Far Away

26

SAVANNAH

Saying goodbye to Joe was hard. It wouldn't be until a couple of more months that we'd be seeing one another, as well as for Daisy and Kian. Kian had complained about how I took "forever" to say goodbye to Joe, but it took him twice as long. We had been home for about three days and I still had yet to read any of the comments about my relationship with Joe, so I decided to do a Q & A.

I set up my space in my bedroom and opened up the photos app on my phone. With the help of Daisy, I had questions ready to go for the video. I began my usual intro, letting them know Daisy chose the questions.

"First question: are you dating Joe?" I read aloud, and shook my head while laughing. "For all of those who may have seen my most recent Instagram post, you've probably been wondering what had been going on since Mr. Thatcher Joe and I look so close together. Almost couple-like, wouldn't you agree? Well, to answer your question... yes. Yes, I am dating Joe." I smiled.

The following questions were that of how my trip to England was, what I did for New Year's, any resolutions, and things of that sort. I ended with my usual outro, and as if on cue, my phone began to ring. Unknown number.

"Hello?" I picked up.

"Savannah?" the voice asked.

"Depends on who's asking." I sang.

"It's JC."

"JC?" I repeated, shifting positions. I had forgotten to stop recording so I stood up and stopped it.

"Yeah, I got a new number. I was calling Daisy but she didn't answer."

"Oh, do you want to talk to her?" I sat back down.

"No, I just wanted her to tell the news to you. Do you know about the pictures that are escalating the internet?" he mumbled.

"What pictures?" my voice trailed, and I opened up my laptop.

"Um..." he paused.

"JC, what pictures?" I demanded.

"Someone got a photo of you and it says something about you... about your weight."

"Where did you see it?" I whispered.

"On twitter. They're using hashtag fatty Savanny."

I quickly went to twitter and searched up the hashtag. The top photo had 3 K retweets and 12 K likes. It was a photo that I had posted on Snapchat when I was at a store somewhere in England. It wasn't my best angle but I had posted it anyways because of the funny accessories I had put on. The caption on the photo that some stranger had put was: this hippo is dating ThatcherJoe. I scrolled down to the replies and some were laughing. One even said "more like she ate him!"

"Savannah." JC called.

I had forgotten about him being on the line and I said I had to go. I hung up before he could say anything, and I just sat in disbelief. I had seen some horrible things but they were attacking me because I'm dating Joe. My phone began to vibrate from messages, but I put it on silent, grabbed my wallet, blanket and keys and stormed out of the house. Daisy was asleep, and I didn't feel like talking to anyone so I didn't bother her.

One hour later, I was seated on the sand, several feet away from the water with my blanket wrapped around me. On the way to the beach I had drowned in my thoughts about the photo and recalled about past memories to when I used to be bulimic. But once I reached here, all of the thoughts disappeared. I felt at peace.

"Hey babe!"

Joe?

The owner of the voice now sat next to me.