Have you ever been told something you’d never thought you’d hear? Something that broke your heart into a million pieces and scattered them on the floor? Well I have. And this is my story.
Sitting with Mum and Dad at the dinner table it something I love. I love family dinners. But not now. Never will I forget this.
Mum and Dad stare at me, and I try to avoid their gaze. My stomach growls in anxiety. I can’t take it anymore, so I stand but Mum pulls me back.
“What Mum? All you’ve done is stare!” I , annoyed.
Dad blinks in surprise at my outburst. Mum just takes in a deep breath and says, “Georgia, I know you’ve always wanted a brother.”
I shake my head letting my golden brown hair fall loose. “I wanted a brother close to my age. It’s a bit late now.”
Mum opens her mouth to speak, but shuts it as Dad begins to talk. “We’re adopting.”
Those two words left me torn between my heart and my head. My heart says just agree, it’s what I’ve always wanted. But my head says no, because we will have to move out of the city, away from my best friend Sapphire. This house will be too small for 4.
“We’re going tomorrow Geo,” Dad interrupts my thoughts.
“Huh? What? Where?” I ask, my eyes narrowing.
Mum chuckles. “The Orphanage, all boys.
My heart skips a beat and the space is filled with joy. But then Sapphire’s voice floods to my mind. “I’m calling Saph,” is all I say, and walk away.
My room is my hideaway, my haven. When something goes wrong in my family, I can be up here. It’s only small, but it’s good enough.
“Geo?” Saph’s voice calls into the phone.
Oops, I completely forgot. “Whoa, sorry,” I say, half laughing. But I know when I’ve said what I need to the laughing won’t last long.
“It’s alright, but what was it you needed to tell me?”
Tears begin to fall down my cheeks and drip into my fish tank, stirring my reflection. “I’m sorry,” I say. Heart-broken, I hang up.
After a while the phone lets out a ring and I pick it up slowly. “Look out your window,” is all the person says.
Confused, I stand up, and I walk out onto my veranda. Saph is sitting on a branch in the tree that shelters the balcony. She jumps down smiling.
“Saph…” I say, turning away.
“No,” she pulls me back. “What’s wrong?”
The tears flood back. “I’m moving to the country, I’m sorry.”
Saph stops coming forwards. She stops still, staring at her feet, letting her blonde hair fall over her face. “No, Geo, just listen. Why are you leaving?” her voice fades into a murmur.
“We’re adopting a boy.”
“I’ll be closer to you than you think,” is all she says, then swings down the tree and runs up the footpath.
So there you go, half of my story. To me, this story is like a diary of this time of my life. I know what Saph meant, but you don’t. So here it goes…the other half.
Hearing Saph’s feet bang on the footpath left my heart broken in two. This is where things got bad. I had decided to call Saph back, but she wasn’t there. She had disappeared, but left a note. Her Mum told me not to worry, but of course I did. The door swings open as Mum pushes it.
“Bed time Geo,” Mum says, kissing me on the forehead. Swiftly, she walks out, leaving me in the darkness. I force myself to sleep, with my head still full of sorrow.
Sunlight floods through my open window as Mum shakes me awake. I bury my head under my pillows, but Mum is so eager for me to wake up she splashes me with water from the fish tank.
“Alright I’m awake! I’m awake!” I groan, removing the pillows.
“Good, because today is the day. Ring Sapphire, see if she wants to come,” she says as she skips out of my room.
I sit up alarmed. “For what? And Saph can’t come!” I yell out after her.
Mum’s head pokes through my door. “Adoption.”
I get out of bed and get dressed for the adoption, wishing that Sapphire was here.
Mum’s car pulls up at the Orphanage for Boys. I shut the door behind me and slowly follow my parents. The Orphanage is a tall brick building with a big pond full of fish in the middle of the white gravel car park. Rose gardens are set around the entrance, but most of them are dead.
As Dad pushes the heavy wooden doors open I expect to see 3 year old boys running around, but everything is in order. We head to the main office where a small lady by the name of Jenny Bolder is sitting.
“Hello,” Dad says, “We are here to see Alec Tinaski.”
Mrs Bolder stands up and signals us to follow her. We walk up a large stair case and we enter a room. A small boy with dark hair is sitting there, facing us. He has very dark blue eyes like Sapphire’s.
“Hello,” he says in a gruffish voice. He reaches out to shake our hands.
“Gday Alec! Can start off with a house question?” Dad greets him warmly.
“I like the country,” he says as if he can read our minds.
1 hour passes and the interview is over. We go outside to have a family discussion.
“Geo, your Dad and I both really think that Alec would be a good brother for you. But, what do you think?” Mum asks quietly.
I grin and give her thumbs up. “He’s the one.”
So we adopted Alec. He was definitely my brother, although he seemed more like a best friend than a brother. But finding out secrets about him was absolutely heart breaking. But you have no idea, do you? Well, we moved to the country in a small house near a forest which was 4 ½ hours from Saph. Once Alec adventured into the forest, and I followed him. And there was a secret unravelled there; so here goes, the unveiling of the secret.
I walk slowly behind Alec as he comes to the end of Winding Forest Path. At the end of the path is a paddock with a horse in it named Barley? It seems to b Alec’s best friend sometimes. I breathe in the open air as I go to step out, but a dark wig falls from Alec’s head. Shocked, I move my eyes from the ground up to his head. Long blonde hair has fallen past his shoulders, and he takes off his parker to reveal the necklace I gave Saph 3 years ago. My eyes widen as he turns around, and I see Saph’s face. I let go of the air I am holding and obviously Saph hears it.
This time her eyes widen. “I’m sorry!” she gasps, “I really am.”
My eyes narrow. “What are you doing here?”
She looks at her feet. “I’m an orphan Georgia. My foster mum is moving away. I couldn’t stay with her. So we planned. Now I’m here, disguised as Alec.”
“Sapphire, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t, it was too hard. And I couldn’t leave you!” she says, exasperated.
Now my life has a whole new meaning. Nobody knows except for Saph and I. She still disguises as Alec, but we go to the forest everyday so she can be herself. It’s been 3 ½ years. We will continue this secret forever. A forever hidden identity.
Ebony
I'm sorry about all the spaces
I copied and pasted it from my emails and it went like this and I cant fix it. Well, I couldn't be bothered.
