Three days later, and I found myself standing on the curb of a nice suburban neighborhood. There was a long paved driveway that broke into two separate ones at the end. Kind of like the letter Y. Grace pointed to the house on the right.
"That's it. Nice, huh?" she asked.
I observed the house. It was white with light blue shutters and a matching blue roof. It had a wooden wrap-around porch painted white with flowers and vines wrapped around some of the pillars. In front of a glass double door in the center of the second floor was a small balcony. Off to the side of the balcony was a white trellis covered in pink and yellow roses and vivid green vines. The house looked like it belonged on a television about a perfect little family in their perfect little house with their perfect little neighborhood. I internally scoffed. My life was far from perfect.
"What now?" I asked.
"Now," Grace replied, "You meet your new family. I know this is all a bit fast for you, but try to be understanding. This really is a new beginning for you-a great opportunity. You'll see that soon. Until then, just try to be polite. All of your things should be unpacked by now. Call me if you need anything."
"Okay." Is all I could say. I watched as Grace got back into her car and reluctantly drove away, concern plastered all over her features. I found myself standing there stiffly instead of waving goodbye. Not that she even deserved one. How could she expect me to be okay with being ditched all the way across the country? New beginning? I thought. I don't need a fresh start. My life was fine the way it was. Sure, the divorce was hard on all of us, but it wasn't something we couldn't deal with.
I turned and walked up the long driveway and started down the part that branched off to the right. My footsteps were loud as I walked up the wooden steps. I rang the doorbell and prayed they wouldn't be home. I waited a few seconds, but then the door swung open. Standing in front of me was a nice looking blond lady with bright blue eyes and a perfect smile. A small white dog ran up to me and wagged its tail. He looked like the dog off of the Caesar dog food commercials. He was just too cute.
I picked him up. "Hey there cutie!" The dog barked and licked my cheek. I giggled and set him down. My new "mom" held her hand out to me.
"Hi! I'm Susan! Come on in!" I took her hand and let her lead me inside. I wasn't planning on being civil, but she had one of those faces that I could never be mean to. And she was kind enough to let me stay in her home. I looked around the foyer. The house was bright and open with lots of pastel colors. It looked comfortable and inviting. Down a hallway I could see a glass door that must've lead to the backyard. I could see the corner of a pool and a small garden but that was all.
I stood there awkwardly while Susan just smiled at me. She looked like she didn't quite know what to say. I guess this was new to her as well. It's not every day some kid gets dropped on your doorstep. At least in the movies they give you a baby, not a teenager some other person has already raised.
Finally, Susan cleared her throat. "Your social worker-,"
"Grace," I interrupted.
"Yes, Grace," Susan laughed nervously. "Well Grace filled me in on your... condition."
I just looked at her blankly. This lady sure knew how to get to the point.
"Erm, it must be so difficult losing your memory like that."
"I didn't lose my memory. It's not like I suffered some head injury or something." I hated it when people brought up my ... situation, as I put it earlier.
"Yes I know. It's just that... Well Grace told me how the past few years have been very hard on you. She didn't go into it all that much, but she mentioned that it all became too hard for you to handle, so you repressed the negative memories. I can't imagine what that must have been like for you." Susan looked genuinely concerned. I decided to stop being so hard on her.
"Yeah, neither can I," I chuckled. Susan seemed relieved that I was making a joke, as if I was taking her off the hook she placed herself on. Really I just didn't want to talk about it anymore. Yes, I repressed some of my memories. Dwelling on it just gave me a migraine. Everything immediately after the divorce was fuzzy. Then things just come up black. I'll get the memories back; it will just take some time.
"You can go ahead and get settled. Your room is up the stairs to the left. It's the second door on the left. I'm just starting dinner and it will take a while so after you're settled you can take a look around the neighborhood. There's a bike in the garage." With that, she headed towards what I assumed was the kitchen. I sighed and headed up the stairs. The dog was still following me, his tail waving gently. I saw that he had a pale blue collar with a silver tag on the front. I picked him up and checked his name.
"Well hello there Levi. That's a cute name!" I put the dog back down and found my bedroom. It had Anjie written in pale blue block letters. I entered the room and, shocker, the room was white and pale blue, just like the rest of the house. It had a fluffy looking queen size bed in the middle and a glass double door. I went and stood on the balcony. So I guess they gave me the room that I saw when I first got here. I went to sit on the bed. I was right; it was really comfortable.
I looked around me. It seemed as though all of the unpacking had been done for me, leaving me with nothing to do. "I guess I'll just go for a walk then."
