Point of view | Lando Norris

1 | Twenty-one

🇮🇹 "Coraggio, lasciare tutto indietro e andare

Partire per ricominciare

Che non c'è niente di più vero di un miraggio

E per quanta strada ancora c'è da fare... Amerai il finale"

Buon viaggio - Cesare Cremonini

🇬🇧"Come on, leave it all behind and go

Leave to start over

That there is nothing more true than a mirage

And how far there is still to go...You will love the ending"

Have a good trip - Cesare Cremonini

Venice, 10th July 2019

"Viola, happy birthday!" Mariasole wakes me up, she's my roommate and best friend "Wake up, sleepyhead!"

"Thank you, Sole," I reply trying to free myself from her grip: she is giving me a tight hug and she has no intention of leaving me anymore. 

"Love, come on," she starts pulling me by the arm as she stands up, "I prepared you a very nice breakfast."

"Thanks, you didn't have to, it's beautiful." I gasp whisper of her as I hold her tightly in my arms. She made tiramisù, my favorite dessert, and prepared a glass of milk. The table is decorated with a bouquet of roses, on which there is a note with the verses of a song by Francesco Renga, the one that best describes our bond:

"I will remove the dust, I will wash away the tears you do not want, every drop is a poem that I have not heard go away. Explain to me the things I didn't understand and wake me up, if you feel cold you can see I'm here."

So true.

 We have known each other for many years and nothing has changed, it has always been me and her.

"I love you, Sole. Thanks for everything, really..." I smile, bringing the last bite of tiramisu to my mouth, moved and excited.

"You're welcome, I just wanted to tell you that I will always be there... even when you get angry because you are moody."

We laugh together thanks to her statement, we both know that she is right, then we get dressed: it will be a long day of shopping. Finished putting the last things in the suitcase, between my friends' wishes and my parents' dinner, the night comes quickly and I can't fall asleep, even if I'm leaving tomorrow and so I'll have to wake up at five in the morning. My head is already in Birmingham with Amelia, my pen pal, who invited me to stay at her house for a week for my 21st birthday. I love England and she is such a delightful person, I felt the need of leaving this Italian reality for a while. I am an enterprising girl and I am not afraid of anything, but in Italy there are too many things to which I am linked, for good, and unfortunately also for bad. After breaking up with Matteo, my life has never been the same. I have become more fragile than ever and I feel suffocated by all the people trying to help me by trying to let me confide my problems. Every single time I try to open myself on that theme, I remember what happened and feel worse, which is why I prefer to cover what happened like the waves cover the sand when the sea is rough. The sand is always there, but you don't see it all the time. You have to go deep to touch it and have the courage to jump into the waves with the knowledge that if you can't swim it could end badly. Matteo seemed like a good boy, but all of a sudden, he started abusing me, from that point on, I didn't want to talk to anyone anymore, anyone who wasn't mom, dad, Mariasole or Amelia, in addition to my psychologist, to whom I owe a lot.Gradually, thanks to these people, the scar has healed a bit, but that fear of boys remains in me. My self-esteem is gone, my heart is still broken for giving importance to a person who didn't really deserve it.