I'm not sure why I have such a compelling urge to write down this story. I'm not a professional writer and before today I've never felt like I needed to just sit down and write. I never had a journal as a kid, and creative writing was my least favorite class in school. Today was different; I woke up and all I wanted to do was get this written down. I shrugged it off and went out for breakfast with Sam, but the urge to write was still nagging me when I got home. So I've given in, and I sat down at my computer to write. It won't be good, don't expect a Stephen King novel or anything, but this is the story of the most traumatic three years of my life.

I guess what started this whole thing, was my decision to go away for school. Not just a couple hours away, but all the way to Scotland. It had been my dream since I was twelve years old, to see Scotland. I was offered a full scholarship to a music school there, so I took it. My parents were crushed, obviously. I'm the youngest in a family of five, and the only girl. Honestly, I was a little sceptical about leaving Amy and Kevin, who had been my best friends since pre-k. However It was an opportunity that I just couldn't give up.

I flew out on a Wednesday night; it was raining in Prince Edward Island, and the five hour drive to the airport was less than pleasurable. Amy and Kevin had both saved their money so that they could fly out with me. They were only staying for a week, to help me get settled, and then they would be coming home. The three of us sat in the back of my parents' minivan in a sombre silence.

At the airport, my whole family got gate passes so that my parents could be obsessive right up until I boarded the plane. We checked in our luggage, went through security, and sat in the boring plastic chairs on the other side. It was all I could do not to burst into tears while we were sitting there, with my big brother Joey clinging to my hand like a little kid. He was only a year older than me, and he and I were closer than I was with anybody else in my family.

"This is so exciting," Amy said, grabbing my other hand and squeezing tightly. "Don't you think?"

Kevin nodded and grabbed her hand. "We have to go see everything we can in one week. We'll set the record for most things seen in five days." He looked at me and did his cheeky grin.

"Yeah, but then you guys are leaving me!" I complained, flinching as the loudspeaker beeped for attention.

Flight 29 to Toronto, please prepare for boarding.

My mom's tears overflowed for the millionth time since I'd started packing. It wasn't like I wouldn't see them again for eight months, but my scholarship didn't exactly include flights, and we could only afford to fly me home for Winter Break. It would be a long time without seeing my family, considering I had never been away for them for more than two weeks.

I stood up and hugged my brothers, my mother, and then my father, clinging to him the longest. I picked up my carry-on bag and turned away. Before I could take one step, Joey grabbed me from behind. I felt his body shudder and to my shock, he was crying. I was trying to hold off on the tears until I was out of their sight, but seeing Joey cry, I lost it.

When we finally got on the plane, we just sat there in silence. We had a full day of travelling ahead of us, and none of us were looking forward to it. We didn't even try to talk at first, we all just sat there. Kevin took out his laptop, Amy was playing Guitar Hero on her DS, and I was reading. When we landed in Toronto, we were informed that our flight to LA X had been delayed. We spent the entire four hour wait in McDonalds, drinking endless amounts of coffee and talking about the things we would do in Scotland.

I'm going to spare you the rest of the flight to Scotland, because honestly, it was all pretty much the same. It was three more delays, full of sleeping, coffee, and being nostalgic.

I'm not going to lie, once we got my room set up at school, we all crashed in my single bed. We slept for ten hours. It was 2:30 in the morning when we woke up. Since we were awake, we decided to go find an all-night coffee shop. We walked in total silence; we had run out of things to say on the trip there. It wasn't an awkward silence though; they never were with us. We had known each other for so long that sometimes we went whole days without talking to each other.

When it got light out, we headed out to start exploring the city, looking for something exciting and touristy to do for the day. We had decided that the most proficient way to beat jet lag was just to stay up until 10pm, and go to sleep then. We had to get up at eight in the morning to go get in line at the university book store, but we figured a couple cups of coffee and we'd be all set.

Honestly, I didn't have much fun during that week. We definitely set the record for the most things seen in five days, we were on the regular time schedule and everything, but at night after they fell asleep all I wanted to do was cry. I loved them more than life for coming with me and to help me get settled, but the thought of them leaving made my whole body go completely numb. It physically hurt to think of being here alone.

The day we went to the airport, it was rainy and gross again. It was also night time, they were going to try and get home in one day instead of the two it took us to get to Scotland. I didn't get a gate pass this time; I didn't want to watch them get on the plane. I didn't want to watch them leave at all honestly. I didn't want to go with them to the airport. But I had to; they had flown to Scotland to help me get settled, I had to see them off.

We were sitting in another coffee shop in the airport, because their flight had been delayed an hour. We were sitting in a four person booth, but we were only taking up one place. Kevin was sitting with Amy and I on his lap. We were locked in some sort of unbreakable embrace. We got coffee that we had no intention of drinking to justify just sitting there, and we just talked. We talked about them going to UPEI together, and we talked about me being alone for the next three days.

When we ran out of things to talk about, I started to cry. I couldn't help it; my two best friends were going back to PEI, while I stayed in Scotland alone. I hadn't made any friends in the first week, because I had been too busy with my old ones, saying goodbye. Eventually their flight got called for boarding, and I walked them to the cut off spot for normal non-flying human beings.

I'm going to spare you the whole good-bye scene, because it was loud, messy, wet, and sappy. We confessed our love for each other; promised to keep in touch, and then they were gone. I didn't leave the airport right away; I sat in the stupid hard plastic chairs, and cried. When I finally stopped crying, I took a taxi back to school. As soon as the door to my room was closed and locked, I collapsed on my bed and cried some more.

I didn't sleep that night. I just cried and wished I hadn't decided to go to Scotland for school. Scholarship or not, it didn't seem worth it.