Liam
I was rudely woken by the captain's noisy, grainy landing announcement. I rubbed my heavy eyes and popped a piece of gum in my mouth as a weak attempt to freshen up. My ears were thick with 18 hours of flying, 18 hours lost in dreams and countless rom coms, 18 hours of wasting time like there was no tomorrow.
Everyone was now standing and shuffling around the narrow aisles, struggling to tug their bags from the grip of the overhead lockers. I yawned, snapping open the blind of the small aeroplane window. The violet light of the early evening greeted me, with rain in its teeth. Puffs of grey cloud flowered across the sky like mist caught in the stars, as if the rain was refusing to cry on this city. Bleak concrete runways stretched out beneath me, like giant footpaths to the heavens. Somewhere that I loved to be.
"Liam!" My mother hissed, her hand luggage already clutched tightly in her hand. She frantically beckoned me to get my lazy ass out of my seat.
Rolling my eyes, I obeyed her, tugging my Vans backpack onto my lap. I took my own sweet time taking my phone and earphones from my bag. Waves of frustration rolled off my mother, but they only lapped at my ankles. Slowly, I pushed the earphones into my ears and pressed play, blocking out the insistent calls of my parents.
I allowed my mind to get lost in the songs as I exited the plane with my parents. A baby started crying, its shallow breaths becoming louder with every shush of its parents.
The airport itself was clammy, like sweaty palms on a humid day, but iced with the bitterness of winter. A shudder traced my spine, and I pulled my sweater sleeves over my frost-bitten fingers. I almost lost sight of my parents among the throngs of people choking the airport, and I stumbled among suitcases and oversized handbags, music still ringing in my ears. How is this jet lag is getting the better of me already?
Soon we arrived at baggage reclaim, and suitcases were already being pulled off the long, revolving carousel. It seemed ironic to give it such a playful name, when the rubber surface looked like the skin of a snake.
Our suitcases were some of the last to be unloaded, with my large, yellow hold-all with its bright "Aussie-style" sticker sticking out like a sore thumb next to the plain black suitcases of every other passenger.
I pulled it off the carousel and onto the empty metal trolley in one swift movement, but not without almost breaking my toes in the process.
Jet lag was not on my side today.
"All I am is a man,
I want the world in my hands..."
Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood began to play, and I thought about London, this massive city that we had just flown to, as my new home. And I missed Australia already. It was the little things, like seeing the stars reflected in Sydney's harbour water on a clear summer evening, or the guaranteed sunshine and surfing session every weekend in December that made me nostalgic. Emotions ripped through me like I had swallowed a rose, and now the thorns were puncturing my stomach.
I winced momentarily, but the grimace warped into a grin when Dad gave me a questioning look. "Glad to have landed," I muttered, giving him a small smile.
"Me too, mate." He nods in understanding, struggling to push the heavy trolley through the airport.
"Touch my neck, and I'll touch yours,
You in those little high waisted shorts, oh..."
My useless, hurtful thoughts brought my ex Nicole to the front of my mind. Moving from Sydney to London meant leaving her behind in a trail of dust. She was beautiful, a petite Filipino with waist-length raven hair and a habit of being reckless. Without me, she was definitely at some party already, in the arms of some guy, being taken back to some place where they would -
I wrenched the thought from my consciousness like ripping up the roots to a rose bush, the thorns tearing my tender hands, focusing instead on the steady rhythm of my sneakers hitting the ground. One of my laces wasn't tied properly, and it soon unravelled, whipping the floor to the beat of my soundtrack.
"'Cause it's too cold for you here..."
Relatable. I shuddered uncontrollably as we left the safety and warmth of the airport. The thin hoodie that had kept me warm in midsummer Australia was no match for the chilling midwinter London air.
Mum approached the largest taxi, her luggage and I trailing behind her. The little slip of paper with our new address was clutched firmly in her hand, but she knew it off by heart anyway.
"Hi, are you free?" She asked the driver, glancing quickly at her paper.
"Yeah," came the reply. Leisurely, he swung open the car door and began loading our suitcases into the trunk.
I was the last to get into the car, collapsing into the hardened seats like there was no tomorrow. I yawned, my eyes watering with the effort, and turned to gaze out of the window at my new home.
***
The apartment complex was ashen and looming and crumbling, almost unnoticeable among the infinite rain clouds sinking lower by the minute. My neck ached whilst trying to see the top floor, which may as well have been heaven, considering how high in the sky it was. I glanced around the street, and noticed several almost identical blocks on the other side of the street, except they looked fresher and newer, as if the owners cared about their appearance. Or maybe that was just the impression they gave.
Mum payed the taxi driver with the cash that we exchanged from the Sydney airport, and I couldn't help but feel like we were on a family holiday. No doubt the taxi driver thought so too. Maybe he thought we were staying with friends, or family, even.
No, we live here now.
But it didn't feel right. It felt like we were imposters, trying so hard to blend in with everyone else, but the harder we tried the easier it was to see that we simply didn't belong.
I was hurried inside by my parents before I could dwell any more on my surroundings.
We took the lift to the tenth floor, where our new home welcomed us with empty arms. The whitewashed walls were all that stared back at us from the open doorway.
"Uh, are there beds?" I asked tiredly, smothering a yawn in my hand.
"There should be," Mum muttered under her breath, already tugging her suitcase through the threshold.
I began searching the flat for a place to sleep, my eyelids growing heavier every time I blinked. I passed a kitchen with blank countertops and a tiny balcony overlooking London before I reached my room. It was smaller than my room in Aus, but there was a bed, and that was all I cared about in that moment. I immediately collapsed onto it, burying my face in the sheets, inhaling the comforting smell of lavender and sleep.
The last thing I remembered before I drifted into a sea of dreams was the sound of wailing sirens disappearing into the night.
YOU ARE READING
Moonshine
Teen Fiction"I looked around her, at her unmade bed, the ruins of Castle Sydney, and I wondered what exactly had happened in these sheets." \\ They were polar opposites; they were Sydney and Liam. One, a grunge enthusiast lost in her own home; the other, a boy...
