Chapter 1
for, but also the day I'd feared for so long. It was the 2nd of August
2000 and I woke up suprisingly early, considering the fact that we
had had a birthday party for my brother the night before. All of our
friends and family had been there to wish him a happy birthday,
but also to wish me a safe and happy trip and to say goodbye. It
made me a bit sad lying there on my bed thinking about
yesterday. I would miss everybody so much. "How am I going to
get through a whole year without seeing Sara?", I thought to
myself. Sara was my best friend and we've known eachother since we
were 7 years old. That's 12 years, 12 years of sharing smiles,
laughter, problems, tears, gossip, advice. I guess we know
everything there is to know about eachother and now I was leaving...
A tear rolled down my cheek as I got out of bed, opened the
balcony door and stepped out. It was a beautiful morning, the sun
was shining and there were no clouds to disturb it. I sat down in
the chair standing next to me and tried to enjoy the last hours at
home for a long time. More tears filled my
eyes when I thought about all that had happened to me here. I'd
lived on this street all my life, so you can understand that I have
loads of memories from this place, some bad but mostly good and
happy once. But now it was time for me to become more
independent, show everybody that I could stand on my own two
feet. I slowly closed my eyes and let the memories fill my head...
I have no idea for how long I sat there, but my mum's call brought
me back to the real world again.
"If you don't wanna miss your flight, you really have
to get ready now!" Maybe that was it. Maybe I did want to miss my
flight... No! I had to do this! I went back inside and looked at myself
in the mirror.
"You can do this Heléna!", I said loud to myself. "Be strong. It is
just for a year and then you'll be back here again. Now, go to
Australia and have a great time!"
"Did you say something, sweetie?", my mum asked as she entered my room.
"No, no... nothing important..." "And you are sure that
you've packed everything...", she asked with a resourceful smile
on her lips as she looked at my desk. "You're not bringing the
signed photo of Bryan?
I mean you are marrying the guy." We both started laughing. I
always joked about how I was going to marry Bryan McFadden
from Westlife some day and mum was never late to catch on,
"He'd make a great son-in-law", she always said.
"Oopps, I forgot about that", I said with a smile, "we don't
want him to think that I don't love him anymore, do we?".
Eventhough I smiled my mum could see that I still felt sad about
leaving. She took me in her arms and said,
"It's gonna be alright, sweetie. You'll have a wonderful
year and make lots of new friends. And don't forget that we'll
always be here for you and if things don't turn out the way you
thought, promise me you'll tell us and come straight home again,
ok?" I hugged her as tight as I could, "I love you, mum!"
"I love you too, sweetie. And I have a feeling that this year will
change your life forever..."