Open Your Eyes

"Get on your horse, Brooke! I want to go for a ride!" Evan shouted towards Hansel and I. Hansel, my lovely horse was my favourite Christmas present. It seems so typical right? The little rich girl gets her mommy and daddy to buy her a horse. Yeah, well it didn't exactly work that way. I had to beg and beg for this horse and I've never begged for anything in my life. My parents gave me what they gave me and I never asked them for much. I had Evan, I didn't really need much else. One year though, my dad took me to a horse show and I fell in love. After that I asked for a horse and after two years of pleading, I finally got one. I swear, Hansle is the best horse I'll ever have.

"Evan! I'm moving tomorrow, I have to go pack!" Evan was the type of boy all the girls had a crush on. I never really did though, but then again I never really thought about any boy in that way. I was young and Hansel was my love. Evan was the boy next door who owned a horse at the same stable as I. He was my best and only friend and I would do anything for him, even at the age of six. This was the day my mom told me about Prince Edward Island. She had waited until the night before so that I couldn't plan any stunts on her.

"If you get on your horse we can run away together, Brookaroo." Oh, god. The nickname. I hated it and loved it all at the same time. If I had known what was to come of the years ahead of me I would have taken him up on that offer. I would have hopped on my horse so fast and kept riding until my horse tired out. My horse hardly ever tired out. I couldn't predict the future though, and so I looked up at Evan, blew him a kiss, waved goodbye, and then I went home. That was the last time I saw him.

I was currently standing in the same room I used to sleep in as a child. It was probably the biggest room on the upstairs floor and I had no idea what made my parents think that I needed a room this big when I was little. I don't even need a room this big now. I figured I would take it though, just because I liked coming back to something that used to be mine. I could make it my bedroom slash livingroom and if I ever made friends, they could come over and hangout here.

The first thing I did was unpack my bedding because all I felt like doing was relaxing. It was a long drive from P.E.I to Ontario and car rides always made tired even thought I slept for most of the ride anyways. I left the rest of my boxes stacked in rows by my closet and calapsed onto my bed. It felt so comfortable that my body immediately sunk into the matress.

"Honey, do you remember that boy that used to live next door?" My mom said walking into my room. I opened my eyes and turned my head slowly to look at her. Of course I remembered that boy that used to live next door. I think he's probably the only person that had ever given me the time of day and I will forever be grateful for that.

"Evan?" I said questioningly, even though I already knew I was right. She nodded her head and waited for me to start talking again. "The little cowboy that all the six year old girls swooned over. Oh how could I ever forget him?" I was being a smartass and I could tell that my mom was getting agrivated with me.

"You should go see if he still lives there." I swallowed hard and looked at her. I doubt he would remember me and if he did he probably hated me for going home that day instead of getting on my horse. The thing with Evan and I was that we weren't really that country, but yet everyone always called us the little cowboys. I guess because we could ride a horse, but besides that we listened to maybe a few country songs but that was the end of it.

"He won't know who I am. I was six when we moved, mom. He's probably some teenage heart throb now who hates his life and spends his time blaming everybody else for it. All guys turn out the same." I heard a snicker that didn't sound anything like my mom's. I stared at her confused but she just threw her hands in the air and walked out. I sighed and closed my eyes again. No matter how hard I tried to fall asleep though, it just wouldn't come. I got up and walked over to my boxes and looked for the one labelled 'old'. I found it and began looking through it quickly until I found my old photo album from when I lived here before.

I sat on my bed and flipped through the photos slowly, taking in all the details of my old life. P.E.I wasn't the worst place to live but I couldn't say I liked it much either. My dad decided to stay there for a bit which angered me to no end. It was just my mom and I in this over sized, over priced childhood home.

The first picture I saw was just me when I was maybe three years old. I was wearing a yellow two-piece bathing suit and was running around in the water with my hands in the air. I looked happy which made me smile at the memory. As I flipped through there were some pictures of my mom and dad on vacation, some pictures of all three of us, and then the last few pictures were of Evan and I. All of them except for the very last picture, which was just Evan himself. He was sticking his tongue out at me when I was taking the picture. This was right before I told him I was moving, when he still thought everything was going to be the same. I ran my thumb over his cheek and smiled a very sad smile. I hated that we had moved. What was the point if we were just going to end up coming back?

I felt a breeze on my neck and shivered in response. That was weird because the windows weren't open and it was fourty degrees celcius outside. I looked around my room and suddenly it felt kind of creepy. Did I really feel that comfortable in this room when I was younger? It seemed so open and empty that it made me shiver again just looking at it. It was also so formal and ancient which didn't exactly help. I wasn't a very formal and ancient person though, so once I was done with it, it probably won't feel as creepy.

I decided that changing out of these clothes would be best at the moment since I had been wearing them since we left P.E.I. I grabbed one of my boxes and dumped it out onto my bed. I looked through the contents until I found a bra, some underwear, then a t-shirt, and some shorts. I took my shirt and my bra off enjoying that awesome feeling of being completely free. I stared at the bra in my hand that I was about to put on and debated on if I felt like wearing it or not.

A couple boxes fell with a thud making me jump a thousand feet in the air. I put on my bra quickly and then went over and picked the boxes up, making sure to stack them in an even neater pile than before. The boxes falling at random made me feel even more uncomfortable in my room. I changed into the rest of my clothes quickly and then left my room. I decided to check out the rest of the house since I hadn't seen it since I moved. The first thing I did when I got here was bring all of my stuff straight to my room and left the rest for my mom and the truck guy to do.

"Brookaroo!" I heard a voice say as I started to walk down the stairs. I looked up but couldn't see anything. It must have just been my mind playing tricks on me. I continued walking down the stairs and as soon as I reached the bottom I heard it again. "Brookaroo!" I turned around and faced the stairs, wondering if anybody was going to show up. Nobody did though and so I ignored the noise that creeped me out even more and continued walking through the house.

"Mom?!" I shouted, not knowing where she was. I didn't get a response so I figured that it must have been her calling me brookaroo while I was walking down the stairs. It was probably her attempt at trying to get me to go and see Evan since he was the only one that had ever called me that. I walked into the kitchen and started to unpack some of the food in the boxes on the table.

"Hey you." The same voice from before said and I turned around. This time though, my mind wasn't playing tricks on me. I wasn't imagining my name on the stairs and I wasn't imagining the creepiness of the house. I smiled at the beautiful teenage boy standing at the entrance to my kitchen.