The Summer of 99 - We were here!

Once upon a time, on a beautiful summers day, we were all sitting in our alleyway, as we took out our permanent markers and wrote our names 'Suzi, Kate, Mel and Tamar were here - The summer of '99' 

On that beautiful summers day in 1999, as we put the pen away, we promised ourselves that as the years went by, and times got hard, we could come back here, find that place on the 10m long fence where each one of us had ever so joyously inscribed our initials and instantly be reminded of that beautiful, happy, blissful summers day, as 14 years olds when we had all found each other and  amidst heartache and trouble, a strong unbreakable bond had formed between us that nothing could come between and that no matter what happened in the outside world, that we all had each other and with each other we could survive anything. 'We will come back here later in life when we've all graduated and we will look at our names and be reminded of all the happy times we shared as young kids. The memories, they will make us smile on those days when we find it hard within us to smile. We will think of all the crazy things we did and laugh, and we will treasure the time each one of us had in the company of each other. Today, I needed to smile, to laugh, to feel alive, more than ever.

It feels like a lifetime away today, yet it feels like yesterday. My heart is trying to hold still and together as I take a trip down this wonderful memory lane, the lane that saw and felt the highs and lows of our teenage years. This was known as our alley. All four of us met here at 7-a.m. sharp every morning of every weekday for six whole years, from here we'd all walk to school together. If one of us failed to show up, we would walk/run/walk to that girls house, even if it meant being late for school, just to make sure she was ok.

I came back here today, to look for my name, to remember that time in my life, that time when everything was great and perfect and wonderful as it should've been, as it was not right now. As it hadn't been for quite sometime now. I park my car and begin my descent down the alley way. 

I can hear the birds chirping, the sun is out, it's just like that summer's day so long ago. There's a stillness in the air. There's no cars around, not a soul, just a fly that buzzes right past me. I walk down the narrow slope of the alley way, I can hear the leaves crunching under my feet, just like I could all those years ago it's as if nothing has changed. Yet, everything is different now. I am here, alone. Without my girls.

The trees still look and feel the same. Providing shade, filling parts of the sky with beautiful shades of green. The wooden pillars are standing as dividers in the centre of the alley. I remember when we would race each other down to the pillar, our school bags tossed to the side, along with our cares. The air still smells of eucalyptus and pine trees. The gravelled floor is still concealed with brown leaves. They are still falling on the ground, just as they had all those 15 years ago. With each step I take I run my index finger along the ridged brown aluminum fence, feeling each bump, it's a bit like life. Lumps and bumps. I am looking for my name, for something, a sign that will tell me I was actually here all those years ago, that this too isn't a dream. Another thing my imagination has created to escape reality. I am looking for something, anything that would take me back to that time in my life, when I wasn't alone, when for the first time I had found happiness. Friendship. 

In this alley, we survived so much. We got through the death of a my best friends dad, the loss of our best friend, family drug and alcohol addictions, divorces and losses of first love. This alley was our combined hope. Alone we were nothing. Alone we were destined to crumble but together, collectively we were not only survivors but we had the most extraordinary time of our lives. Many a days we would laugh as we got high on weed, others we rolled down this hill, drunk on vodka we had bought with stolen charity money - (which we later repented for). But no matter, how hard the times, we we were an army of support for one another and in this alley, with this love and never ending loyalty we made it through the toughest days of our lives.

I stop half way down the hill. The silence is as it was fifteen years ago, Except i can't hear my friends voices. I can't feel the dreams in my heart. I can barely even hear my own heart beating these days. What happened to me? What happened to that young girl who had all these dreams ahead of her? Where are my friends? I can't see my name. Others have come and gone since, they have taken to this fence with spray cans. Our names, gone, like we were never here. Like this too has been taken from us. 

As I begin my walk out, a young man is coming out of the house next door. We exchange faint smiles, he doesn't look like i remember the owner of that house to look. It use to be owned by an old ageing couple. Maybe he is their son. Maybe they too are gone, like they never were here.

'are you alright?' he calls out as I turn my back to him and keep walking up the hill, heading towards my car. He knows something is not right, he knows I look out of place here, I am wearing leather leggings a neatly pressed white collared shirt and a LV Bag. I turn around, fake a smile and nod. My eyes filled with tears that i am struggling to contain..I wonder why he thinks I am here.

Are you looking for something ? he asks.

Yes. For me. 15 year old me. For something, that reminds me of the past. The past I left behind. I've come back to find me, the me I left behind in this alley way. The me that believed. The me that once had a life and friends and a future. The me that wouldn't go unnoticed if she failed to turn up here at  7.o04 am. I am looking for my life. The last time I saw it, it was here, here in this alley way and so were my friends.

'For someone' I add. 'Someone I left behind here a long time ago'