Triplets

Returning home was one of the things I enjoyed the most. No matter where my parents took me with our travels, there was no place better than being back in Kansas. Some people would think I were crazy to prefer it to the places I've been fortunate to go to, but more often than not they've been in the same place their whole life. All they've ever known is where they live so if they had the chance to go somewhere new and not look back, then most of the time they would take it. I wouldn't blame them, really, because there's some true wonders in the world.

The drive back to our house was quiet and relaxed, both my parents enjoying being back home with a house that would greet us happily. I was sat in the back, tapping my fingers on my thigh in a tune that I had picked up from Spain. One of the local girls had hummed the tune to me and I had picked it up fluently, preferring to demonstrate with my fingers rather than my mouth. It wasn't a fast tune but it wasn't quite slow either, hovering between the two with different pitches throughout. Though I didn't use the pitches with my fingers, the tune would go through my mind so I kept my fingers in time to it.

My dad pulled the car into the driveway and turned the engine off, allowing me to breathe out a breath of relief. "Don't forget to grab your bags from the boot, Gabriel," he reminded just as I was about to open the door.

"'Kay," I said. I got out of the car and went round to the boot, pressing the lock button and pushing it up. Out of the five bags I had, three of them were for my work books and notebooks. Since I spent most of my time travelling with my parents, I didn't have enough time to actually enrol into a school fully. It wasn't that much of a problem until I started high school work last year. I was almost forced to stay home to attend actual high school like a normal person, but I managed to persuade my parents to let me continue travelling with them if I attended school for the months we were back in Kansas. Thankfully, they agreed.

Hauling two of the bags over my shoulders, I hooked the other three on my forearm and shut the boot with my free hand. I trudged to the front door and pushed it open with my foot. My Aunt lived in our house and gets told the days we're going to be back on so that she leaves the door open for us. Much more convenient than trying to open the door with arms weighed down with bags. I started for the stairs and climbed them quickly, feeling the bags on my arm slowly beginning to slide down towards my hand. It was a relief when I reached the landing and managed to open my bedroom door as quickly as possible, allowing my bags to just slip down my arm and fall into a pile. I shut the door with my foot and started pushing them towards my bed.

Sitting on the mattress that made up my bed, I sought through one of the bags and pulled out several photo cases. I wasn't a photographer but I documented each and every place I went so that I could remember the people I met and what I had seen, and my room was dedicated to displaying each of these memories.

Starting with the smallest case, I stood up and grabbed the blutack that I kept beside my mattress all the time. Several of the photos were of landscape and buildings, some taken through sheer boredom and others taken because they were a nice view. Then I hit the people pictures.

One of my favourite photos was with this girl whose name was Mair. It was taken in Wales, in a small town called Holyhead. I hadn't heard of the place until my parents took me there, and I'm really glad they did.

The photo itself was of Mair, and she was standing in front of a small pond in what she called the Quarry, through it was actually the Breakwater Country Park. It hadn't been sunny but it'd been bright out which reflected onto the water and made it almost seem to sparkle. I'd found it breathtaking and had to take a photograph, coaxing her to be in it. She'd squinted at me, put her hands on her hips and posed for the picture. I had laughed at her, snapped the picture away before asking her why we were there. She'd looked at me as if I were stupid and then I realised why she had brought me here: the view.

We'd had been in Holyhead for a while, my parents going around the island it was on – The Isle of Anglesey – and doing their work. I was left on my own in the town, being watched over by Mair's parents because they were the family we were staying with. She had told them that she was going to show me around. It was in September and she home from school because she'd had an appointment in the morning and her parents had allowed her to take the rest of the day off so they let her take me around the foreign town. She took me to Newry Beach, into the small town, to both the parks, and then finally she led the way to the Quarry. We walked down the road and had several cars pass us on the way, making us walk closer to the tufts of grass on the sides of the road. We kept up conversation the whole time – me telling her all about the other parts of Europe I had been to, and her telling me about her schooling and how she was aiming to get an A for Welsh First Language.

When we had first arrived there and I had met her, I'd asked whether she could teach me their language. She had tried her best with what she had been taught with, but I just couldn't grasp the Welsh language. The pronunciation was the hardest, as was trying to work out just how a word could begin with a Ng and sound like it did. So instead I opted to not learn it but instead just buy a dictionary as a souvenir and listen to her speak the language. It was complicated but intriguing at the same time.

Then once she had finished telling me about how she was going to get the A, we had reached the park and my camera became in use. She'd told me that she didn't get why I was so into the town considering that it was extremely boring and had nothing to do in – according to her, that is – but she didn't object to the multiple pictures I took that included her and the surroundings. That'd been what the majority of the day had consisted of, something that she'd said she would have never done with anyone else.

I tacked that photo above my bed where all my other favourite photos were. The majority of the people in my favourite photos were girls – what can I say, I was more attracted to them than I was guys, though a few of the photos did feature guys.

I continued sifting through my photos, tacking up the landscape and item pictures on my surrounding walls while the photos that contained people went on the wall that my bed was against, only with my favourites being above it personally.

A knock on the door brought me from my thoughts and I put my case back down, calling for the person to come in. A few seconds later it was revealed to be my mum.

"School on Monday, Gabe. I'd take advantage of these next three days if I were you, sleep off any exhaustion you might have," she told me.

I groaned and scratched my head. "Can't I go back in February? That's only like two weeks away," I tried.

She gave me a small smile. "Don't think so."

"At least I tried." I sighed.

"It was a good try. Anyway, your father and I are heading to bed now. I'm up at five tomorrow and I don't think I would make it if I waited until after dinner. You know where the cooker is and there's money by the phone if you need to order out." I nodded. "Goodnight, Gabriel."

"Night mum."

She closed the door and I heard her footsteps head towards their bedroom. I begun to feel the heaviness on my eyes seep in but I shook it off, not wanting to crash out just yet.

For almost an hour I stayed in my room, sorting through the rest of the photo cases and reflecting on my memories of the past five months. I'd done so much, met so many people, and kept up with my school work. That was the worst thing about it all, but the good thing was that I'm ahead of my year at school so, according to what the school last told my parents, I was aiming to graduate a year and a half earlier than usual. The joys of travelling.

As soon as most of my photos were up, I left my bedroom and wandered downstairs and into the kitchen. I looked through the fridge and cupboards, wondering what I could have to eat. Just as I had decided pizza, the phone rang. I guess it was just encouraging me even more.

I headed into the sitting room and grabbed it off the standing, bringing it up to my ear and pressing answer. "Hello?"

"Dude, Gabriel, you're back!" Came the voice of Andy, the same guy who I had been mates with since I was little. Coincidentally, the same guy who also annoyed the fuck out of me the most as well.

"Yeah, not long got in. What's up?" I asked.

"You in school Monday? I gotta tell you something and man am I'm screwed if you can't help me out."

I picked up the money from beside the base and counted it. "You didn't knock some girl up?"

"Don't even joke about that, Gabriel," he hissed. "Shit like that isn't funny, especially after the scare last year.

"At least if it happened to me the girl would be foreign and couldn't prove nothing," I mused. He laughed down the phone and I grinned. "Anyway, yeah, I'm in on Monday. See you then." I put the phone back on the base and looked at the money in my other hand. Buy pizza and spend money or keep money for myself and have a bowl of cereal? After a few moments deliberation, I pocketed the money and headed back into the kitchen.