“Sorry to interrupt, but I really
must go. I’ve got a meeting at 5:00 and
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it’s nearly 4:30,” Tony said in a
rushed voice.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I lost track of
time. So, it’s settled at $20,500?”
Alexa’s jaw dropped. She could barely
count that high and now out of the blue
someone was paying that amount on her!
“Yes, it’s settled. So, when may I
come pick her up?” he said kindly.
“Anytime’s fine.”
“Soon please!” Alexa said excitedly.
“Well, O.K. then, goodbye” Tony
said, as he drifted out the door
CHAPTER 2
Goodbye
When Alexa got back to her cell she
couldn’t stop smiling, even with the
smell of rotten peaches old cinderblock
surrounding her. She was so overwhelmed
and overjoyed that she didn’t even
notice Tiffany had been in the room for
almost 5 minutes trying to get Alexa’s
attention. What finally woke her up
from her daydream was Tiffany saying,
“Hey, moron, guess what I just did.”
“No thanks,” Alexa said with her head
in her hands.
“I just went to the park to celebrate
my 12th birthday!”
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“Oh, yippee,” Alexa said
sarcastically, still without even
looking up at Tiffany
“Well you could at least look at
me.”
When Alexa looked up at her she saw
that Tiffany was wearing the most
hideous and ugly hat. It was ice cream
cone shape with blue and green
dinosaurs and the words “birthday boy”
with “boy” crossed out and “girl”
written with a Sharpie. Alexa giggled.
On her birthday she at least got a
moderately good celebration. She got
ice cream and waffles and a girl’s
birthday hat.
“How could you laugh at all this?”
As she said that she struck a big (and
strange) model-like pose. Alexa laughed
and this time it was not just a giggle.
“You are so rude to me,” Tiffany
said in a prissy voice, as always.
“Am not, you just look like an
idiot.”
“I do not look like an idiot, in
fact, I look amazing, and you are rude
to me.”
“Am not.”
“You are too. If I were this rude
too you how would you feel, huh?”
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“Well, for one thing, you are that
rude to me already. And two, I’ll kick
your butt if you don’t shut up.”
“Well, someone’s in a bad mood
tonight, now get in your PJs, it’s
getting late.”
“I’m not a little kid any more, and
you don’t need to tell me what to do
any more. Well, now that I think about
it, you never needed to tell me what to
do and you never will because I’m
getting adopted!” she was now
completely regretting saying that.
There was a long pause interrupted by
Tiffany saying, “You what?”
“Well… a nice young man came in to
adopt me for $20,500.” She mumbled so
that Ashley couldn’t hear her.
“What, $250?”
“No, for $20,500.” Just then Mary
knocked on the door. “Come in,” Alexa
said.
“Tony is here to pick you up
Alexa,” Mary said.
“Already? Wow!” Alexa said in a
very excited, but still polite manner.
Mary took Alexa by the ear before she
even had a chance to say goodbye.
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Chapter 3
An Old Start
When Alexa got out of Tony’s large,
dark brown limo and walked into her new
home, she found two marble staircases,
a marble floor, a chocolate fountain,
and the biggest chandelier she had ever
seen. It was nothing like the old one
at the orphanage!
“It’s beautiful!” she said,
admiring the beautiful mansion.
“Thank you. Now here, follow me to
your . . . uh. . . room,” Tony said
nervously.
They climbed up three more
staircases and a ladder to an old dusty
attic. It had a rusty dripping sink and
a ripped up mattress and a very, VERY
low ceiling, so low that Alexa had to
duck even at its highest point.
“Is this my—excuse me--my room?”
Alexa said in the middle of a cough.
“Yup, this is your new home. See
you at breakfast.
“But I haven’t even had dinner.”
“Well sweet-cheeks, you’re just
going to have to survive the night.”
With that he left.
That night Alexa couldn’t sleep.
The faucet dripped all night, the
springs on the mattress were stuck out,
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and she even found herself missing the
orphanage!
In the morning she tried to open
the door, but it was locked. She sat
all day, thinking about how to get out.
She got no breakfast, no lunch, and
then finally, at 6:00, she decided
she’d had enough. She realized that the
door had a lock on it. Luckily, she had
lots of experience with this, so she
took the bobby pin out of her hair and
worked to pick the lock.
