The Change for Me

“The Change for Me” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Mayuri Mudaliar, Global Indian International School, Queenstown, Singapore.

The Change for Me

On the last day of 5th grade, as I headed home, I thought about the exciting things that I and my B.F.F.s would be doing over the summer holidays. I had so many ideas that I had to write them down on paper, as I didn’t want to forget them.

When I reached home, I rang our shrieking doorbell, which sang ”Ding-dong!!!!” The door sprung open, and Dad’s grinning face popped out. “Come in!” he exclaimed. Since he is acting like a gate, it took me a few minutes to get through.

As I headed towards my room, Mom said to me, “Quickly finish your homework and then come down to dinner because we need to share some important news. I nodded back. Mrs. Knocks had given us reading assignments as summer homework. After freshening up, I started to read my book about inventions. Soon, I got bored and headed down for dinner.

Mom and Dad were already at the table, talking in a soft tone. When they saw me, Mom exclaimed, “There you are! I was getting worried.” She took a deep and continued, “By the way, we have to tell you something. Your Dad’s job has been transferred to Washington. We’ll be moving in July.” My reaction was “Wait, what?!” “Washington? Am I dreaming?” “You’re not dreaming, Hermini. We are going to Washington.” Mom said.

“Why, oh, why do we need to move?” I complained, “I love Florida and everything here.” “It’s because of your father’s work, honey. Now, let’s start packing, because we have only a month to pack!” Mom said. I headed to my room to start packing because I didn’t want to make my mom angry. As I headed up the stairs, I asked myself, “Why does Dad have to transfer to Washington?”

I went into my room and looked at the photos on the walls. Some of were of family, and some of them were of me and my B.F.F.s, Sofia, Diana, and Addie. We had gone to many places together and taken many photos as memories. I was going to miss them a lot. I started jumping on my bed to reach the photographs. Once I had all the pictures, I shoved them to the bottom of my suitcase, then started placing on top. After 15 days, my room felt empty. Emptier than a candy store the day after Halloween. There wasn’t even a chair in the room.

A few weeks later, I went to Addie’s house as me and my friends would be meeting there. I knocked on the door and it popped open. Addie’s grinning face greeted me. “You’re late!” She exclaimed, “We were waiting for you, Hermini. We thought you forgot.”

“Guys, I have to make an announcement.” I said, once we were in Addie’s room. As her room was filled with sunlight, it took me some to get use to the bright light. Then, I started my announcement. I ended it by saying, “I’m leaving this Friday.” “That’s just sad!” cried Sofia. “We’ll miss you!” I nodded back. Suddenly, Samantha yelled “Group Selfie!” I swiped out my phone and took our picture. “I’ll miss you!”

Friday

We have 10 suitcases in the car. It took us only 10 minutes to get to the airport as it was near to our house. On the trip to Washington, I only thought of Florida. The moment I got outside, I found out that it was very chilly. We called a cab and went to our apartment which dad had bought.

A month later…

I’m starting 6th grade today. My school looks like a maze because classes were everywhere. While searching for my Maths room, I slipped on some water and fell backwards. A girl came to me and helped me up. She asked me, “What’s your name?” “I’m Hermini. What’s your name?” I asked. “I’m Kate.” She replied.

Kate and I just met and we’re friends already. Later, she introduced me to Kendall and Taylor, her B.F.F.s. We soon became good friends.

A year later

In July, Dad told me that we were going back to Florida. I was nervous. But I get to meet my B.F.F.s!