snail mail to australia // a.i

chapter one

It had been a cloudy, humid Tuesday afternoon, and I had expected my average routine: sleep in, get ready, head to therapy and support group, go home, sleep some more. Believe me; I hadn’t pictured my life to be this boring. As a kid, I always pictured my teenage years to be fun, lively, and exciting. A lot of things in life are easier said than done, I guess.

“Hello, fellow supporters!”

“Hello, Mr.Patelli…” the adolescents replied monotonous. Support group was exactly how it seemed. Everyone sits in a deformed oval (we can never form a proper circle), and we take turns, stating our name, and talk about one of our problems.

“Today we’re going to be doing something different. I’m sure that since we have all been participating in telling each other our problems for a few months now, and it’s time for something different. I’m good friends with a high school teacher in Australia, and we’ll be writing pen pals until next July, when we will all be able to meet our pen pals! This will be a great way to make a new friend, at the same time vent out our feelings.”  Mr.Patelli spoke with excitement. I wasn’t exactly certain that I’d be willing to travel sixteen hours to Australia just to meet my pen pal. Clearly, I was alone on this thought, because the entire support group cheered in delight.

Mr.Patelli grinned. “I will give you the name of your pen pal, and the address to write to, then you can begin writing! I will send the all the letters tonight, and when I receive the replies we can all open them together, so nobody is left with nothing to do. Okay?” The support group nodded as we all retreated towards the desks. Mr.Patelli pulled out a double-sided sheet from his desk, which I assumed to be the names of our pen pals.

My last name was Yee, meaning I was always last for everything, so whilst waiting I pulled out my phone, and texted my mom that I would meet her at home soon.

Clearly I assumed correctly, because Mr.Patelli soon came to my desk.

“Hello Lauren! Your pen pal’s name is Ashton, and the address is ____, Australia.” He said. I smiled and nodded politely, grabbing a sheet of lined paper and a black pen out of my tote. “Where to start…” I murmured.

                                                                                                                                                               08/07/2014

Dear Ashton,

My name’s Lauren Yee. I am fourteen years old, and I am entering my first year of high school this September. I do not want to go to school.

I used to be quite fond of school, if I do say so myself. However these past two years have led to an unravelling of unfortunate events. I live with both of my parents, and I have one brother and one sister. My brother is twenty-one. His name is Logan. Logan has Asperger’s (a high-functioning type of autism.), and my twenty-four year old sister had once told me that some kids with Asperger’s focus and study something really hard if they enjoy it. For my brother, that particular thing is superheroes. Aforementioned, I have a twenty-four year old sister named Isabel, or in my case- Izzy. She’s just graduated university in April, and just landed a job at FedEx. Both my brother and my sister are extremely temperamental, so I don’t bother talking to them much. My dad runs the most popular country club in town. He’s at work all day, so he comes home late evening pretty tired. He takes three different kinds of medicine twice a day, and if he doesn’t take it, he’s scarier than usual. My mom is my favourite person. She’s nice, funny, and doesn’t scream at me when I mess things up. She gives the best hugs, and I really can’t comprehend how some teenagers my age don’t communicate with their parents. What about me, you ask? I’m nothing. I have really bad panic attacks and anxiety, I’m sad a lot of the time, but I don’t tell anyone. It’s okay though, I’m fine.