Welcome Home

Natalie is going back to her family and dreading their reaction. What sort of welcome home would she get? With her parents, Lord knows.

Welcome Home

 

I sighed. Going home was going to be difficult. To say that my leaving had created uproar would be an understatement. My parents hadn’t wanted me to go. New York poisons the young mind, they’d told me. But it wasn’t up to them where I would live my life. That was for me to decide.

I had always wanted to go to Oxford then move to New York. It had been my dream since I was little. So when I’d finally graduated Oxford with a first in English Literature, I couldn’t help but want to carry out the rest of my dream. So I’d travelled to New York on my own savings and rented an apartment. A nearby publishing office had decided to take me in on an internship and I was to start Monday. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to set my alarm and had arrived terribly late. They had fired me straight away, ridding me of my job, my dream and, most importantly, my visa.

So there I was, sitting on a small, overcrowded plane on my way back to the rainy town on London. I detested London. It was overcrowded, old, stinky, rainy and my parents lived in London. I knew they wouldn’t exactly welcome me back with open arms. I had rebelled against them as a child, defied them as a teenager, left them as an adult and we hadn’t spoken in over five months. They would approve much of my appearance either. I’d recently died my hair dark plum with electric blue tips. My parents had loved my natural hair and had made me swear to them I’d never ruin it. I grimaced as I anticipated the looks on their faces when they saw me, my two large suitcases beside me, on their front step. I wouldn’t be surprised if they slammed the door on me. What a lovely welcome home that would be. But I couldn’t really expect much more. I had practically asked for them to hate me. The only thing they could say they were proud of about me was my degree, which I had completely misused.

I sighed and flipped open my laptop again. I checked my emails before anything else, not too surprised that I had a load I hadn’t read – I got a lot of crap from the internet. Then I opened up a word document and, after taking one long, deep breath, gave in completely to my instincts. I felt so content as I felt my fingers rush across the keyboard, the story forming in front of my eyes. This was where I belonged, in this dreamland of mine. Not in London, not in New York, not in any real country, city or town on this earth, but in my own little world. A world where I could be whoever I wanted without anyone judging me. A world where I could live. A world where I could get any god damn welcome home I wanted. I smiled softly, content with just my thoughts.

Reviews

[Frances O'Neill]

I like the simplistic style of the story, also the alto ego part was well done, too!

[Jon Gary Frost]

I really loved this. There were roughly 5 pieces that I struggled with as I awarded the 3 tops in my contest you entered. I now wish I had an honorable mention for this piece.

So consider yourself Honorably Mentioned. I hope this piece is a start of a much larger body of work.

Cheers!!

----Jon

[blackandivorykeys]

Nice start. Is it going to be continued? Thanks for entering. =)