I exited the house and started to walk on the sidewalk in a random direction. I just kept walking straight for what felt like hours but was really only about ten minutes. I soon found myself looking across the street at a small beach. The sand was really light, almost white, and it looked incredibly soft. This was nothing like the beaches back home. I ran across the street and headed towards the water. Halfway between the shoreline and the road, I kicked off my moccasins and let the soft sand slide through my toes. I smiled and sat down to watch the sunset. The sky was orange and pink with a few purple clouds.
I sat back and breathed in the cool air, lavishing in the smell of the salt water. The breeze blew through my dark brown hair and I closed my eyes in content, a smile still on my face. I felt the sand sink to my left but didn't bother to open my eyes. I sensed that feeling you get when you just know someone is watching you. Without opening my eyes I said "Staring is rude."
The person beside me chuckled. "So is ignoring the person you're with."
I looked to my left and saw an attractive boy about my age. He had black hair and blue eyes that twinkled. He somehow managed to look like a kid and teenager at the same time. That's must take some real skill. "Just because you decided to come and invade my personal bubble doesn't mean we're here together." I retorted.
The kid cracked a cute little smile. "No, I suppose it doesn't." He stood up and held his hand out to me. I just sat there and stared at it. He chuckled. "This is the part where you take my hand."
"Why? So we can run off into the sunset together? Sorry, but I think I'll pass." I said. He just looked at me expectantly. I sighed and grabbed his hand. He pulled me to my feet but he didn't let go of my hand.
"I win." He stated with laughter in his voice. I couldn't help but smile. He was just too cute. He looked like a kid, and he sort of acted like one too. "I'm Colby."
"Anjie." I replied. He nodded. We started walking along the water still hand-in-hand. It made me feel kind of awkward, but I didn't want to burst his bubble. I hated to admit that I was desperate to make a friend before the loneliness really set in. With his carefree personality, Colby seemed like a pretty tame candidate. As we walked, I began humming "Come on Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners. Colby just smiled at me in a way that made his eyes twinkle even more.
"Sorry. It just popped into my head." I explained.
"Well then I guess that's our song!" He said enthusiastically. I just nodded. There was no point in arguing. He seemed like the type of person that wouldn't let it go until he came out on top. He wouldn't rub it in your face too much though. He didn't seem like the type. He would probably do a happy dance or something. That's something a kid would do, right?
We walked until we reached the end of the beach. He released my hand and turned to face me. I looked up at him. He was two inches taller than me. I liked it. Back home I was so used to being taller than almost everybody. It got annoying. Guys don't usually want to date someone who's taller than them. Not that I was looking to date the kid. I was looking for a friend, strictly that.
"Tell me about yourself." Colby said.
"Umm...There's not really much to say," I shrugged.
"Come on, I don't believe that."
I sighed. "You don't want to know about me. I'm just a kid with a troubled family and a rocky past. I'm looking for a new start, so I don't really wanna focus on who I used to be." That was a lie of course. I just couldn't remember the person that lived the last few years of my life.
"Fair enough. Well you already know my name is Colby. You could probably guess that I'm full of energy. I like being the one who lifts people's spirits, you know? I'm a pretty open person, so feel free to ask me anything else," He told me.
"For starters, why did you come up to me earlier? Did you just feel like taking pity on some random girl sitting all alone on the beach?"
"Don't jump to any conclusions now. I don't play for your team, if that's what you're getting at."
"Good. Then I guess we're both just looking for a friend, huh?" I was satisfied with the way things were going.
We began to walk back down the beach. We talked about the most random things. We talked about music and storms and pretty much anything we could think of. Soon I found myself standing where I was earlier. I slipped on my moccasins that I left sitting there.
"Well it's getting late so I should probably get going" I said reluctantly. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and checked the time. Wow. It was already 8:30. I started to walk back in the direction of home. Colby followed silently behind me. Soon I was standing in front of the Y shaped driveway and it was already dark out. I turned to Colby.
"Thanks for walking me home." I said.
He gave me a confused look. "What? I thought you were walking me home." He pointed to the house that shared the driveway with my new house.
"Well then I guess we're neighbors." I said pointing to my house. He smiled brightly and began to walk down the driveway. I followed closely behind him.
When we got to the fork in the driveway he turned back around.
"So I guess I'll see you later." He said. I nodded and waved. I then walked down the path that led to the wooden steps of the porch. I gave Colby one last glance before walking inside and shutting the door. I smiled to myself. I think I could get used to it here.