My sleep filled eyes opened up to the Horrible beeping sound of my budget alarm clock,
I turned over still scrunched up in a ball seeing as a big massive king sized bed is not very convenient for the one person in the middle of winter. To see it was 4:00am, the time mum told me to set it as we were heading to our new place in Auckland city today. I had lived in Whangerai my entire life of 14 years and i had never set foot out of my home town. We were moving because my mum’s talent for art had finally become useful seeing as my mum’s rich but pain-in-the-butt dad (my granddad) had brought a building smack bang in the middle of Auckland for my mum ‘s birthday and then getting his way. He’s always been pressuring mum for as long as i can remember to move there so i could get the “better education” I need to fulfil his dream of me becoming a “world famous Lawyer.” ‘pshh i had a brain the size of a walnut, good luck granddad your gonna need it. I flicked off the alarm and got my polar fleece blanket off the end of my bed to wrap myself up into. Tiptoeing pasted my mums bedroom where Frank, my mums fiancé would be sleeping i went and got myself a bowl of fruit loops. I finished up and went to get changed into comfy clothes for the hour and a half drive mum, frank, Deyontee and i had ahead of us. I threw on my faded blue skinny jeans, my favourite black ugg boots, and a singlet that clung to my belly button ring with my poofy winter jacket. I walked past my full length mirror to see the familiar stranger who was staring back at me. I had caught a majorly rare disease at the middle of last year and it was eating away at the fat tissue on the right side of my face slowly also as my bones were growing on my face the right sides ones weren’t. I stood there for what seemed like forever just staring at the black blotches on my face where you could actually see my muscle through my skin and at how one side of my face was slowly getting bigger than the other. I felt tears building up in my sea blue eyes and spill over at the ends, I wiped them away with the back of my hand and quickly turned the mirror around so i couldn’t stare at what my face was becoming any longer. Quickly running and jumping onto frank who was still in bed I heard him moan and I laughed my “little girly laugh” as my grandmamma liked to call it.
“c’mon frank, get up.”
“Leave Me To Sleep Indie” He said as he threw a pillow playfully at me, Ever since i met him when i was 5years old he always called me indie (short for India.)
“get your hairy a** out of bed and get ready.”
“yes ma’am.” He answered propping himself up on the side of the bed. Me and frank have always gotten along the best because we had an understanding. If he never tried to play daddy and i treated him with “respect.” There would never be any fights. But it was a different story for my brother Deyontee He was nearly eighteen and we had known frank for ten years and Deyontee hated frank because he thought he was trying to take dads place but me and frank clicked from the beginning. When i was little mum referred to me as his little shadow.
I quickly gave him a hug, as i started leaning away he took my face in his hands and stared at my face, he smiled and patted my right side gently”You’re still beautiful Indie you know that right? It’s hardly noticeable...”
“Yeah I know it’s just a massive change.” I sighed and leaned back so i was standing upright and ruffled his hair “Your hair looks like a doormat”
“Oh really think i care?” He jumped up and swooped me over his shoulder so fast i didn’t even notice until i was hanging over his back screaming as high pitched and loud as i could. In the end I was laughing when he stuck me back on my feet in the lounge where mum was sitting on the carpet with her knees tucked into her chest with her arms wrapped around them by the fire.
I smiled to mum and ran down to deyontee’s room right at the end of the hallway.
I knocked twice and tiptoed in to see deyontee standing there in his boxers with his face in his hands He looked like he was crying so i went over to him and he was moaning like someone had kicked him in the gut “Hey what’s wrong?” I asked sympathetically.
“Your voice box that’s what’s wrong. Has anyone ever told you that screaming at the top of your lungs at 6:30 in the morning isn’t very wise because maybe, just maybe people still might be sleeping?” He looked up at me and shook his head lightly turning around to his bed and he plonked himself right in the centre of it.
“Sorry it was fra-”
“Don’t worry i don’t give a c***. Your ready already jeesh’ what time did you wake up?”
“Uhh, four, I can’t believe we’re leaving today.” I followed in his footsteps sitting next to him on his bed patting his leg i asked “So what did you tell patty last night? Bet she went off her nut.”
“Yeah you bet wrong. She was actually quite fine about it, saying we could have a long distance...” He trailed off and propped himself up on his elbows giving me his look, “wait. How’d you know i saw her last night.”
“i heard you jumping out of your window last night” I jerked my chin up towards his window “My rooms right next to yours Remember.”
“Yeah anyway, She thought we could have a long distance relationship and s***” He started laughing at the thought for some reason and went on sarcastically “Like i would do that.no way. I mean its been what, a week for me and her?” I was sitting there laughing but not at the little fact he had told me but at how honest he could be with me, i was his little sister.
“yeah anyway she is the most ditzy blonde in New Zealand if you ask me” I was nodding my head in agreement when he got up and quickly chucked on a shirt and a pair of jeans over his boxers. He came over to me and pulled a silver locket out of his jeans and handed it over to me “happy birthday for yesterday sis’”
I was completely stunned and speechless as i opened to see a goofy picture me and him had taken last weekend at the street race that got us in so much c***, we were still grounded for it. On the other side it had a word in French engraved in it, “what does it mean?” I asked rubbing my pinkie over the heart shaped picture it had of me piggybacking him with my tongue poked out and him kissing my cheek.

“It means family” He answered while he was sticking gel through his sandy. Blonde hair. “If you don’t like-”

“No I don’t like” it i interrupted him, He looked back with a sad face.”I love it. Thanks Deyontee”
I wrapped it around my neck and it sat perfectly just below the hollow of my neck. I walked over and hugged him from behind “Remember we are leaving in an hour.”

I sat on the front steps of our house and breathed in the familiar scent of mum’s roses just thinking about the big city we were going to be living at and how we were hardly going to see our friends, never going to be able to know every single person on the street mostly filled with nice old people.
Then as my thoughts were going along like a train in my head I started thinking about my dad, the one id never known, the “selfish p****.” Mum called him. My dad got accepted into the Cops and he went to Auckland to complete the 6month training they all had to complete and he never came back. I hardly remembered him I was only one years old at the time. deyontee says he has only one memory of dad...The one memory he had was that dad had always called me his little superstar because i learnt to sing Michael Jackson songs before i could talk. I was a very smart baby But ive always wondered about why deyontee never had any special memories of dad with himself stuck in my train of thought i didn’t even notice Mrs. Buckley until she called out my name. My head snapped up to see her standing outside her little cottage looking house with a plate of something in her hand.
I smiled at her and waved. I had known her all my life. She was like another grandmother to me.
“Bloody hell.” I heard mum shout from the kitchen “Hurry up Deyontee! Move your butt we’re leaving now and you haven’t even got your shoes on.” Frank walked past me tapping my shoulder then he leaned in closer to whisper in my ear,
“mum’s having a spazz.”
“Thanks for the warning.” Walking up the stairs running my hands through my chocolate brown curls I looked up to see deyontee sitting in front of the T.V. Mum leaning against the counter hyperventilating hopefully letting all her anger out, Hurrying past just in case all the anger would then get focused on me i jogged into my room quickly grabbing the last of my things for the trip.