The Boundary Between Right And Wrong

Chapter One

Chapter One

10 years Ago

I can't believe this is happening, my mum is getting remarried today. My whole world was about to change. You may think I was being a tad melodramatic but for my seven year old self, everything was changing; my home, my school, my friends, my family. So as I stood in the corner in my floral white and yellow dress, it all dawned on me. Tomorrow was going to be the start of my new life and it looked like there was no going back. My body began to shake and I felt tears brim in my eyes. At that age I still didn't quite think logically, I knew that the house I was moving too was going to be bigger and that my school had an extremely good dance department, even that I would make new friends and my family even though I hadn't met them yet would be extremely nice, if Tom was anything to go by. Tom was my soon to be step-father by the way. But deep down I still couldn't help feel resentment towards my mum.

She was sat in a huge chair facing a desk and mirror, her huge dress overflowing at the sides. At the time I loved it as it made her look like a princess, but looking back at old photos it really was quite hideous. Someone had finished doing her makeup a while back and now she was making the final touches to her long black hair. The same hair that I had, apart from mine was dead straight and remains that way to this day. Taking tentative steps forward I reached her, tears still in my eyes.

"Mummy, I'm scared." I whispered so quietly I was surprised she even heard me. She placed the last piece of her hair into her neat bun and then looked down at me with so much love and happiness in her eyes that I almost smiled.

"Baby, you're going to be fine. Just remember all you have to do is walk down the isle, sprinkling your petals and then when you reach Tom go sit next to Nana on the front row. You'll be fine, baby, I promise." She had thought that I meant the ceremony. That I was scared I would somehow mess up, and trust me by that point after countless rehearsals I knew that I wouldn't. But somehow her reassuring words still made me feel slightly better and I didn't have it in me to ruin her special day with my worrying. So I just hugged her very tight and whispered that I loved her.

The ceremony went as perfectly as it could've and apparently it was beautiful and tear inducing, but to me it lasted a bit too long and the priests voice was a bit too monotonous. But soon came the reception and it was finally time for me to meet my new siblings. Our parents had agreed that it wasn't ideal for us all to be meeting on the wedding day itself but as they lived in America and there never seemed to be a time for us all to meet without one or the other being busy, it just never happened. So there I was standing behind my mum's huge dress as Tom lead to boys in my direction. The elder, who was one year older than me was called Carter, and the younger, who was four was called Sam. They both had big smiles on their faces and when Sam stumbled slightly it did make me giggle but not enough to stop the nervous fluttering in my tummy.

Before I knew it, they were standing in front of me. I knew that Tom was saying something but I didn't hear any of it as I was too busy staring at the two boys stood two meters away from me. I was burst out of my bubble when my mum gave me a gentle shove in their direction. Too shy to look them straight in the eye, my vision trailed on the floor and my cheeks flashed an embarrassing shade of red. All of a sudden a hand appeared in front of me. Following up from the hand to the arm and then from the arm to the face, I was greeted by Carters bright, smiling face. His smile was so infectious that I couldn't stop myself from smiling back at him. From that moment on I knew we would be close, I felt it in my core. I shook his hand and I never let go.

From that moment on the wedding suddenly became a lot more fun. We rushed outside, playing 'it' (tag) and 'hide and seek' for the next hour, until our parents dragged us away to have our pictures taken.

If you looked through our photo albums in the living room of our house at the moment, you will see a set of images from the wedding comparable to every other wedding photos ever taken. These were the photos that had Carter, Sam and I groaning in boredom as we stood there for hours having the same photo being taken over and over again because the slightest hint of an imperfection meant the whole image was ruined. These however are not the images that spring to mind when I remember that day. No, the ones that matter are unlike any other.

There's the one on top of the mantlepiece in the study, that's my favourite. All five of us are in it and we all look like complete idiots. Sam is clinging for his life on mums back, with a look of pure terror on his face while mum tries desperately to keep her grip on his oddly bent legs. Next to them stood Tom with me on his back, he was half way through a sneeze and I had a huge smile on my face and my arms were flailing in the air. To top off the already perfect picture Carter was laid down in front of us one arm holding up his head, with a models pout on his lips.

And then there's the one, sitting right on my bedside table, of just Carter, Sam and I. I had jumped Carters back with my beautiful bridesmaid dress left all crinkled and slightly muddy, while Carter stood slightly bent over so that I didn't fall. He had war stripes painted on his face in mud similar to the cat nose and whiskers I had artistically done on his younger brother. We were all there our clothes looking slightly disheveled and our hair in all different directions, but we had the largest smiles on our faces and at that moment there was nothing anyone could do that would of brought us down.

After the photos were taken everything blurred together in my memory, that was until that evening when the boys and I had found ourselves in the hotel room our parents had booked for us reeking as much havoc as possible. Not long after poor little Sam had gotten tired and had fallen asleep face first into one of the beds; Carter and I lay, side by side, staring at the ceiling talking about whatever nonsense popped into our heads.

The next day my life would change forever and I would board a plane to the other side of the world, and just as that nervous feeling started reappearing within me I grasped hold of Carters hand. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone and I felt as though everything was going to be alright.

"Promise me something, Carter." I whispered.

"Anything." He turned his head so that we were looking eye to eye, a broad smile on his face.

"You won't leave me."

"Never."