The Boy Next Door

goodbye, brighton

BRIGHTON, ENGLAND (July 17, 2016)

England and Maryland are so far apart. Different continents. It's crazy that I'm moving to the United States tomorrow. Mum and Dad insist it will be great to begin year 10 in a new setting. Year 9 wasn't fun. The girls at my school were really cliquey and would never let me in their groups. They always made fun of me for stupid things that I can't help, like my dark brown ringlets and freckles, instead of a perfect face and blonde hair. It got really bad when I had the panic attack in social studies class, there was a thunderstorm that day. They didn't understand why I was so scared. All they knew is I began hyperventilating and tried to get up from my stool to fall on my face. Very funny to a room full of fourteen year olds. They had no idea that in the summer going into 6th year my family took a road trip to the countryside and stayed in a cabin near a field. They didn't know I had an amazing time, and they most certainly didn't know there was a thunderstorm on the way home. Dad was trying to see through the wind shields. I remember we needed to pull over a few times because dad couldn't read the map properly. They don't know that a black minivan was on our tail so we couldn't pull over when the rain got too thick to see. They don't know that the minivan was full of drunken teenagers, and they have no idea they spun out of control and hit us. I remember being in the back seat with my brother, who was just a baby and then I saw a huge black shadow hurdling towards the my door. They don't know I broke my arm and two ribs. They don't know the thick scar from behind my left ear that wraps around my shoulder was from the accident, and they don't know the reason why I wear glasses is because my left eye is half blind from glass scratching it from the window that broke. All they know is I made myself look stupid and it was entertaining to them. I was mocked for a few weeks, by girls making eye contact with me and pretending to fall out of their chairs. A few came up behind me and poured water on my head once and said, "Ebony it's raining, how bout you pass out again?" And I ended up being home schooled for the three months before summer because I couldn't take it anymore.

My brother Joseph is the opposite. He doesn't remember the accident, and wasn't affected by it. My body primarily took the blow. He has so many friends and gets along with everyone. He's only in year 5, so there aren't very many social expectations for him yet but still, he's an extrovert and doesn't suffer from anxiety and social awkwardness like I do. Anyway, Dad jumped on the chance to move to the US, he's a part time photographer for a big magazine company, and because we've been looking to move, (but we were looking to move a few towns over, not a few continents over!) And now he's getting a permanent job in photography that requires us to move. I love photography also. I got a camera for my twelfth birthday and I haven't been able to stop ever since then.

Our house looks so funny all empty. The furniture is waiting for us at our new house in America. I've never been on a plane before, but I've researched it and it seems exciting. "Ebony come see this!" Joseph yells to me, interrupting my thought. I stand up from sitting on the floor and run to the main hall to find him sliding around on the polished wood floors with his socks. "Woohoo!" He exclaims, "you've got to give it a go!" So we slide around our empty house. The cooling has been shut off, so the hot July heat is seeping in through the walls making us sweat. We begin to get tired and we go up to my room. It looks so strange all empty. All that's here is my travel pillow and blanket laid out on the floor and my backpack leaning against the wall containing everything I'll need for the plane ride. Joseph and I sit on the floor and look out the window.

"Do you reckon we'll get American accents after we live there for a while?" He asks.

"Maybe... are you nervous about moving?"

"Nah, I mean sure, I'll miss my friends from here, but I know I'll make new ones! All will be fine in the end." He says, Joseph is always the smartest person. He's only eight and he's got the world figured out already. "And Ebony, you'll totally make new friends. I'll force them on you."