"Get up or you'll be late young lady" Was what I heard every school day.



I remember it when I was 14. Everyday he, Winston, called me to get up in the school year,

and I, still a young girl, yet having the spirit that I have within me now, got up and

went to that high school, Gordonstoun. I didn't like it. Many of the girls and boys

spent time talking about their parent's wealth. Still noone was wealthy as I was, and

I didn't waste my breath for boasting. Usually alone, I thought about my dad and

his career. He was the person that I could be proud of, he was like a hero in a film about

history, and not everyone in my school had a hero and a lord as a father.



If I knew that he's going to do this to me, I would have never thought about him that way.



He usually ignored me. The first person I ever thought of showing my handy work and drawings

as a little child was my dad. He and his companions were always in our big living room.

Smoke filled the air from their cigarettes and maked me cough. Since then I hate smoking.

Then I held my picture infront of him. Even without looking he always would say that

it's beautiful.



"She's just a 4 years old child," he told one of his companions who recommended him to pay

more attention later since he had seen my screwed up face when I left the room.

"She won't understand my ignorance."



Yet I did, and painfully I went back to my room, forcing myself to don't cry.

It was always like this. I went up to my room and sat until I came up with an idea that

became what I always did when my own father ignored me.

I went up to Winston and showed him my darwing. He admired it a lot. Still today, he

tells me that I could've made a good painter or an artist.

I forgot to tell about my mom. Well, she did her job well as a royal mother. She didn't

ignore me, infact she too always admired my work, but when Winston did, it was something

else. Winston made me feel proud.

And then came my aunt's dog. All I saw from it was hatred, and before I could do anything

the mean dog sank his teeth in my leg. I was only five.

I could've done well with my pistols that I own now.

And so came this great fear of this specific dog. Stupid dog, he's still alive. I feel

ashamed of myself when I see him nowadays and tremble. I am always careful to don't

have my pistols around when my aunt visits me. And I never told her about my

great fear of the dog.

Noone did.

My father didn't want her to be embarrased, and he never told her.

Bless my aunt, she spot that out herself. She gave me Nine Inch Nail's album later on when

I was fifteen. I have no idea why she still visits me with her mean dog though.

But he's never unleashed in my house.



And then, eight years later came this white suited man, Werner Von Croy. He found

a very specail place in my heart, that man. When he gave his speech, I thought that he's

amazing, more amazing than dad. He's the true hero, I thought. I never could've imagined

that such a man exists.

He became the man of wonders, the whom I used to think of about my dad when I was a child.

But one thing that made me feel sorry for him was that he was not a believer, and that

nearly cost him his life.

I was 16 years old when I went into a room to do my homework. Like always, the table

was covered with thousands and thousands of magazines. It wasn't cleaned up yet, so I did

the cleaning. I saw a very familiar picture on the cover of a magazine, but since I didn't

recognize it I just threw it on the other magazines, which a servant took them away to

dispose of them. I started doing my homework, but I wasn't concentrating. You'll feel

stupid if you see a familiar person, and then you won't be able to recognize.

I can remember clearly that I was doing my Algebra. The subject used to be my favorite

because I was wise enough to understand it. The other silly royal children who didn't

think about anything but money could not even solve this simple equation:

2y+7=10

For me, it was as easy as saying 2 plus 2 is four.

I remembered Von Croy saying that maturity and inteligence are two of the most important

facilities of a true adventurer. I knew well that I'd make a good one.

And then I suddenly stopped. Werner Von Croy! He was the man on the cover! Where are the

magazines? I froze as I saw the magazine-free basket.

I ran outside, shouting, stopping those who were taking the garbage. Infront of their

very eyes, I opened the bag and half way through, I started searching for the magazine.

"There it is!"I shouted with victory as I grabbed it and pulled myself out of the bag.

"Thank god there were only newspapers and magazines in that bag!" I heard behind myself

while I was runing into the building."Or his highness would've killed me."

Panting, I opened the book and searched for his picture. Finally I found it and started

reading. At first there was a short biography, and then there was something that made my

heart leap from joy.

"He's having a tour to Asia!" I said aloud. I ran to our living room.

It seemed like 11 years ago. The room was filled with smoke, and I started coughing as

usual. I held the article infront of my dad and while coughing, said:

"Look! Werner Von Croy is having a tour to Asia! Can I go?"

For a moment I remembered my youth, when the room was filled with smoke, when I held my

peice of drawing infront of him, my dad. Huh.

He stared at me as if I have betrayed him. Then he laughed.

"Please?" I said, annoyed.

He looked at mom with a wide smile. She hesitated. I knew why.

