Close to me

Where it all began

2093.

That's the year. If you were wondering.

You probably weren't.

Before I say anything else, no we do not have flying cars. And no, we can's teleport either. Honestly, it's probably no different than like thirty years ago. Except for ya know, new iphones, new versions of cars, but other than that its pretty much the same.

I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I go to school at Central High. It has grades kindergarten through twelfth and I am in eleventh. I have a lot of friends, but I'm not super close to them like in the movies. Just friends.

I live with my parents, and my grandma lives 10 minutes away which is nice so we can visit her frequently. My grandpa died when I was only 3. My grandma loved him so much and has many pictures of him around her house. She likes to talk about him so every time I visit, I learn something new about him.

My grandpa was a lot like my mom (I mean he was her dad, so I guess there has to be some similarities) He was very fun, and headstrong. He was confident, just like my mom. They had different facial features though. My mom looks more like my grandma, with small lips, brown eyes, bushy eyebrows and dimples. My mom's hair was blonde, like my grandmas, until she dyed it brown.

My dad doesn't look anything like my mom. He has natural brown hair and green eyes. He doesn't have dimples and has a big nose. Both his parents are still alive – very alive. If I didn't know better, I would think they were teenagers! They are very active and are all about living in the moment. I got to see them when I was younger, but they are traveling the world and are currently in Australia. It's funny to think about. An old couple, bungee jumping and traveling the world.

Now on to Avery. Avery is my best friend. She is a few months younger than me, but it doesn't really matter. She is my cousin, and best friend in the whole world. She lives with my grandma because my uncle and aunt died a few years ago in a car accident. It was really hard for her, my mom, and my grandma. My mom lost her older sister, my grandma lost her daughter and Avery lost both her parents. Avery always told me how she was feeling because she told me I was good at comforting her. Ever since then, we have been as close as peas in a pod.

Maybe I should talk about myself. My name is Erica, and I am 17. I have straight brown hair. I have no siblings, thank god. I have 100% of my parent's attention. I like journaling and drawing. And my parents got me a bunch of calligraphy markers for my birthday last year, so my hand lettering has been amazing. I am also in love with space. It fascinates me. I am taking college classes in science and have A's in all of them. I am very proud of myself and so is my family. My family is the most important thing to me.

Outside of life has been pretty exciting. Astronauts are trying to find a new planet that is habitable for humans. My parents don't think they will find anything, but I can't help but wonder. What if they do find a planet? What if there is life out there? What if they are humans? What if there are blood thirsty monsters? So many what ifs. Being an astronaut has been my dream job. It would be so exciting. Imagine if I was the one who found the planet. It's a stupid thought, but you never know.