Rainbow in the Darkness

Chapter 16

I woke up the next morning unable to open my eyes. I had cried all night causing my eyes to be swollen. I put a cold washcloth under my eyes to make the swelling to go down. I decided to call my parents before I went off to work.

"Hello? Abi?" my dad said.

"Yeah, it's me."
"How has your traveling been? Have you gone anywhere fun?" My dad was always the one to make a negative situation a positive one. Instead of focusing on his only daughter being hurt by bullies he decided to focus on my traveling.

"No, not really. I have just really been driving."

"That's a shame. You should take some time and take in what's around you."

"I'll remember to do that when I'm traveling."

"Listen, Abi, you know you could have told us about your friends right? We wouldn't have yelled at you. We would have tried to help you get through it." My dad sounded so sad that I hadn't come and talked to him about everything. I had disappointed him. I had even hurt him.

Through the tears I said, "I know...I just always forgot about it when I got home. I didn't want my horrible school life to interfere with my amazing home life. You guys would have always been asking about it and it would have made everything worse. I wanted to tell you I really did. I just didn't want them to win anymore than they already had. I'm sorry, daddy." I started crying on the phone.

"Honey, it's okay. We aren't mad at you. We are just confused why you didn't tell us, but after you explained your reasoning I understand why you didn't. We would have kept asking you and that would have not been good. You felt safe here because they hadn't invaded this part of your life. I get it, Abi. We both understand and aren't angry. Just please come home as soon as possible. We miss you terribly."

My dad was amazing. Both of my parents were. They weren't yelling at me after I hid something this big from them. All I needed to do was explain why I didn't tell them. "I love you. Tell mom that I love her and I will be home soon."

"Will do. Talk to you soon. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone feeling so much better than I had when I woke up. I slipped my phone inside my pants pocket and walked down to the lobby. I expected today to be as boring as yesterday, but it wasn't like yesterday at all.

The day started out with me reading a book that I brought with me. It was full with poems. I loved poems and always read them when I was felling down. Two poems stood out to me the most.

Friendship

Author Unknown

Friendship needs no studied phrases,

Polished face, or wining wiles;

Friendship deals no lavish prices,

Friendship dons no surface smiles.

Friendship follows Nature's diction,

Shuns the blandishments of Art,

Boldly severs truth from fiction,

Speaks the language of the heart.

Friendship favors no condition,

Scorns a narrow-minded creed,

Lovingly fulfills its mission,

Be it word or be it deed.

Friendship cheers the faint and weary,