Amnesia || Luke Hemmings

Prologue

I never would have thought my life would end up like this. No mother. No father. Living with three people I know nothing about. I had a great life in America, even though my father was never in the picture. My mom got pregnant with me in high school, and when he found out, he broke up with her. My mom had to drop out of high school, only able to get a GED. Her parents threw her out, and we always had little to nothing. I got a job as soon as I could. Lucky for me a small cafe not far from my house hired at fourteen. Once I got a job along with my mother we were finally able to afford a decently small house. Things were really looking up for us. At least until the worst possible thing happened: Mom got cancer.

It started in her lungs until it eventually reached her heart. And it wasn't anything she did. My mom was one of the healthiest people I knew. She never smoked, never drank. She got plenty of exercise. I’m beginning to think it might have been all the stress. She worked so hard to get us back on our feet. My mom did everything for me, and she was my best friend. Once she was gone, I didn’t have anything left. My mom hadn’t seen her parents since they threw her out sixteen years ago, and she obviously hadn’t heard from my father.

All that was left were my godparents: my mom’s sister and her husband. They had moved to Australia for work when I was five. They have an eight-year-old son named Peter whom I’ve never met before, and I certainly don’t remember anything about them. So now, since I’m left an orphan, I’ve been shipped out to Sydney, Australia to live with them. I’ve been staying with them for the whole summer now, and today is my first day at a new school, in a new town, in a new country, with people I’ve never met before. It’s my second year of high school, and since I came here from the U.S., we had to figure out how to transfer all of my credits over, so now I’m being forced to retake certain classes, which totally sucks.

I wouldn’t say I’m a totally depressed person. I’m just empty. My mom was my whole world. I was always too shy to make friends or let anyone in besides my mother. I don’t really do anything anymore. I used to dance all the time. The lady that owned the shop where my mother worked her whole life had been a dancer when she was younger. She taught me some ballet moves and taught me how to move with the music. Dancing was an escape for me. It took all the stress away. It took me to another world where nothing bad happened. The only people who saw me dance were my mother and her boss. We could never afford dance lessons or anything of that sort. We could barely afford to send me to school.

I don’t dance anymore. I usually just sit in my room and read or just think. When I’m not doing that I help out at my uncle’s diner which is connected underneath their house. I don’t really like to call it my house. All I am is an unwanted guest. They had to make room for me by clearing out my cousin’s playroom. Now all his toys are stuffed in his bedroom. If I could have gotten a better job and worked harder then maybe I could have stayed in America on my own and not have to be such a burden for them. I haven’t left the house all summer, unless I was going with Aunt Ellen to buy groceries. Now, I’m being forced to leave to go to school. Since nobody can get me there, and I can’t drive yet, I have to walk. And the stupid school I’m going to forces you to wear these god awful uniforms. I never had to do that at my school in America. There was always a bus, and I had the freedom to wear whatever I wanted.

I’m trying not to make a big deal out of today. I don’t necessarily have to talk to anyone, unless of course a teacher asks me to. I’m not trying to impress anyone, and I sure don’t care what anybody thinks of me. My goal today is to get in and get out. Then I can come back to the diner and work, then go to bed. Let’s do it.