lemonade stand // c.h.

[02]

[02]

                Evelyn hadn’t always been a fan of school. In fact, she hated it with a passion as a child. She spent most of her time outside, and if it had been up to her, she would’ve gotten to go to the beach day after day instead of being forced to sit in a classroom five days a week. Her favourite piece of clothing was her bathing suit, so much that she had tried endless times to convince her mum to let her wear it to school underneath her uniform, but it never happened. Her favourite thing to do was hang out with the boys, she had no interest in having any friends that were girls, and that’s how things were for the longest time.

                Eventually, Evelyn grew out of that, made new friends, and focused more on school. Her favourite piece of clothing was now her over-sized sweater, she stopped hanging out with the boys, and started with the make-up. Her favourite activity was now shopping, and Poppy became her best friend. This stage lasted for three or four years, and for a while, she was even fairly popular.

                But that all changed after a tragic incident last year. Everything in Evelyn’s life changed. Her entire life went downhill. She no longer liked leaving the house, she drowned herself in schoolwork, and Poppy soon became her only friend, the one person she always counted on to be there for her. Her ruined family was forced to move, and she believed it was all because of her. Which soon lead to her suicidal ways. And now, nearly a year after that, she’s just trying to push through high school so that she can go off to university, and move far, far away from Sydney, Australia.

                Evelyn’s favourite place now is the public library just a couple blocks down from her school. It was the place she went after school to get her homework down, and avoid her sister. It was also one of only places where nobody at her school hung-out, especially on days when there are football matches, like today.

She couldn’t exactly pinpoint her favourite part about the library. Maybe it was because its walls were lined with hundreds of books and literature that she could lose herself in for hours, or maybe it was just the fact that people were quiet, and always minded their own business. There were no girls whispering about her around each corner she turned, and there were no boys to shove her out of their way while she tried to weave through them. She could just sit quietly, complete her homework with no worries, before the clock struck five o’clock and she knew she would have to head home. She felt at peace at the library, a feeling she didn’t get very often.

Things at home were rocky to say the least. Evelyn knew her dad was trying to fix their broken family, but she knew her family wasn’t one that could be fixed. Mainly because I large piece of the difficult puzzle is missing, and that hole is going to stay there forever. Evelyn also knew that she should be there for her little sister, Emilie. She’s four years younger than Evelyn, and although she was old enough to understand the circumstances their family was under, Evelyn sometimes wishes she could be the big sister Emilie needs. Unfortunately, she believes she’s not capable of that. Especially after everything that has happened.

Evelyn walks with her head down as she walks along the gravel sidewalk. She thinks about how different things would be if that one day just over a year ago hadn’t happened. If she hadn’t made certain decisions that would lead to ruining her family altogether. And then to suicide. How badly she just wanted to leave this place, and find peace and happiness. It was the easy way out, she knew that. But after she tried, and didn’t succeed, she gave up. But maybe it wasn’t giving up. Maybe she held onto some hope that one day, everything would be alright again.

Eventually walks up to the large building, looking up at it from the bottom on the paved stairs. The library had been built in the early 1900s, and was originally an all-boys school, before her current school was built, and was made co-ed. They then made this building into a library. Evelyn always liked to look at it, the old structure and all the history that comes along with it. Her mother used to bring her and Emilie to the library as a kid, to listen to old tales about what happened inside these walls. And although some of the stories spooked her as a child, she was now more interested about it.