Wild Ride - The Alternative Version (Book 2)

Chapter 66~You're The Closest To Heaven That I'll Ever Be

I came into consciousness some time the next morning, finding myself in the same exact position I'd fallen asleep in, with my head on Dad's chest. I expected him to get up and go to his room in the middle of the night, but it looks like he stayed the entire night. He was looking down at me, seeming to have been watching me sleep, and he smiled at me when I looked up at him.

"Morning, princess. How are you feeling?" Dad asked me softly.

That was when it suddenly occurred to me that I didn't feel that awful ache of pain inside me. Usually I feel it as soon as I wake up, but it wasn't present today. I felt... happy and carefree again. I thought I'd never feel that again, yet here I am, feeling like I'm nine years old again. 

I grinned back at him. "Like my true self again. I feel so happy. I think this was what it was like when I was nine." 

"Good, I'm glad you feel better, and I can assure you that it is what it was like when you were nine. You've got the same bright-eyed, mile wide smile on your face again." 

"I've missed being that kid." 

"You've always been that kid, Abbie. You just lost touch with her for a while, but now she's back, and it's never too late to be the person you've always wanted to be." 

"I know, and I'm going to start working on that again." 

I knew that I could stay true to that, because I know now that you have to get hurt in life because that's how you learn. The strongest people out there are the ones who laugh the hardest with a big, genuine smile on their face are the ones who've fought the hardest battles. They're like that because they've decided that they're not going to let anything hold them down, and then they end up being the people who show the world who's boss. It's not supposed to be easy, but it is worth it in the end when you win the battle and come out on top, enjoying life the way it was truly meant to be enjoyed. I know that I need to forget the past now and live in the present and for the future. I was only confined by the walls that I built myself, but I'm breaking those walls down now. No more confinement, I've had five years of that and I don't want to go any longer that way. It's time to break free and pick myself up off the ground and get back out there again. I need to focus on what's really important. 

"Well, I'm hungry, and I've been waiting for you to get your lazy butt out of bed so I can go eat, so what do you want for breakfast?" Dad said.

"Just how long have you been awake that you're oh-so-hungry?" 

"Who says I ever went to sleep?" 

I sat up a little. "You didn't sleep at all?" 

"No, I couldn't after... what almost happened. I was thinking a lot about your mother too, so it made it kind of hard to actually get any real sleep." 

I looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry. Maybe you should just sleep now, then. I'll be alright. You really should sleep, though." 

"No way! I can sleep later, I want food!" 

"But--"

"There's bacon." 

"Yeah, you can sleep later." I said, rolling over and getting up from the bed suddenly. I heard him chuckle and he followed behind me.

We both went downstairs and I helped him get breakfast ready. We got out a huge amount of bacon that we knew we could devour in seconds, along with pancakes that would later be drenched with syrup. I have to have a lot of syrup or it's just not fit to eat, and Dad's the same exact way. I'm so glad I get my eating habits from him, too.

While the food was cooking, we ended up fooling around a lot in the kitchen, which I guess you could definitely expect from us. After we stopped chasing each other around the kitchen, flicking water at each other and throwing paper towels at each other, we sat up on the counter and just talked.