The previous summer I had annoyed her with my long disappearance, every single day. I got

up at six A.M and came back at seven P.M for supper. It wasn't my own fault. Just imagine

that you're in a huge castle and you don't have anything to do. That's one of the worst

parts of being rich. One of the worst points of summer holidays too.

She smiled. I sighed from relief.

Later when he was writting a letter to Von Croy, he noticed me, who had come quietly to

see if everything goes right. As he placed his pen on the paper to sign, he started bitting

his lips. He still wasn't sure about everything.

He looks directly into my eyes. I look back, and begged him with my eyes. He signed it

and gave it to a butler to post it.

I look at him in a very thankful way, and ran up to my room. Soon, my dreams would

come true. I picked up my outfit and my boots. Boots were one of my favorite clothing.

Still are.

Months past and the excitment didn't end, but I had started to lose hope. Thoughts such

as 'what if he has not received the mail' or 'maybe he's already gone' maked me feel worse

until the very last day of school I saw this man, sitting in our living room.

Unlike always ashes of smoke were not there which maked me feel better.

"So this is the young woman who's going to join me!" He said, smiling."It's nice to see you

again lady Croft. It's an honor for me to have you in my humble tourist group."

I had interrupted his speech by asking very sensible questions two years ago, that was why he remembered me.

I smiled back, still not believing that he's in our house. Then I noticed my dad sitting

next to him on the chair he always sat on in the living room. Without even wanting to, I

felt that my dad wants to stop me from going, or he wants to destroy everything in the

very last minute.

Winston came and told me to get ready, for me and Von Croy were going to leave as soon

as possible. I had to spend a night with him in his own manor, and then the next day the

tour would start.

Happily, I went into my room, picked the outfit and the boots which were not touched since

months ago, and finally wore them. Some women came and prepared me completly for the journey.



I hated it when they started combing my hair, wax me, wash me, and all those other works that every female has to suffer to look good. Worst of all I always had to stop the one who wanted to polish my nails.

"But no woman has unpolished nails!" She wailed.

"I do." I snapped. "And will never have them polished. Besides, I'm going to a journey, not

a party!"

Oh it felt so nice when they let go of me. I felt free, and I usually had a sore throat

after their work because I had to shout at them to stop their stupid works. I got rid of

all of them when I grew up. The main reason was that I felt like a baby since they all had

to do my work., specially washing me.

Von Croy was surprised to see me like that within half an hour. After hearing millions of

advices from dad, mom, and to my great surprise, Winston, we left the manor.



Free at last.



I indeed saw some stuff which were very beautiful. Not everyone had the eyes to see some

dead corpses and mummies like that, and Von Croy had realized that I have them. He started

paying more attention to me until at the very last stop only me and him went to a temple

in Cambodia, the Angkor Wat .

While we were walking there, he told me about my great abilities for being

a great adventurer, and that he knew that since a long time ago. He had also told

that to my dad.

"He didn't look happy." He said. " Isn't he an archaeologist himself?"

"He is."I said, wondering why he wasn't happy to know that his own daughter is going to

follow the same path in his life as he did.

He taught me almost every skill for adventuring. They all seemed easy, but since at the

begining, he had started acting suspiciously. He reminded me of the students in my high-

school. He thought highly of his skills, his knowledge, and most important of all,

himself.

I can still remember one of his sentences clearly in my mind, disrespect is root to

carelessness. Thank god I was never careless, and hopefully will never be.

In the middle of the way he asked me to crawl in a room, for the leaver which could open a

door was there. I went in and the first thing I saw except the leaver was a skeleton, and

some spikes which had gone right through its body, and a rock-sack hanging from its hand.

It seemed to have cluthced the bag when it died, because It did not let go of it easily.

I finally snatched the bag from its hand and its whole arm fell off.

I looked at the bag. Then I put it on my back. I pulled the leaver and went out.

"Ah," Von Croy said. "A backpack. Let us hope it doesn't bring the same luck for you as its

previous owner."

"I make my own luck Werner." I said. I believed in that since I was a small girl.

At the very end we had a little challenge and I beated him. I knew that I'd make a good

adventurer. I looked at a globe which was in the middle of a room. I knew well that my

prize, the Iris, was inside it.

I saw a tablet near by and read it. I felt disappointed; it warned the foriegeners to don't

remove it.

I told the exact same thing to Werner, but he didn't believe. He forced me to pull the other

leaver. He went and picked it up that disaster strike. There was a small earth quake and

Werner's leg was trapped into the straw like floor under the little table. He yelled for

help. I, frightened, but knowing that my own life is in danger, had no chance but to leave

him for death. Not a bad punishment though, he should've believed.

The shock was still within me when I reached the camp. The temple had collapsed right after

I stepped out of it. Feeling awful, I looked at the desert infront of me. I had a hard

journey from the temple to the camp. There was a great distance between them, and I had

to deal with some creatures myself.

