Losing Me Finding You Read Free Page B

they are, but it looks like a family. There are bikes and a swing set, even a dog kennel for the backyard. I hope it’s someone my age.
    “Evie, sweetie, time for lunch,” I hear my mum call up the stairs.
    I’m used to her now. It’s been over a year since I woke up feeling like something was different; that my life wasn’t quite as I remembered it to be. Even though I don’t fully understand what happened and I couldn’t tell you exactly what had changed, I’m okay with it now. It doesn’t matter anyway, because my parents are nice, so is my baby sister, even if she doesn’t do anything more than cry and sleep. And more importantly, they act like nothing is wrong, as though this is where I am supposed to be, so why should I feel any different.
    “Coming,” I call out, dragging myself away from the window. Maybe they’ll be here by the time I finish lunch.
    I head downstairs and find my mum and sister in the kitchen already. It’s summer break and school is finished. I’ve been home for just over a week and it’s safe to say I’m bored.
    “Did you see the new neighbours?” Mum asks, knowing I’ve been staring out the window all morning.
    “Not yet,” I say, sitting up at the breakfast bar as she puts a sandwich and some crisps in front of me.
    “I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” she says, smiling as she takes a seat next to my sister’s highchair. “Maybe you’ll make friends with them,” she suggests. “So you don’t have to spend all of your holidays day-dreaming out your window.”
    I shrug. I’m hoping for the exact same thing. It’s true, that for the last week I’ve been cooped up inside, staring out the window as though I’m waiting for something to happen. I have no idea what it is I’m waiting for, only that I am.
    It’s almost like the feeling I had back on the morning of my eighth birthday, when I first woke up in this place, continues to stay with me. Only now, it’s getting stronger and stronger. It’s virtually impossible to ignore and the only way I can describe it is that it feels like there is something out there, something important, that I’m supposed to find.
    Maybe today’s the day that will happen.
    “Perhaps you can go outside after lunch, Evie,” Mum suggests now. “Get some fresh air for a change.”
    “What?” I ask, my sandwich halfway to my mouth as I glance up at her.
    Mum smiles at me as she says, “Go outside sweetie, meet the new neighbours, have some fun.”
    I know what she’s really saying. Go and make friends. I don’t really have a lot of friends at school, but that’s not entirely my fault. Showing up the morning of my eighth birthday was hard. I didn’t really feel like I knew anyone, yet everyone else already knew each other. Some people acted like they knew me too, and I guess I had some friends, but it was all so overwhelming trying to make sense of who everyone was, of how I fit into it all.
    I longed for something, or someone, who was familiar. The problem was, I couldn’t remember what familiar was. I couldn’t remember anyone that I’d known before I woke up in this house a year and a half ago.
    I kept all of this to myself, not wanting to risk exposing who I was or what had happened to me. I couldn’t answer it, so how could anyone else. It was easier to just act like this was my life and where I was supposed to be. But to do that meant I would often spend my lunch breaks in the library, getting lost in books. After school and weekends were spent in my room, daydreaming of my own stories, of memories that seemed to float just below the surface, but always out of reach.
    But Mum was right; I did want friends. I wanted what I saw in the playground at school. The knowledge that someone was looking forward to seeing me, was waiting for me, expected me to show up each day. I wanted someone to notice when I didn’t.
    “Okay,” I say, finishing off my sandwich. I watch as Mum smiles at me as I take my plate to the sink.