Exposed

4

My parents and I decided that it would be a good idea to move, we lived in a small town and everyone here knew about what had happened. Even worse at least half of them thought it was my fault. Even worse than that Annabelle was a very well known girl, she was the star in every play, inside and outside of school, and had also had work in stuff like TV adverts. Everyone liked Annabelle, not so much me, especially not now.

Dad said he had found a great job opportunity in New Zealand, so that was a good place to go. Of course starting a new school three quarters of the way through Year 9 would not be easy, but neither would going back to a school of people who thought you were a murderer. We didn't take long to move, we sold the house very quickly, packed our stuff and were out of there in two weeks. My brothers weren't too keen on the move, but they stayed quiet.

"This will be our fresh start" My mum says, on the plane.

I nod. That's what I need, a fresh start, a fresh pair of faces who don't know anything about me. I turn to my mum.

"Mum can I dye my hair?"

"How come?" She asks, beginning to run her fingers through my soft but messy hair.

"Well, if it's dyed the other kids won't recognize me and know who I am!"

Mum laughs. "No one will know about it over there sweetie," she says, "but you can dye it anyway, if it makes you feel better."

I turn to face the window and watch the clouds as we fly past. Mum doses off and I watch out, eyes glued to Auckland city as it comes into view. The plane finally lands and I shake my mum awake, quickly grabbing our carry ons. The air hostess welcomes us to the country and wishes us a "wonderful stay."

~

I carry the boxed with my name up to my new room, leaving them lying in the middle of the cool wooden floor. I couldn't handle opening them just yet, anything and everything from back home reminded me of her. I sit down and cradle myself in my arms.

"it's all my fault it's all my fault"

A tear seeps down my cheek as the chanting in my head gets louder and louder, reminding me of what I had done. I was guilty, it was all my fault, I could have saved her but I didn't.

"Sweetie?" I quickly turn around

"Are you okay bub?"

Mum walks into the room and wraps her arms around me.

"It's all my fault" I whisper, then begin to cry into her arms.

"Aww sweetie, it's okay, I know this is hard but you must remember that it isn't your fault." I nod and she pulls over a box.

"Don't feel like unpacking?"

"Yeah" I whisper

"Me neither" she says "How about we go shopping?"

My mum never takes no for an answer so I let her pick me up and drag me to the car, I needed to get my mind off of things anyway.