I know I won't be the first girl to move across the country and I know I definitely won't be the last. Maybe if I keep saying that to myself it will make the whole ordeal seem less scary. I'm not alone in having my life ripped from one place and thrown hard into another, unknown place. I know that stuff like this happens every day, to all kinds of people but boarding that flight on my own was the most scared I've ever been.
I should probably give you some back story, right? It's really not that interesting. I lived with my Mom and Dad in Los Angeles. I've lived there my whole life, soaking up sun, becoming accustomed to a certain type of person, knowing where I'm going all the time. It was comforting and familiar to have never moved and it gave me my whole life to really make it feel like home. My Mom and Dad are great, if a little eccentric. They're artists and kind of carry the artist stereotype with them. No one room in our apartment was one complete colour and paint splattered the furniture and walls. If you walked in, I guess you'd probably think a couple college kids lived there. And I suppose that explains why when I graduated high school, they told me my whole life was about the change.
The summer had just begun, and I felt like my whole life was so bright ahead of me. I'd graduated with good grades and applied to a couple colleges in LA. I was really looking forward to long days with my few friends down at the beach with no school and no homework to worry about. I felt kind of accomplished and calm. It was working out pretty amazing. Then, I got in one night around 9 and instead of casting body parts or painting murals on the ceiling, my Mom and Dad were sat on the patio, waiting for me. I slipped into a chair kind of nervously – my Mom and Dad sitting still this long definitely unnerved me. They had cautious grins on their faces. "Hey, Juliet, honey, how was your day?" My Mom smiled to me. I dropped my bag by my side and cleared my throat to answer, "pretty good Mom thanks, are you guys okay?"
"We have some news darling. It's nothing to worry about, it's actually exciting." My Dad looked at my Mom and smiled and they clasped hands together. By this point I was feeling a little sick. This could easily be a normal conversation for another family, parents having news, making decisions. But not for mine. I already said my Mom and Dad are a little unconventional, they always included me in decisions, I even got to pick my own middle name, haircuts, what was for dinner and when, where we went and how we did stuff. We were kind of a unit that way and honestly, as I got older I felt like they needed the direction from me more than I needed it from them. So, imagine my fear as we sat like a regular family with them on the verge of telling my something I knew absolutely nothing about. I nodded as a sign for them to continue, my throat sticking and not being able to actually say anything.
"Well Juliet, this might come as a little shock, but we are just so excited to tell you." My dad was practically bouncing in his seat and my Mom was nodding and grinning along. I clutched the bottom of my own seat, trying to clear my expression of any emotion. The last thing that came as a shock to me from them was declaring our next trip was to be to a commune in Sweden. Without an invite. I managed to talk them out of it.
"Juliet, were moving." My Mom smiled ", we're moving to Australia!" The brief silence that ensued followed with my Mom and Dad grasping each other and basically shaking in excitement. "So, what do you think darling?"
I was definitely stuck for words now. I unclenched my hands from the chair and straightened my fingers out one by one. I was probably about the ruin their dreams and I sighed quietly. "Guys, I'm just a little confused. Moving to Australia would be a really huge deal, you know? There's visas and guidelines, it's a super hard country to move to, right? And I've got a few acceptances from colleges here in LA, it would be kind of irrational to just decline and then uproot-"
"Oh, no sweetie you won't have to uproot anything!" My dad smiled encouragingly, mirroring my Mom. "I- I'm sorry, what? What is going on?" I'd moved to the edge of my seat at this point and I didn't like how this conversation was going.
"Okay, okay. So we've been planning for the longest time sweetie," My Mom said ",It is just so exciting. Your Dad and I are moving to Australia. We've sorted everything, all the applications, we're selling the apartment, we even have our flight tickets. Your Dad was offered this amazing position as Art Consultant in this place called Carlton in Melbourne, oh sweetie it looks amazing-" She carried on simpering over Carlton for a while whilst I stared at them blankly. 'Your Dad and I are moving'. 'Your Dad and I'. What where they talking about? Where they just going to leave me here in LA with no place to live, like driftwood? I snapped out of my shock and jumped from the chair. "Look, I have no idea if you understand what the hell you're saying right now. I don't know if this is some kind of joke or far fetched daydream but I can not listen to this." My Mom stood to put her hand on my arm, but I shrugged away. "No. Don't. I'm going to bed." My Dad stood with my Mom and put his arm around her. I turned around before I actually exploded on them and ran to my room, slamming the bright red door behind me.
Over the next few days, it all started to make sense. They managed to lure me out of my room with pancakes and a proper explanation. They really were moving to Australia, without me. They said the company offering Dad this work had room to house his wife but not his teen daughter. I understood that in a huge way they weren't even being selfish, not really. They had always allowed and encouraged me to be independent. I went on trips alone all the time and had the apartment to myself for weeks at a time. They told me they knew I wouldn't want to come to Australia with them and besides, colleges there were super expensive. They had both moved out to live away from their parents at 18 when they'd graduated too. They told me again and again, day after day that this wasn't a mission to abandon me and I understood. And I really did understand. They were people too, I guess, who had the total right to live out their dreams. There was just one thing. What was I going to do? They told me they could send money and apply to financial aid for me to stay in LA and study, but it would be tight and uncomfortable. And besides, I didn't want to have to rely on them to help pay rent, not being reliable was clearly a running theme for them.
We were all sat cross legged in the living room one evening, a few weeks before they were due to depart to their new life when my Dad jumped up, knocking a paint palette all over the wooden flooring. "I've got it! Juliet, I know what we can do for you!" Skeptically, I looked up from my book, my Mom doing the same. "So, I have an aunt that recently passed, God rest Glinda's soul, I was her favorite. You remember Glinda, don't you? Formidable woman, really. She left me money, that's how we managed to afford the flights so soon!"
"Alright, Dad, but how does this help me and my orphan in America situation?" I could tell he was about to get distracted and talk about his aunt for 5 years.
"Well, yes, of course! Yes! She didn't just leave me money, Juliet! She left me a tiny bit of property! It's not in LA, of course, we weren't from LA originally, it's in this small town in Washington but it's mine and there's no money owed or anything, it's completely ready for move in, I mean, I was just going to sell it but Juliet! It would be perfect for you instead of trying to afford living in LA!"
He looked so happy with himself. My Mom had rose from the floor in excitement. I stayed still, trying not to exactly evoke a reaction from them. "Wait, Dad, where did you say this house is?"
"A little town in Washington, oh what's the name – I forget… It's called, something, wait. I've got it, no, I know. Ah of course, it's called Forks!"