We, me and the people in the tour all came back together, and a woman, nearly in her mid-

fifties, tried to calm me down. It was useless, I could not believe it yet. No one dared

to say anything against me, the daughter of the lord of England. Most of them didn't care

anyway. I didn't know myself as the reason of his death, no, for I had seen clearly the

reason of his death.



He had died because of carelessness. He had died because of disrespect.



I didn't need to explain anything when I got home. Everyone knew what had happened, and

from then, I was not allowed to name the word 'adventure' again. Dad did a lot to calm me

down though. First he sent me to U2's pop tour which was amazing.

Winston had suggested since a long time ago for me to come and stay in his house for a

while, and so I did. His wife was a very kind woman. She did almost everything to make me

feel better. It worked a lot indeed.

I was free to do anything I want.I climbed up trees, searched in the jungle near by and

read books. Reading books was one of my favorite activities. I learned a lot from them.

They maked me mature. I still read books.



I thought I will never be able to use my skills in an adventure again. I was wrong.



One day as I was searching in the woods it started raining hard and I ran to Winston's

house. It was night, and I had to sleep that I heard the door of the house open. It was Father Dunstan.

I didn't pay a lot of attention first, but when I heard my own name, I opened the door and

eavesdropped.

They were speaking about the Black Isle. I had heard rumors about it from a young boy who

was passing by. I had seen it myself when I was near the sea. I could see the dark clouds

and the never stopping rain from there, not mentioning those big thunders and their

sound. Father Dunstan was leaving the very moment. I jumped out of the window and found his

boat. I hid under the dark fabric in the boat. He didn't see me, nor did Winston who had

come with him to the boat.

Father Dunstan got out of the boat when he reached the Island. He looked around, made sure that no

one's looking, and pushed a stone, not knowing that all his works were seen by my

curious eyes.



Now never mind what happened there, but I did learn a lot of valuable lessons.

Thank god my dad never realized anything about that night. That night is now a secret

between me, Father Dunstan and maybe Winston.



I had become a virtuoso in climbing rocks and shooting because I spent my spare time doing

those works. I loved them, and a year later when I was seventeen I suggested my dad to let

me go to a little vacation. He didn't refuse, but he asked me about me, marrying the

earl of farrington.



Good. With this work, my life will completly be destroyed. first that he made me study

geography instead of archaeology, now he's asking me to marry.



I didn't refuse, nor I gave a positive answer.



A week later when I was coming back from the Himalayan mountains, I realized that

my personal plane is out of control. The plane crashed right in the depth of the very

mountain, and I was knocked out.



When I got up, I realized that all my best friends and the pilot are dead, and there's

only me left. I spent two weeks in jungles. Freezing and hungry, I finally found myself in

a village named the Village of Tokakeriby.



A man gave me a free ride to England. I was hoping that I could contact my family from

there, but there wasn't even a telegraph in the village.

I went to the house and saw more than million people in the main hall. I frowned, I hate crowded places. I went up to my room, not knowing that all these people here were actually at my funeral. I missed that amazing opportunity to be at my own funeral.



That adventure had had a very strong effect on me, made me realize that I can not stand

aristocracy anymore. Actually I never did enjoy it. Adventuring also made me feel alive. I had chose

my way, nobody could stop me now. Not even my dad. Not even Winston. Not even mom.

The next morning when my dad asked me about the wedding, I refused.



You should've seen his face. First he stared and then his face turned slightly into red.



The very day after my arrival from the village I was disowned.



Winston came with me in my new house. I changed my course into history and became an

archaeologist adventurer.



Werner is alive. I got back the Iris from him in a very hard journey in the

VCI headquarters. He wasn't glad to see me. He has a sore leg, and the leg happenes to be

the same that was trapped in the straw like floor. He has to carry a crutch everywhere

with himself now. He considered the disaster as 'some sort of coincidence'. I guess the second disaster that occured for him when I broke into the VCI headquarters wasn't a coincidence.



I have done other works, I recently came back from my adventure in the great wall in China.

Thank god nobody saw me, they are still wondering how the wall was blowen up. I guess

none of them knew that there's a dragon in that wall, or they would've never even look

at it.

I will one day hunt down that dragon.I have heard some rumors about the tomb of

Tutankhamen. I'm going there a few days later to uncover a revelation.



Like always.



I'm Lara Croft.



I guess I'm a Duchess.



I seek for truth, the truth that is hidden behind good and evil, the truth which

is hard to understand, the truth that is hard to tell, the truth which makes some

people believer, and most important of all, the truth which is fogotten after centuries.



I'm the Tomb Raider.