Faded Memories

Chapter 3

The sky was still a deep blue when I had woken up, grunting as I was wide awake a few hours before my alarm was due to go off. My mind was racing with thoughts, curious as to what a day in the life of school would hold. When I was a child I absolutely loved school, but as soon as the hormones kicked in it quickly became my least favourite place. Especially when Joe left, then it became a place I hated.

I grabbed my running gear and headed out, happy to have time to visit my favourite childhood spot before the day began. I quickly googled the time of sunrise, calculating how fast I would need to run to make it there on time. I had around 40 minutes... I could do that... at a push.

I quickly locked up and ran out of the house, heading east towards the cliffs. Dad always used to race Joe and I to these cliffs in the summers we spent here, throwing buckets of ice water over us to get us out of bed in the mornings. On the odd days that Joe or I managed to wake up before dad, we would reverse the tables and throw water over him, and most often mum caught a lot of it too.

I made it to the top of the cliff quicker than expected, taking a seat on the grass with my feet almost on the edge. I stared out at sea, watching the colours of the sky slowly changing as the sun rose over the ocean. This was my favourite place in the whole wide world. I had never seen another soul up here, the path ending a few miles back.

Glancing at my clock, I realised I should probably head back in order to get showered and made up before school. School. What a strange word to say. I still can't believe Joe has made me go back there, he simply laughed down the phone when he rang me the other day to make sure I was going to go.

"Good morning, Ellen!" I shouted from the path, as I ran past her, sitting on the porch.

"Oh, good morning Amelia!" Ellen stood up from her bench, wandering down the steps towards me. "You're up early like always - have you got a busy day ahead, honey?"

"I'm actually going back to school today, Elle." I stated, smiling at her. "What are yourself and Trevor's plans for the day?"

"Oh, honey, I'm so happy for you! I think I am going to make Trevor paint the fence, it's gone a dusty old grey you see and I want our neighbours to see a vibrant white." Ellen tutted as she glanced at her fence, shaking her head dismissively.

"I'm sure it will look great! Well, I'll see you later, Ellen. I've got to go and get ready for school."

"Bye, honey! Have a nice day!" Ellen shouted, as I waved over my shoulder and headed up the steps to my own house.

After showering the sweat from my run off, I applied a light layer of makeup and got dressed. I grabbed my bag with a few random books so that I wasn't carrying around air, and headed off to school before I could even think about what I was doing.

The school appeared larger than I had expected for such a small town, with the building looking almost 3 floors tall at the end of the driveway. Kids drove past me in their fancy cars and began parking in the car park out front, but I simply walked up towards the building. Does nobody use their legs in this town?

The grass swung all around the building, the faint outline of the sports area visible around the back. I wondered what the sports were like here, growing up with three males, our house was very sport centered - I often grew jealous of people that still had it in their lives.

After heading to the reception and grabbing my timetable and map, I made my way towards my new locker to get rid of the unnecessary shit I had brought in my bag with me. At the end of the day, you never know when something might be necessary - I always carried around a hair grip, a polaroid camera and a pocket knife. I don't know why I chose those three items, but they rarely left my bag. Superstition, I guess.