My thumb wipes away the shedded tears that splashed onto the framed picture, a happy memory of my siblings and I. The memory quickly resurfaced, the heat of July as our small family gathered in the backyard, smoking meats fills my nose as dad stood over the grill, while my twin brothers chasing me around the sprinklers, the water cooling us down.

“Kids come eat!” Mom shouts from the patio’s table. We came running to the shaded patio, but before I could reach the table the twins pushed me to down and I released a loud shriek. The twins suddenly stopped and rushed to my side, repeating how they didn’t mean to.

I scraped my knee, so bad that mom had to treat it immediately. I didn’t know which hurt worse the scrape or the rubbing alcohol, but also remember how she handled me with such care and wiped my tears. Mom picked me up and carried me to the table where my dad sat across from my siblings scolding them, mom sat me in between the two boys.

“We’re sorry, Juliette” Jonny and Jonah said in unison, hugging me tightly.

“I forgive you,” I sniffled, and our parents smiled at us from across the table, and before I knew it mom was flashing a light at us taking a picture.

Smiling softly as I tucked the frame into a box filled with other memories made over the years. Now I was leaving behind all that I knew. Many nights spent crying and thinking about the what my future would be like. Now I have the opportunity to discover what my future holds. Did I really have to leave?

“Juliette, why are you standing in the dark?” My older brother, Jonah leans against the doorframe with his arms crossed. Wiping away my tears before he could notice and concealed my expression.

“I just finished packing.” I sat down on the bed looking at Jonah, he stood before me as an exceptional young man now and Jonny was no different. We all have experienced so much since our childhood, and now we were young adults.

Jonny came running in an uproar, crashing down next to me in bed. He looks around my now empty childhood room. “Wait, why is it dark in here?” He ask, and chuckled at how much they resembled each other, yet had two very distinctive personalities.

I savored these last memories, knowing that tomorrow would come and my life would never be the same. I loved my family but I knew it was time to be on my own.

Where did the time go?