"Cliff sit down! We're about to land!" I yell to my brother who's currently standing in the aisle of the plane looking around.
"Yeah well, I need to pee!" I roll my eyes. He walks away leaving me sitting by myself next to the window. I look out to see the plane flying over the beautiful view of New York City. Although it's night, it's still an absolute spectacle with all of the gorgeous lights coming from the skyscrapers and office buildings.
So, I'm Kat. Kat Raegen. I'm currently 17 and I'm about to land in the one and only New York City, that I'll eventually call home, hopefully. I'm moving here with my brother Cliff from Florida due to his new job. It's just the two of us. We lost our Dad to colon cancer when I was 10 and Cliff was 17 forcing him to skip the typical 'reckless teenager' years of his life to look after my Mum and I. But 7 months ago my mum went MIA in Afghanistan serving for the United States as a marine. She was always so brave for everyone. So while she's been away I try to keep a brave face and be optimistic that one day Cliff and I will see her again. Get to hug her again.
I won't lie, I'm terrified of this whole "starting fresh" thing. I lived in the same house, went to the same school with the same friends, and shopped at the same Walmart my entire life so this was extremely confronting. I know absolutely no one here in New York. But I'm supposed to start school at Midtown School of Science & Technology next week. My overthinking is interrupted when Cliff comes back from the bathroom.
"Did I miss anything?" He asked me as he sat down, buckling up his seatbelt again for landing.
"Nope." I remained staring out the window feeling a little overwhelmed by the future.
"Hey, you ok?" He asked me putting a hand on my shoulder, looking concerned.
"I'm fine. It's just- you're not at all worried about any of this?"
"About what exactly?"
"Starting completely fresh? We don't have anything or know anyone here." I ask looking him straight in the eyes. I don't wanna make Cliff feel any doubt about our decision to move. We moved for his new job so we would have a more financially stable life and we didn't always have to be so careful about the amount of money we could spend each week.
"We have each other and that's all that matters." He says moving his hand from my shoulder to around the back of my neck.
"You're so cheesy sometimes. It's a wonder how you're single." I chuckle pulling a face at him in which he returns with a nudge to my ribs. We sit waiting patiently for the plane to land and the anxiety and anticipation build up in my stomach. I've never been on a plane before and the take-off was hard enough. I've seen so many videos of planes crashing as they land so excuse me for not being the most confident of flyers. It probably doesn't help that I get a bit motion-sick at the most inconvenient of times. The feeling in my stomach eases though as I look over at Cliff who seems weirdly relaxed for this being his first time too. Cliff has always been a bit of a YOLO kind of guy. He woke up one day a couple of months ago and decided to spontaneously go bungee jumping. I think he's just plain crazy.
We waited 30 minutes at the baggage pickup after someone broke one of the panels on the conveyor belt - don't even ask me how - and they had to move our bags to a different one. We finally make it to the doors that lead to the wondrous world of New York City. Our new home. Cliff and I grin at each other excitedly before we take the biggest step of our lives out of the airport doors.
"Man, New York kinda smells." is the first thing to leave Cliff's mouth.
𝕒𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖:
Hope you enjoyed the prologue!! I'm so excited to finally be sharing this story with you guys!
Stay tuned for more updates cos I think y'all are really gonna love this story!
Thanks for reading and have an amazing day 🫶