Chapter 4
Uh oh
After 10 long minutes, that to her
felt like hours, she finally got it.
She opened the door and walked down the
ladder into the amazing mansion. She
saw many beautiful bouquets in solid
gold vases. She saw the amazing marble
staircase with sparkling gold railings.
She had just noticed the mural on the
ceiling; it had two Greek gods praying
to a statue. She had never seen
anything like it. Suddenly she heard
Tony’s voice, followed by two sets of
footsteps. She quickly hid behind a
large pillar, her heart pounding, and
listened.
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“Yes, I have got her right up
here, Mr. Slystean,” Tony said.
“So, you wish to make her your
maid, I hear?” said Mr. Slystean
“Yes, then when she has had enough
and stopped working I will throw her on
the street to let her live on her own.
Then I’ll start the process all over.
Hehehe.”
Alexa darted back up the ladder
and into the attic, her heart racing
more than ever. She had to get out. The
footsteps got closer, closer, and then
suddenly they were right under her. Her
heart was pounding so hard that she was
afraid they would hear it. She looked
through the cracks in the wood. Mr.
Slystean was a strange man; he was tall
with a big bald spot on the very top of
his head. From what Alexa could see, he
was wearing a purple suit with blue
orange polka dots. Right at that moment
they disappeared… (Well not really,
they just walked away.)
That next morning Alexa was still
starved, but much too afraid to go and
ask for some food. She was lying in her
bed when an idea struck her. She got up
and grabbed an old musty piece of paper
and started to write. At the top of the
page she wrote in big, bold letters:
Escape Plan.
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Chapter 5
See Ya!
After she finished making the escape
plan she looked out the small dusty
window. It was almost pitch black
outside so she thought that she must
get to bed or else she wouldn’t have
enough energy to get out and go live
with Carli, her old friend (that is if
her plan worked).
The next morning she got up at
around 6:00 A.M. with a growling
stomach and a sore back. She didn’t
care about that, she was too focused on
getting out for the first time in so
long (well, it wasn’t actually that
long, it just felt long). She couldn’t
wait for her plan to start. “I can do
it,” she thought to herself, “I know I
can.” So she began.
She opened the door and climbed down
the ladder. When she got down onto the
hard, cold marble floor she could hear
Tony snoring so she knew she was safe.
She crept down the stairs, then more
stairs, then even more! Finally she
reached the kitchen. At first there was
no one there, but just as she thought
it was safe, someone came in, it was
the cook. He was a very big man, even
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bigger than Mr. Slystean. He had a very
small French mustache, well… small
compared to him. He was wearing a tall
chef’s hat, a pair of trousers, and a
pink and purple button-down shirt with
multi-colored flowers on it. He walked
in with a phone in one hand and a
suitcase in the other.
“We, we, I’m going to Hawaii! No,
don’t tell Master Tony, he’ll be mad
mad mad!” he said then hung up the
phone. Alexa was scared, really scared,
she felt like her feet were pinned to
the floor.
Suddenly the cook walked towards her
and stopped two feet from where she was
hiding behind the place where the
counter ended. Luckily she wasn’t seen.
She quietly crept into the kitchen
and got some toast and jelly. It was
the best thing she had ever tasted, the
luscious warm bread with creamy
strawberry jelly. She wanted more, but
she knew Tony would be up any moment
now so she made a peanut butter and
jelly sandwich and put it in her
pocket. She needed to get out, fast.
She tried a door, but realized that
it was locked, too! So once again she
took the bobby pin out of her hair and
picked the lock. She stepped outside
into a warm breeze. She looked around
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at magnificent roses, tulips, daisies,
and pretty much every flower you could
think of, even ones that you couldn’t
think of! It was nice to have some
fresh air, but Alexa was concerned, all
the flower bushes were tied into one
large, winding maze. Luckily she had
brought everything she would need. “The
hedges look pretty stable,” she thought
to herself, “I can do this.” She took a
small rope out of her pocket that she
had found, with many other supplies, in
a chest in the attic. It was just long
enough to reach over the hedges. She
took the rope, walked up to a rose
bush, threw the rope and got it hooked
on a branch. She then started climbing.
