The Big Move (Final)

The Big Move
I have lived in Brooklyn, NY ever since I was born. I never thought that I would leave the city I loved for so long. Little did I know that my freshman year in a New York high school was going to be my last time in the city. Never thought that my life would change in a blink of an eye.
My neighborhood was just as loud and busy as any other winter day. But as the days were rolling by, the neighborhood became more dangerous. I was 14 years old when the tragic news spread around the community. Young girls my age were getting kidnapped in their own apartment complexes and murdered. Some girls were left dead under the stairs of the buildings. My parents were horrified by the news. They told me to be extra careful and watch everyone around me. I was one of those care-free teenagers, who really didn’t pay attention to what their parents said. I was going to soon regret this ignorance.
It was the beginning of spring and the weather was so nice out. The flowers were blooming, everyone was outside hanging out on the street corner, people were honking the horns of their cars, and a police siren screamed it’s lungs out as it passed me by. I was on my way home from school, when my dad ran into me. I kissed his cheeks and went up the stairs of my building. As my father approached the last step, two male figures jumped out at him. To their surprise it was a man that they had almost abducted. “ What the (you finish the rest) are you doing!!!! GET THE ( choose your own words) OUT!!!!!”. These men ran out of the building as if they were set on fire. My father then ran up the stairs and knocked on our apartment door. “ Did you see anyone hiding behind the stairs?”. “No” I replied. He spoke in his serious voice and said “ Lock the door after I leave, and don’t answer it for anyone”. That was the last time I had thought about the conversation.
My father was so horrified about the thought of those men and how they could have taken me. I would have been just like those other girls. He refused to let his only daughter live in a dangerous environment any longer. On that same night he told my mom to find another place to live, far away from the city. My mother called her sisters in Ohio for advice about the living conditions. The next day my aunts started looking for a place for my mom, three brothers, and me to live. It was around April when my parents dropped the bomb on me. I was to pack all my belongings and leave the only place that I have ever known as home. I was devastated. How could they do this to me? There was no point of arguing, my parents minds were already made up. As the months got closer to the BIG MOVE, I cried myself to sleep everyday. I was going to move to a different state, new lifestyle. I didn’t want to leave my friends behind. But I had to.
June 30, 2003, my mom, three brothers and I moved to Reynoldsburg, Ohio. My dad had to stay back home so he wouldn’t lose his pension. We were welcomed by a group of neighborhood kids. That didn’t matter to me. I knew that I wasn’t going to like them and was not willing to give them a chance. I spent five months at that school not talking to anyone and giving people mean looks, when they tried to make conversation. I was sad and angry all the time. I just couldn’t stand being all by myself. One day it hit me. Being mean to everyone else doesn’t make me happy. I was sad because I felt alone. I had to face the facts that Ohio is where I live now. And I have to make the best of my stay here. So I started hanging out with people at school and my neighborhood. I made a lot a friends, gained many memories, and had lots of laughs. If I did not come to this conclusion, I would still be crying and wondering why I was so alone.
I lived in Reynoldsburg for two years. Just as I was getting used to my surroundings, my parents told me that once again we were moving. We were moving again because my little brother was causing problems and hanging out with the wrong people. My mother found an envelope in the mail. It had no return address, no name. In the envelope contained a letter claiming that if my mom did not move my brother, he was going to die. Later that afternoon, I found my aunts, and uncles in my kitchen. I didn’t really think anything of it, until I saw my mom by the stove, with waterfalls streaming down her face non-stop. “ What’s going on?”. “ Sit down. We are having a family meeting” my uncle said. We spent hours discussing who my brother was hanging out with, was he in a gang, does he smoke, should we move. At first my brother denied everything, but I guess he felt bad about my mom crying, so he decided to tell the truth for the first time in his life. That night was my last night in Reynoldsburg. This time we moved to enemy territory. I was going to spend my senior year at Pickerington High School Central. This news crushed me. It felt as if my parents were stabbing my heart over and over again. I fought to stay in Reynoldsburg. I tried the option of living with my aunt. My parents did not agree with that option.
We moved to Pickerington that July. I had to start over again. And once again I
was quiet and wasn’t interested in making any friends. My main concern was to graduate and get out of that high school as fast as I could. I joined the step team and made new friends. Before I knew it, my high school career was over. It was time to move on to bigger and better things. That conclusion made me angry, only for the mere fact that I didn’t get to keep all my friends I started out with. I had to keep making extreme changes in my life. My little brothers got the opportunity to make friends in elementary and junior high school. They get to go to high school with most of their friends. They get all those memories that I had taken away from me. My brothers are the lucky ones. I will always feel like I don’t belong in Ohio. I graduated high school and now I’m starting all over in college. This time around it’s harder. School is more difficult, friends at this age are harder to trust. I was pushed into the real world without a friend to help me adjust to these changes. I am now 19 years old and I can say that these changes have effected me terribly. I would dread having to wake up in the mornings to go to school. Now I walk in the hallways of OSUN with my head down and a sad look on my face. As the days go by, I just want to stay home and hope that my feelings will change. I keep hoping that I won’t feel lonely anymore. But I know that will never happen. I went from a happy freshman to an empty college freshman. I show my smiles time to time. But you will never know the emptiness I feel inside