Almost five years ago I took a plane and flew to Montréal,
I "lived" there for a month and a week,
so I don't really know if I can say I lived there.
Regardless,
it was one of the most eye-opening experiences in my life.
Because today is Canada Day, I'm writing this short story to honor my time there,
the things I lived,
and the city I will always have in my heart.
Montréal, one of my homes away from home.
Laura was only twenty-one when she took a plane on her own for the first time. She had left her parents and her brother at the boarding gate, waving farewell, telling her they would see her in a bit more than a month. She was excited, but also terrified, she had never been alone for such a long time, she had always been independent, but that was a whole different thing. She jumped on the airplane, carrying her laptop, her camera, and a dozen of books. She also carried a notebook, where she had started writing a novel about a year before.
The truth was, she had needed that trip much more than she could ever think. Light rain welcomed Laura to the city, and a taxi took her to what was going to be her place for that time. She looked through the window, wide-eyed, but jet lagged. It was such a big place, how would she find her way around, if even the taxi driver couldn't? Her apartment was close to a street that would be closed for the summer, to her it was unbelievable they could close such an important street for so long.
During that month she walked her way through Old Montréal, Mont-Royal, Île Saint Hélène, Downtown, and almost any park she could find. She took more than two thousand pictures, discovering an obsession with squirrels. She also learned to live on her own, even if it had been hard at the start. Having to do everything for herself, arriving home and not having anyone, it gave her a new sense of independence, one she had never had again, one that would stay with her all her life.
Montréal became a city she always wanted to live in, both a big city and a small town, multicultural, multifaceted, the right amount of messy. Rainy, and sunny, moody. Full of secrets to discover. It was a city that made her free, it was a city that made who she was. A piece of her heart would always have the word "Montréal" written across. A part of her mind would always wander through the pebbled streets of old Montréal, making her stop and smile, remembering, making her teary eyed, making her desire of going back.
Cool story but it needs more death ;)
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