Soon, she was at the top! She looked
around and found a tall hedge, just
tall enough so that if she really
tried, she could jump over the fence
and land safely on the ground. She
walked over to the hedge, got on top,
and jumped.
Chapter 6
Home at last
Finally she was down. Her feet hurt
a bit from the hard fall on the
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pavement, but she was OK. She then
began her journey.
She was about two blocks away from
the mansion when she heard a very loud,
long lasting, “NO!” She knew it must be
Tony so she just kept walking. Alexa
knew where Carli lived from the address
on the letters she had received. Carli
lived on 695 Calmar Paloma Ave, which
conveniently was only 5 blocks from
where she stood.
Alexa walked 3 of those blocks and
realized that they were getting to be
very long blocks, or at least seemed
long, so she sat on the curb, took the
peanut butter jelly sandwich out of her
pocket. It was a little mashed and her
jeans were a bit stained, but she
didn’t mind it. She just popped that
sandwich into her mouth. She didn’t
notice but she made the sandwich in
between two Pop Tarts™, but she was
fine with it. She took the top off,
licked the peanut butter and jelly off,
then she ate the pop tarts. When she
was done she got up and continued with
her journey.
Finally she was there, at 695 Paloma
Ave.
The home was beautiful. It had an
amazing olive green paint job and fine
wood steps leading up to a polished
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wooden door. She stood next to a quite
large glass window with the curtain
down. She could see through a small
crack were the curtains split. Through
that crack, sitting on a leather couch
watching TV, was Carli. Carli looked
much taller; she looked almost 13 years
old! As Alexa thought about that she
realized that her 10th birthday was
coming up! She was almost in doubledigits. Alexa walked up the wood steps
and knocked on the door. A tall
handsome man with glossy black hair
opened the door.
“Hello young lady, what are you
doing out this late?” he asked
politely. Alexa looked around. “It is
getting pretty late,” she thought to
herself, “and a bit chilly.”
“Uh, well… is Carli home?” Alexa
said.
“She is indeed, I’ll go get her,
just one moment.” The man left then
came back almost instantly with Carli.
“Hi Carli, how ya doin’?” Alexa said
in admiration. Carli had shoulder
length dirty blonde hair and tan skin
with freckles. She was about as tall as
Alexa and very pretty. She was wearing
black skinny jeans and a black shirt
that said Sweetcherry pie in bright
cherry red letters.
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“Alexa, is that you?”
“Yes, it is! It’s been so long since
I’ve seen you! I’m so sorry, I wish
that I was dressed more appropriately
than these old rags.”
“It’s okay, come on in, I can lend
you a pair of my pants and a shirt.”
They walked in to a long hall and into
Carli’s room. Her room was beautiful!
It was light sky blue with painted
clouds on the ceiling and bird stickers
randomly scattered all over. She had a
large bed with colorful sheets, a dark
blue dresser, and a huge toy trunk.
“Here, you can pick anything from my
dresser. Go ahead!” added Carli.
“Thanks so much - again,” Alexa said
as she pulled out a pair of black
skinny jeans and a yellow t-shirt.
“This looks like it’ll fit, I just wish
that I could have a place to live.”
“Hey, why don’t we go ask my dad if
you can at least stay here for
tonight?”
“Let’s go!” so they headed
downstairs.
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Chapter 7
Forever home?
Carli’s Dad was lying on the couch when
they got downstairs. He was watching
the news.
“Hello girls,” he said before Carli
and Alexa could say anything, “what
would you like?”
“Just one thing,” Carli said. “Can
Alexa stay the night, or possibly even
longer?”
“Well” her dad said, “we have been
looking at adopting a child, how would
you like to live here?” At that they
started jumping up and down and
screaming. Alexa was at home at last.
They went into Carli’s room and
Alexa told her all about her long
adventure. With Tony, what had happened
to the orphanage since she had left,
and much, MUCH more.
THE END
Hope you liked the story!

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Table of contents
Intro
1. An O.K. life............1
2. Goodbye.................4
3. An Old Start............7
4. Uh-Oh...................8
5. See Ya!................10
6. Home at last...........12
7. Forever Home...........16
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A Complex Life™
A story by Mattie (moo)

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