Open Your Eyes

“Shay,” she sighed. He just kept pushing and pushing. She wondered when he would realize that the world didn’t revolve around him.

“Alison,” he mimicked. “I don’t see why you can’t stay here. You know my parents wont care. They’re never home to notice anyway.”

“Because, Shay, my family is moving. I can’t just stay behind, as much as I’d like to.” The last bit was mumbled to the point where she thought he wouldn’t be able to hear, though he did.

“Come on Ali. I don’t want you to leave,” he pleaded.

Neither one of them wanted her to leave, but they didn’t quite have a choice in the matter. Alison was seventeen, therefore still in her foster parents’ custody. She was stuck with them until the day she turned eighteen, whether she wanted to be or not.

It’s not that Alison didn’t like her foster family, because that’s not true. She loved them dearly. They were brave enough to take in not just her but her younger sister as well as a few other foster children over the years. Alison and her sister, Ashley, had been with the Cassidy’s for nearly five years. Alison had just turned twelve, while Ashley was just seven years old, at the time that they were finally granted a home.

They had lived in the all girls’ home since their mother died after giving birth to the younger girl. Alison had never known her father; he had left after initially getting her mother pregnant. The same could be said about Ashley’s father, both men bailed at the word pregnant falling from their girlfriend’s lips.

Growing up, the girls lived a less then charming life. Alison, though, had it tougher. Because she felt the need to protect and shelter Ashley, she had been on the receiving end of taunting and bullying, which caused her to keep to herself. Ashley was her world, her best friend. She reveled in the simple fact that she would always be there; she was the only one who wouldn’t leave her.

That’s why she fought tooth and nail not to be separated from her other half. Many foster families came through the girls’ home in search of a child to call their own. Unfortunately for Alison, most parents wanted a young child that they could raise and love from a very young age. Many of those parents were interested in Ashley. She was the cute little blonde girl with bright blue eyes and an ever-present smile. Her carefree spirit was fueled by her sister’s admiration and love for the younger girl.

But every time someone showed any interest in her baby sister, Alison stepped forward. She insisted that they not take her little sister away from her. At the tearful girl’s pleas, most parents granted her wish. Though, that didn’t result in much of a happy ending. Many families couldn’t afford to take in two children; therefore both girls were left to live out their childhood in a home full of abandoned and unwanted children.

That is, until the Cassidy’s came along. They were a young couple that had only been married a few years. From first look you would think they were happy as can be. Both came from money, grew up with riches and a loving family, something the two-orphaned girls knew nothing about. It was at second glance that you noticed the sadness in their eyes, well until they saw little Ashley.

Yes they, like a majority of the couples who came and left through the large front doors of the girls’ home, came in search of a young child, maybe three or four at the oldest. But, when their eyes fell on seven-year-old Ashley, they fell in love. Anna and Hank Cassidy wanted to adopt Ashley, a little girl who could no doubt pass as their own. Her blonde ringlets matching those of Anna’s and her crystal blue eyes mirroring Hank’s baby blues.

So, again, Alison stepped up, determined not to lose the only thing she had, her family. And like all of the others, the Cassidy’s agree with the tearful girl, they didn’t want to separate the two girls. But unlike the countless hopeful parents-to-be that meandered though the halls of the orphanage, the Cassidy’s said the words Alison never allowed herself to dream of hearing. They wanted to take in both girls.

That was the day that the sisters received the only gift that they weren’t expected to share with all of the girls’ in the home they had spent a majority of their childhood in. They were given a family to love, and who learned to love them easily. They were given a house to live in, clothes to wear, a new neighborhood and a new school to attend. They were given everything they could ask for, and even those that they didn’t need, a world that in Alison’s eyes was a world of make-believe. But Alison swore to herself that she would never forget her previous life, she would never forget the real world.

Despite Alison’s careful demeanor and standoffish presence, she found a friend. Shay, even at the young age of twelve, knew he wanted to know the girl who stood on the sidelines, the girl who didn’t communicate with anyone but her little sister. He followed her everywhere. He walked home always trailing a few feet behind both girls. Ashley would always smile, greet and make small talk with the older boy, intrigued by his friendliness. Alison on the other hand, tried her best to avoid the boy. At most she’d greet him, only by name and possibly a slight nod in his direction, but never would she engage in any conversations.

Shay wasn’t deterred from wanted to get to know the dirty blonde haired girl with eyes that begged for you to unravel the stories of her past, the girl who only smiled at her seven year old sister. If anything, her ignorance of him only fueled his desire to find out her secrets; to make her smile, if only once.

His confident grin and charm eventually won her over, even though it took nearly two years. It wasn’t until the pair entered high school that Alison began to, unintentionally, let down her walls. She began to smile in his direction, even though she felt like doing anything but.

True, she had been given everything anyone could ask for - a family, a beautiful home, anything her heart could desire – but it wasn’t what she wanted, what she needed. All she wanted was to be loved. Sure, her sister loved her, no doubt unconditionally, but she couldn’t help but question everyone else around her. She had never known anyone’s love aside from the adoring love of a little sister.

So, Alison kept her distance. She became friends with the boy who sought her out. She let him into her world, shared her stories and listened to his. They became inseparable, not once did you see one without the other.

Shay came to realize that he had fallen in love with the girl who was now his best friend. He loved everything about her; her shy personality, her blunt and straight to the point remarks, her love and protectiveness of everything she held dear – mainly Ashley. He dried his best to work his charm with Alison much like he did with the dozen or so girls he had dated in the past. But Alison seemed to be immune, or maybe she just knew him too well. Either way, they remained just friends, best friends.

Because they were inseparable, because Shay was in love with Alison, and also because Alison refused to date; the two did everything as a pair; they attended parties and dances, including Junior Prom, together, although always as just friends.

And that brought them to the present moment. The Cassidy’s were moving their family of six – Anna, Hank, Ashley and Alison, as well as the newest children brought into the family, Finn and Joshua - from New York City to Portland, Oregon to be closer to Anna’s family. Alison was sad to be leaving the city. She had grown up in and around the familiar tall buildings and crowded streets, and was nervous to make such a large change.

But she couldn’t stay behind; she knew that. She knew the harsh realties of the world she lived in, where nothing lasts forever, and happiness is fleeting. The thing she would miss the most about New York was Shay. He truly was her best friend, even if he was the only friend she’d ever had. She was nervous to begin her life over in a new city, and she was scared that she’d never find happiness like that which she felt when in his company.

“I don’t know what I’ll do without you.” The two friends were lying on Shay’s bed, Alison’s head on his chest as they shared their last moments together before Alison and her family left for the other side of the country. “It’s not fair,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Life’s not fair,” Alison stated without a hint of sarcasm. She had learned that countless times and she didn’t shed a tear as she said her final words to her best friend, while her heart unknowingly broke a fraction at the thought of leaving him behind. “It’s only the real world, Shay. A life you will never know.”