❀ Sunniva ❀
The meaning of my name means Sun gift, it's Greek. I was born in Greece, moved to the states when I was 1 then moved back to Greece when I was 5.
My mother is greek, she wanted to call me Sunniva, the day I was born was the first day of summer, she always says it was the most beautiful day. The sun was shining, the water was bright blue and clear, and the town was buzzing with people selling. Though I hate my name, that's why I mostly get people to call me Sunni or Iva.
My mother is very wealthy. She got both of her parents' inheritance and a quarter of my Father's. She's the best mother I could ask for, we always go to the markets together, swim together, cook together, surf together, She's my best friend. She doubted telling me the bad news, that in only one month's time we would be leaving for California.
Los Angeles didn't sound bad at all. My first language is English, I lived in the states when I was much younger everyone spoke English, I didn't know any greek, and only learnt it when I moved back. So I was fine with it, as long as we live near a beach.
My father was a great man. He was American and Portuguese, and one of my favourite people on this planet. He was with NYPD, but passed away on the field, trying to catch a criminal, that's why we moved back to Greece. I miss him. He taught me how to surf and I've been in love with it since I first stood up on a board.
My family used to always go on vacations, to places around the world, I remember being so excited, sitting in the airport, waiting for our flight to be called. My favourite trip has to be when we went to Australia and swam with dolphins. My mother and I haven't been on any vacations since my Father passed, it's just not the same, but lucky I love living in Greece. I miss being a whole family.
I'm packing all my things at the moment, trying to fit as many trinkets as I can. I'll just wear a lot of jewelry when we go to the airport. I always wear jewelry, my YaYa(grandmother) gave me a necklace with the most beautiful sun pendant on it, for my first birthday, and I have worn it every day since she passed away. She also gave me her recipe for her cheesecake, which will remain our secret.
I sigh putting my last piece of clothing in my suitcase, don't get me wrong I'm very excited to move to Los Angeles but Greece is my home, I know everyone here and everyone knows me, I can always walk down to Murphy's house to grab a few fresh tomatoes, he never minded, I could always go pick so flowers our of Nora's garden when it goes too overflowed, she didn't care. It really will never be the same in Los Angeles.
I walk around our house one last time, staring out the window to see the view. Locals roaming the streets, sellers with their fruit and vegetables, the ocean, all the restaurants and groceries, Greece. It's a view I'm going to always remember, no matter how far I move or how long I move, it is beautiful. Taking in the view for one last second I turn around, I won't look back, if I look back I won't want to leave. I may cry leaving.
I walk towards my room. It's empty with only my sheet-less bed and surfboard remains, it hurts looking at the sight of it.
I had to leave my board, it's too heavy and wouldn't be allowed past security. I bought it off Alfieri, a local surf shop in town. He painted pink Frangipanis along it, especially for me, Alfieri always gave me surf wax whenever I needed it, no matter if he was running low or not.
I walked over to my mother's room, the door was closed. I knocked twice before she yelled out for me to come in. "Γεια σου," I say calmly, I noticed a vase with some of Nora's flowers inside, they're wilting. Her room was empty without all the little decorations she had everywhere.
(Hey)
"Hi, it's different isn't it?" She gave me a small smile, before sighing and looking around her room, a disappointed look spread across her face. It was different, her surfboards were laying across the ground as well. I guess she noticed me looking because then she said: "it's going to be tough leaving these beauties behind." She gestured towards the boards. One was my father's, but he never really used it so my mother took it upon herself to steal it.
I tilted my head, "yeah... Everything is different." I scrunch up my nose, hopefully, California is just as good as I hope it is, if it's not... I'm just going to hope it is.
"We are probably going to miss our flight if we don't leave now." She began to get up, I knew this was it. I knew that this was the end of an era, soon I would be in Los Angeles with stupid Americans, gosh I am going to miss all the people here. No more markets or locals just me and my mother, us against the world.
"One minute." I held back the tears that were bound to fall out any time soon, something is going to trigger it, but I just don't know what? I guess there is only one way to find out and time can only tell from here.
I grab the vase from her nightstand, making my way toward the kitchen. I poured out the old water replacing it with fresh water. Looks better already, I place the vase on the kitchen counter. The flowers are slumped over, looks like they had a bad day.
I hear the car door shut, my mother honking the horn, this is it, here we go. I walk over to the front door, turning off the lights as I walk out, shutting the door behind me. "ΒΙΠΑΣΕ ΗΛΙΘΙΕ!" I can hear my mother yell in the distance, I laugh to myself.
(HURRY UP IDIOT)
I look back at the house one last time before I running over to the car. It was a cute, small house, white brick with a little flower garden out the front, a frangipani tree sat not to far away, flowers falling as the wind blew. This is where I grew up, this is where I called home. This is my home, this small town, with perfect summers, perfect people, a truly perfect life. Now it is time for a new chapter. I get into the car and my mother starts to drive, I take in every small detail, my eyes go blurry as tears fall down my face. The house gets smaller and smaller as we drive, we pass Murphy's house, he's standing outside waving us goodbye. We pass Nora, she's picking flowers, she notices the car and turns around. With a small smile on her face, she gives us a wave.
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WC: 1210
Hi!
I think I am going to stick to doing short chapters that will probably go up to 1500 words. Plus I don't know any Greek, I'm just going off google translate, so sorry if stuff is spelt incorrectly. Hope you liked it so far and enjoy the rest. <3
