All of the Lights

Chapter Thirty-One

Previously...

I was thankful for every moment I spent with Cody. Even though it hurt to watch him walk away, I knew he'd never forget the way he felt about me. I had changed his life and he had changed mine.

I don't know if Cody still has feelings for me, or even if I have feelings for him. Only time will tell with that. As of right now, though, I'm happy. I know Cody will be happy too. And that is truly all I can ask for.

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Chapter Thirty-One

"Please welcome our next guest, Riley Drescher!" Applause filled the room.

I am Riley Drescher.

I turned the corner, my vision filled with thousands of eyes staring back at me.

I am who I am for a reason.

I took a step up the platform and greeted the host, Reagan.

"You look stunning. Absolutely beautiful." She whispered in my ear.

I wanted to give up.

"Thanks." I blushed. I took another look into the crowd, giving the audience a wave.

I wanted to die so I could escape the harsh words that were taking over my life.

"Sit, sit!" Reagan hushed the audience.

But I'm so much stronger now...

"I've missed you!" Reagan gave me her cheery smile.

And now it's time to share my story...

"We have so much to talk about, don't we?" Reagan wiggled her eyebrows. She pointed to the wedding ring that laid on my left hand.

So I can help others who are going through the same thing...

"Ha! Yes we do!" I replied, giving her my hand to admire the ring.

And make sure they know that you need to be buried in darkness before you can reach the light.

"Riley was recently engaged, if y'all didn't know already." Reagan announced.

Everything gets better.

The crowd went crazy with cheers and loud claps.

And everyone deserves to know this.

"Thank you!" I waved to the audience once again.

"When's the wedding? I'm expecting an invitation." Reagan grinned.

"Oh yeah. You're on the top of my list." I nodded my head sarcastically.

"So tell me about your fiancé. Is he good at being a fiancé? Let's talk about him." Reagan blabbered.

"Ok, well, we've hit a lot of rough patches together. I liked him, then I loved him, then I hated him, then I loved him again. It was a very bipolar relationship." I joked. The crowd let out small laughs.

A picture of my fiancé and I was blown up on the screen.

My fiancé. I love saying my fiancé.

"He is certainly a real cutie." Reagan cooed.

"Isn't he? He's such a sweetheart too." I blushed.

"Cody O'Malley is such a sexy man." Reagan wiggled her eyebrows. She stared at a picture of Cody and I that was blown up on the screen.

He had me on his shoulders as we were walking through large crowds at a Coachella concert. Sam was standing next to us.

"I'll set you two up." I winked.

"Get another picture of Riley and Sam up on the screen! They're the engaged ones!" Reagan laughed to her producers.

"He's a lucky man." Reagan smiled.

"Aw, thank you." I blushed.

As the interview went on, I continued to share parts of my life that I hadn't really shared yet.

Rehab was a big one that everyone was dying to know about.

After explaining my story, I had a new source that gave me happiness; sharing my experience with others and inspiring others to not give up.

That was my only goal in life; to make people happy and feel like they're worth it.

"Everyone is worth it. Some people have a hard time believing that, but it's the truth." I told Reagan. She smiled and nodded her head.

"You're just such a great person, Riley. For you to speak to the youth about self image issues and self harm is truly amazing. I know some celebrities would want to hide it and pretend as if they never went through it, but I give you major props." Reagan complimented.

"You have to admit that you went through something terrible in order to get over it. You have to know where you went wrong and state it a million times so you know it was wrong. That was my biggest problem. I wanted people to forget about what had happened, but you can't do that because it did happen. It happened and all you can do is prevent it from happening again." I stated.

The audience clapped in agreement with my words.

"Everything gets better. Everyone deserves to know that everything gets better." I said, looking at the large crowd of people that were carefully watching me.

I am Riley Drescher, and I finally know who I am.

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I just want to give a big shout out to everyone who has finished reading this story of mine.

I've been working on it for such a long time, and have definitely grown attached to the made up characters.

I plan on making a sequel someday, but would love to have some of you help me out with it. Leave some comments, or message me telling me what you want to see happen next.

Thank you to all of my fans and supporters. I love all of you. :)

Xoxo,

Evolislove