epiphany

two

The bells chimed as I strided into the coffee shop. Gazing across the tables, I immediately saw my best friend. Her long and wavy, naturally-red hair was swept up into a neat pony-tail and she was dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a comfy, loose-white shirt.

“Rachel,” I called out to get her attention as I noticed her tapping away on her phone, oblivious to her surroundings.

She glanced at me with a smile and motioned for me to sit with her. She had two vanilla lattes resting on the table, she knew me all too well. What am I going to do without her?

“I'm so excited for you. I mean, you’ve been wanting this forever,” she exasperated the second I sat down in the rugged, wooden chair across from her. The coffee shop was pretty vintage looking and it had a small shelf of super old books that customers could look at anytime they wanted. It was one of my favorite places to be. 

“I know, but, I'm really going to miss you Rach. I’ll be in England and you’ll be in LA. How will I rant to you now?” I replied with a half-joking sigh. But in all honesty, I don't think I would ever be able to find a friend like her. She always watched out for me, even when we were small children.

I remember this one time, when we were in fourth grade, our mothers would let us walk just a couple blocks away to the medium-sized park with a beautiful rose garden and a small playground. We used to go crazy for it and now that I think back to it, two little kids walking alone down the sidewalk wasn't a very good idea.

We were walking to the playground when we noticed that the same man made every turn we did. He was very tall and looked like he was in his late 30s or early 40s. I hadn't thought of it as anything because, back then, I was super naive, but Rachel, she was super paraoid about crap like "don't talk to strangers." She kept begging me to run or something, but I shrugged her off and told her that he probobly wanted to go to the park too. Right as a felt someone's hand grab my wrist and try topull me away, Rachel kicked the man in his stomach and we ran straight home. 

My thoughts were immediatley interrupted when she giggled. “Come on, this will be great for you. We can still call each other. I’ll even save up to visit you once in a while.”

“You’re right,” I said as I sipped the last of my latte. “I think I’d better get going, there are a lot of preparations I have to make before I leave this place.”

With a tight hug from Rachel, I was on my way. 

A month later

I scrambled around my room, packing the last few things I needed. My eyes wandered off to my stack of paintings and my supplies. I ran towards them, chose my favorite ones, grabbed my brushes and paints, and stuffed them into my third suitcase. I wondered how I was going to drag these to the airport.

I struggled to pull the three suitcases down the stairs while holding my carry-on but ultimately succeeded. My mother drove me to the airport and upon leaving, gave me her warmest hug and made me promise to call her when I landed.

When I located the gate that was written on my ticket and approached the small desk after waiting in the long line. The lady checked my ticket and I walked to the plane entrance.

Finding my seat, I immediately plugged in my earphones and relaxed.

*

“Ma’am please wake up, we’ve reached the destination.”

A hand shook my shoulder and I gradually opened my eyes to see the flight attendant. I thanked her and walked off the plane and toward baggage claim.

I got a taxi to Cambridge University and trudged towards the front desk.

“Hi I’m Lilah Peters and I’d like to check in,” I politely told the lady.

“Ah Lilah, here is the key to your dorm room and your schedule. Have a nice day.”

“24B,” I mumbled to myself.

As I dragged my bags into the hallway leading to my room, a group of boys knocked into me, causing me to fall. 

“Jerk,” I said loud enough for the boy who hit me to hear.

“What?” he turned around, his accent seeping into that one word.

“You heard me,” I scoffed, brushing myself and walking away.

“Feisty, I like it,” he laughed with his friends.

I shook my head as I unlocked the door to my dorm.

There was a bunk bed off to the side, a medium-sized closet at the corner, a mini couch, and a plain, wooden desk. 

I put my suitcases next to the bunk bed. My roommate still wasn’t here yet so I might as well preoccupy myself. Snatching my phone and wallet, I left the door to explore the streets of England.