For Life

Part 27

"What's going on with your phone?" Ant laughed the next day when Dec's phone pinged constantly with message after message coming through.

"Seems the word has spread about my posters being defaced" Dec replied.

"Oh shit" Ant grimaced "just don't read them,they'll only make you feel worse"

"No,they're not bad messages" Dec smiled "they're messages of support"

"Really?" Ant beamed "can I see?"

Ant practically felt his heart warm as he read the messages telling Dec how loved he is,how amazing he is and how he shouldn't let the arseholes get him down.

"These are amazing" Ant smiled,as he handed Dec's phone back to him.

"Yeah,they are" Dec nodded as he carried on reading the constant stream of messages coming through,until he was distracted by the phone ringing.

"It's Pat" he smiled and immediately answered the phone.

"Is she okay?" Ant asked after Dec finished the call.

"Yeah she's fine" Dec nodded "she was just worried about me that's all,so are Mum and Dad apparently"

"The word has spread back home then?" Ant asked.

"Not just back home" Dec shrugged "all over the world,I'm getting messages from people in Asia,America,Australia,Europe...you name it"

"Nice messages still?" Ant asked hopefully.

"Yeah" Dec nodded happily "very nice"

"That's amazing" Ant beamed "now do you understand how loved you are and how you can be proud of yourself?"

"I guess" Dec shrugged.

He was becoming totally overwhelmed by the messages and calls he was receiving.

He had a lot of friends and family members and practically all of them were to get in touch with him over the next couple of days to make sure he was okay and it gave him the courage to not bury his head in the sand any longer and he was now determined to deal with the situation head on.

Of course he would never know who had defaced his posters so publicly,but Dec had something that they didn't...a public platform!

And a couple of days later,Ant found him scribbling furiously in a notepad.

"Writing a song baby?" Ant asked.

"No" Dec shook his head "I'm writing an open letter"

"To who?" Ant asked.

"Anyone who wants to read it" Dec shrugged "my fans,vicims of homophobia,anyone who has been made to feel like an outcast because they may be a bit different...hopefully someone will publish it in their newspaper or online"

"That's a great idea" Ant beamed "How's it going?what have you written?"

"I'll show you when it's finished if that's okay?" Dec smiled.

"Course it's okay" Ant nodded and kissed Dec firmly on the lips "I'll leave you to get on with it"

A while later,Dec proudly handed his letter to Ant,who read it with interest.

"Dec,this is amazing" He gushed.

Dec had explained that if he had continued to keep quiet and ignored the problem like was his original gut instinct,then he would have been letting his thirteen year old self down.

Letting down the boy who didn't have the platform or the courage to stand up for himself back then,but now?...he did.

He also wrote how he felt like he would be letting down all the people who didn't have the privilege or means to speak up like he did,he had to do this for them as well as for himself.