Chapter One

Juniper

It was a very sunny morning when I woke up and walked downstairs to say my morning greetings to my parents. Taking small steps to the front of their bedroom door I knocked but there was no answer. It was a Saturday and my parents never went to the hospital for their shifts during the weekend so I wondered why I couldn’t find them in their bedroom sleeping in. I decided to check in the living room with the thought they might be watching the morning news or something but surprisingly they weren’t also in the living room.

“Where could they have gone to?” I thought out loud.

Deciding to get myself a bottle of water from the fridge, I saw a note to stuck to it that said “Juni. Your father and I have gone out to get something important, we’ll be back later in the evening. Make sure you have breakfast”. The note was clearly written by my mother but what could be so important to make my parents give up their weekend. They never miss a weekend to sleep in.

Lately, I noticed they’ve been acting off and secretly busy planning something which they refused to tell me which I’ve countlessly tried asking about and most times when I manage to talk to them about it they always give me a vague answer so I just decided to stop trying and let them be. Whatever it is they’re secretly planning certainly wouldn’t affect me I’m sure.

I’m the only child of my parents and I was dearly special to the both of them. Both my parents are doctors specializing in cancer treatments. It’s my dream to become like them also, I’m turning eighteen in two days and I plan on joining the medical outreach in my parents hospital for the summer to help treat various illnesses and diseases in rural communities in the Caribbeans. I’ve filled the forms but I haven’t submitted it yet since I’ve not discussed it entirely with my parents yet but I’m sure they’ll love it that their only daughter is setting out in their footsteps.

As I tried preparing breakfast for myself deciding to eat toasted bagels and coffee my phone rang the screen flashing the name of my classmate and one of my good friends in school.

“Hi Carlos, what’s up?” I greeted

“Can’t I just call to hear your voice?” He teased playfully causing me to laugh.

“That depends because you rarely call me” I threw back playfully.

“Haha juniper, either way I wanted to ask what page our mathematics homework is?”

“Uhm I think it’s on page 132, exercise 2a.” I answered trying to remember.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll see you at school?” He asked sounding unsure.

“Of course you will.”

“Okay then. Bye”

“Bye” and he hung up.

While I decided to wait for my parents since I didn’t really have much to do or where to go, I sat in the living room watching tv. It was starting to get late and both their phones were switched off leaving me worried and more confused than ever. The door opened and my parents walked in looking tired and exhausted and I was so relieved to see them I ran towards them to give them a hug which surprised them at first but they eventually came around understanding why I seemed so nervous. My parents are my life and I wouldn’t be able to survive without them with me.

“What took you so long?” I asked the both of them with a worried look on my face.

“Sorry juni, we just lost track of time”. My mum replied with a tiresome smile on her face as she sat on one of our couches.

“Juni, we have something important to discuss with you” my dad said firmly as he sat next to my mum, he also looked tired.

“What is it?” I asked curiously

“We’re moving abroad” they both said with smiles on their faces.

“What?!” I screamed in utter shock.