When I Was Young
By Louis
I hate being away from my mother. Like when I was young and my mother left me in Vietnam and went to Australia.
I hate thinking about what I should have for dinner, it’s annoying.
But I love when I am beside my mother. I love the way she looks at me and yells “Son!” It’s loud sometimes, but, you know. That’s how my mother shows she loves me.
I say I hate being away from my mother because she had to leave me in Vietnam to go to Australia. I thought it was just a trip, but it took like a million years. I wasn’t old enough to acknowledge that my mom didn’t go to Australia for a trip, she went there for work. I didn’t blame her, but I felt abandoned. After five years she wanted me to stop everything in Vietnam and go to Australia with her.
I disagreed at first, I was doing good in Vietnam with my grandma. But after a few hours talking about it, my mom decided to buy me a ticket to go on that Sunday after she spoke to my grandma.
Day by day, it finally came; the day I had to pack my suitcase and go on a trip that I hadn’t done before. Getting on the plane by myself, I didn’t know what was waiting for me at my destination. Eight hours passed, I opened my eyes and was close to Sydney, counting down to the last minute. The plane landed, the gate opened, and I entered the airport with happiness. I rushed and rushed, I saw my mum, and that moment broke my heart. I hugged her for the first time after almost five years.
This story, When I Was Young, by Louis is an excerpt from Postcode Stories 2177. Throughout 2024, Story Factory worked with the students at Bonnyrigg High School to produce a collection of stories and poems about place and belonging. From fantasy prose to poetic memoir, the students’ musing and individual approaches to storytelling demonstrate their highly personal connections to place. Their words are proudly published in the final book, Postcode Stories.
Postcode Stories was supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
