Alexander Hamilton had lived on a small island in the Caribbean for all of his young life. He'd lived with his mother in a small hut near the beach. They were happy there, both Hamilton and his mother. His father, a Scottish man, had ditched his mother the moment he arrived, or so he was told by his mother. Because of this, Alexander had learned early on the meaning of hard work. Since there wasn't a man in the household to provide for the family's basic needs, Alexander worked in a small factory on the island. What the factory produced is completely unimportant, but what is important is that you know that work often interfered with the boy's studies. 

He barely knew how to read and write when he dropped out of school to work.

Everyday, he'd come home after an 11 hour shift completely exhausted. Everyday, his mother waited just inside the front door, with open arms for the overworked child to collapse into. She'd make a small meal with whatever she had been able to buy from the market, and while the boy was still asleep, she would slip a portion of her meal onto his plate. Even on low profit workdays where pay was practically nonexistent and she could only afford enough food for one, some of her food would appear on his plate. 

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 As Alexander got older and began paying more attention, he'd start to notice the difference in portions, but whenever he'd try to give his mom her meal back, she'd blatantly refuse, claiming he needed the nutrition more than she did. Most nights they both went to bed hungry, the measly meals not enough to last either of them through the night.

After dinner and before it was time to go to sleep each day, Alexander and his mother would sit together on the bed they shared and struggle to read their way through the town's paper. His mother, a French speaking woman, had never learned how to read English, for she, like her son, had been forced to drop out of school before she could learn.

Alex had used the slight knowledge of English he'd learned in the small amount of school he had attended to teach himself and his mother to read in the foreign tongue. Eventually, they'd conquered the town paper. From there they taught themselves how to write comprehendible sentences. Alexander, even at such a young age, began to take a liking to reading and writing. As soon as he was able to write fluently, he began to document the happenings of each day in both French and English.

He wrote everywhere, on his work station, old newspapers, used napkins, anything that would accept ink or pencil lead. He had used some of the money from his job to buy himself a notebook and pen when he was only ten. That leather bound notebook went everywhere Alex went. What he wrote expanded from daily journaling into basically anything that came to the boy's mind. All of his thoughts and feelings went into that journal.

He wrote constantly. He wrote of the life he had, and he wrote stories about the life he wished he had. He wrote down ideas about how to fix the town, he wrote his own solution to global issues he read about in the papers. He wrote about what he saw, the good and the bad. He wrote about the people he met; he gave total strangers backstories. 

He wrote about his future. 

Alexander knew even then that he wouldn't have the future he wrote about. He couldn't afford the schooling he dreamed of, and he certainly couldn't afford to take his mother to America with him.

He wrote about America a lot. He read things about the country in the papers, and to him, the country seemed like a shiny escape from his dull, repetitive life. America, to him, was the room where everything happened. 

Unlike where he lived, the people in America were pushing for a better future. They were progressing toward change in their traditions. That was something his island never did. Alexander grew up around people who thrived on redundancy and tradition. 

To the boy, America seemed like the perfect country. Yet it was an unachievable dream. 

An unattainable desire. 

Something he could see but never touch. 

So... that's it. Chapter 1. Please please please guys, let me know how you like it! 

Stay Fiery, 

aaron_burrn