The Innocence Of It

Chapter fifteen

I live on honey street, in a quiet neighborhood filled with tall leafy trees, homey houses and huge yards. Everyone who sees the houses on honey street automatically thinks it's perfect, they always make comments about how lovely and serene it is, but when I was nine years old, I didn't see it that way. Infact, I hated it.

Growing up, I was an extremely shy awkward kid who struggled to make friends, I spent my early childhood friendless and alone, reading story books, watching cartoons or sitting on the lawn behind my house watching my mum water her ever blooming floral garden.

I was a lonely only child.

Whenever my mum noticed I'm feeling low, she'd invite my twin cousins Nicholas and Nicole to come over and we'd have a blast. Time however, always seemed to run out, as soon as my cousins left, the loneliness I tossed aside for a brief moment would seep in again and I'd be back to square one.

As much as I longed to have a friend of my own, I grew to like my own company and accepted the fact that I probably wouldn't make any friends until one day, something did change.

On one peculiar Saturday afternoon, the house next door which sat unoccupied for months was bought, and my new neighbors were finally moving into their new home. That day the air felt different, the sun shined brightly and a perfect shade of blue brightened up the sky, accompanied by cotton candy clouds floating delicately above for me to see.

That Saturday wasn't like the many other sad lonely Saturdays that had passed me by, it was special, I knew it was one of those rare days that only ever happen once, an exquisite happenstance of some sort. I can't explain it, but it felt like God told me he had a surprise for me.

Ever since I was little, I've always believed in God and had a lot of faith in Jesus Christ, I trusted that God had something good in store for me and I wasn't wrong. I didn't know what to expect, all I knew is I would know what it was when I saw it.

On that very day I was sitting in the livingroom watching cartoons when the sound of moving trucks outside the gate caught my attention.
Curious, I stood up from the couch following the direction of the sound, curious to know who was moving in. I love being indoors, I always have, I rarely leave the house but that day I felt the need to. There was a sense of urgency in me, a magnetic pull of some sort that probed me to walk out the front door, leave my yard and stand by my new neighbors wide open gates.

Quietly, I watched the furniture and sealed boxes being unloaded from the moving truck and stuck around for a while watching the process unfold. One of the men helping my new neighbors move in was carrying a kid-sized blue bike, instantly, my eyes lit up upon seeing the bike, prompting me to eagerly meet my new neighbors.

Doll eyed, I entered my new neighbours yard transfixed by the bright blue bike being carried into it's new home. I went unnoticed by all the busy adults around me when suddenly, my eyes landed on Louis' mum and I paused. Louis' mum was devoid of any makeup but still insanely pretty, she had her dark brown hair tied in a messy bun and she was wearing a moss green dress paired with brown flats, too distracted to see nine year old me staring at her, dumbfounded by her beauty.

In a rush to settle in, she gave instructions on where all the furniture should be placed and then hurriedly picked up two large sealed
cardboard boxes lying on the grass and carried them into the house, while a ten year old Louis stood idly glancing at his new home.

Upon seeing Louis my heart settled, it was an innate sense of certainty and calmness that came with knowing he is what I was looking for. I knew right there and then that God had orchestrated our meet, that years, months, days and nights had aligned for our paths to collide and meet in this exact precise. He didn't know it yet but Louis was my answered prayer, God sent. Every little thing had been leading up to this, to us meeting. I knew he was meant to be in my life, I knew he was meant to be my friend.