The Fall by Natalie Brown (robert munsch read aloud txt) 📖

Is it so easy to forget your first love?

I don’t think so…

There is a lot of pain, tears, craziness and heartbreak involved….

It feels like your heart is shattered into thousand pieces and you cannot put it back together…..

You might feel I am exaggerating but this is what I felt….

I wonder how people easily hook up with others leaving behind their first love…… Are they putting up an act? Are they so strong? Am I the weak one? I don’t know…

All I know is I am still in pain……

“Coming mom” I shouted. My house is a mess right now. We are moving to a relatively remote place called La Pine in Oregon from the plush suburbs of Manhattan. I didn’t want to leave my friends, my neighborhood and the city. It has all my childhood memories, from the happiest to the most embarrassing ones. My favorite food points, the bookstores, the really quite park behind my house. I have to leave everything behind and go to an entirely anonymous place and find the new me…..

I am Kiara Jackson and I prefer Kia. I am an average 17 year old girl with a waist length dark brown hair, striking green eyes that look almost black and a pale complexion. I am practically an unsocial girl who is mostly in the world of books. I just have two best friends Emily Stark and Kaylee Stark. They are twins and opposites of each other. Emi is a social butterfly while Kay is just like me. We have been friends since first grade. They were with me through my every endeavor and now it pains me to leave them behind. But life has to go on. My mom Rachel is a renowned environmental scientist and a very bright, cheerful person. She was mostly away from home so I grew up alone. I lost my dad when I was 11. He was a successful lawyer in New York and a very loving person. I got his eyes, hair and personality. It took me 2 years to come out of that trauma. Since then my mom has been my everything.

My mom got this very good opportunity to be on the board of scientists working on the national environment movement, so we had to leave for la pine which in the heart of nature.

I dodged all the stuff scattered and went downstairs to my mom.

“Oh my gosh Kia, I just got a call and I had to leave for a meeting. Can you please take care of the packing? I’m so sorry to leave you alone with this mess honey” she was flustered about all this so I had to assure her. “It’s okay mom. Relax. I’ll take care of the stuff here. I’ll ask Emi and Kay to come over, so don’t worry. Just go.” “Oh I’m so proud of you honey. I’m really sorry and I’ll be back as fast as possible. Bye.” She kissed me bye scurried away. I shrugged at her childishness dialed Kay’s number. “Hey Kay, can you come over to my house? I need help in packing.” “We’re coming right away Kia” she said and I hung up.

After 4 hours of pulling, pushing and yelling, we finally managed to finish the packing. The movers took away all the stuff. The house felt so empty. The reality started to sink in. I am leaving this place tomorrow. “Guys I ordered some pizza and cokes” said Emi. Her voice echoed through the house and she started singing getting astonished with her own echo. I chuckled and looked at Kay who had ‘ I cannot believe she is my sister’ look.

The pizza came and we sat down to have it. “So” said Emi, “Soo” prolonged Kay and “Soooo” I shrugged. We all started laughing. After we calmed down there was this annoying silence. Kay cleared her throat and began “Kia…”, I knew this was going to come and I managed a barely audible “umm”. “I know this is hard on you Kia but this is life. You can never make out how every second unfolds. Just remember whatever choices you make, just follow your heart. Life is not just happiness but sadness and pain to. So let the life go on itself and you just enjoy it. You are a strong girl and no matter what we are always with you. We love you baby” tears strolled down her face. I didn’t realize that even I was crying. In a matter of time we were hugging each other tightly and were crying. I don’t know for how long we were like that. Emi pulled out and gave her very Emilyish smirk. A smile spread on our faces. “So Miss Kiara Jackson for god sake start putting on some makeup and check out your surroundings. Go flirt and have a wild life. I heard boys there in Oregon are those sexy Indies. My god you can have a very good time” she was grinning. “Uhh please Emi” I and Kay screamed in unison.

We were chattering about all the impossible stuff while my mom came in. Even though she is exhausted from her work she still has this bright smile plastered to her face. “Hello beautifuls.. How was your day?” she enquired. “It was wonderful Mrs. Jackson” replied my friends. She gave them chocolates. It has been the same since my first grade. Every time Emi and Kay came over she gave them chocolates. This made me smile. My friends hung out with me till their curfew and went home. We had a bit of teary farewell. My mom was on phone talking seriously. “What’s the matter mom” I asked. “Its nothing much Kia I just came to our flight to Portland is rescheduled to tomorrow morning at 9. We have to leave early”. “oh cool” was all I could manage. My mom gave me a comforting smile. I kissed her good night and went to sleep. I couldn’t sleep peacefully. Tomorrow would be a long day I sighed.

It is 7 in the morning and all the luggage was put in the car trunk. I was staring at my house when my mom came and wrapped her arms around enveloping me in her warm embrace. “It’s time honey”. I sighed and took one last departing look and sat in the car. All the way to the airport I was looking out of the window taking in every bit of this place that I can see. I’m going to miss Manhattan.

It was 5 hour journey from New York to Portland. We got a car there and it took us about 4 hours to reach La Pine. The drive to La Pine was very excruciating. It took every ounce of my self control not to breakdown. It was dark by the time we reached our house. Though it is all dark I liked the outlook of it. It is in surrounded by a garden was adjoining the woods. It was quiet and peaceful. We went inside. The packed boxes were awaiting us. It is a 3 bed roomed 2 storied house. There was a big living room, a dining hall, kitchen and one bedroom downstairs. There were 2 bedrooms and a beautiful balcony upstairs. It was beautiful and cozy. I took the bedroom upstairs with the balcony overlooking the woods. We had our dinner quietly and I went off to sleep.

I woke up to my alarm in the morning. I finished my morning routine took a shower and put on khaki shorts and a black tank and went downstairs. I’m still having my vacation left. The school wouldn’t start in about 2 weeks. It is a long time. I have to find a bookstore. Thinking about all the possible ways to spend my remaining vacation, I went into kitchen to fix breakfast when I caught a note stuck on the fridge. ‘Kia, had to go to work early. Meet you tonight. Love you. Mom.’ I sighed. I got back to fixing breakfast when I realized the cabinets were empty. I made a mental note to go for the grocery shopping. I ate snickers I had in my backpack and started to unpack stuff. It was one in the afternoon by the time I finished arranging everything. My stomach started to growl. I called my mom “Hey mom, there’s no food in the house so…” I trailed. “Yes, I know Kia, so I left you a car. The keys are on my dresser and you’ll find a map there. Go out and enjoy”. “Thanks mom. Bye.” I hung up. Sometimes my mom is really thoughtful. I smiled and changed into black jeans and grey blouse. I took the keys and the map and headed out.

I felt La Pine is a very beautiful and quiet place while I was driving around. It is green and lively. I stopped at a restaurant that I found while driving to the grocery. Just like the town it is beautiful and cozy. There was an elderly woman at the counter. She gave me a warm smile when I came in. “How can I help you dear?” she enquired. She sounded really kind. “Can I get a medium chicken burger with French fries and coke please” I responded. “Right away dear” she said and went inside. I sat in the first booth and awaited my order. She came with the tray in 10 minutes. I started to eat. “So you must be new to the town. ‘M Grace by the way” she introduced herself. “Oh I’m Kia Jackson and yeah, me and my mom just moved in” I replied. We had quite a talk and she told me about the town, the people and the traditions. She even told me where the different stores were. I thanked her and set out on my ‘journey’ to the grocery store. I started loving this place more than I thought I would. The people were really nice and kind. I chuckled at the thought of me mingling with the people and continued driving.