As Witnesses

10💚

Sunday, October 5, 2008

~*~

The friends peer outside a window of the Airlets' house. Sure enough, their parents are there at the dining table, clinking their wine glasses together and taking bites out of their food. It isn't clear what any of them are saying, though they all have smiles on their faces and are laughing at most of the comments made.

Fuzzynerd tries to look closer. "To be honest, I'm still expecting the worst out of them- wait, are they laughing?"

"I thought that was Ginny's thing," remarks Lil' Catty. Everyone, including him, is still absorbing the current situation.

Ginny laughs. "It definitely is! Though I have to say, this is not what I was thinking. I would think they would still be all broken down right now."

Midnight points out, "Weren't we all thinking that?" The others nod in unison.

"Hey, guys, should we try going inside now?" Lil' Catty suggests. "I'm almost a little worried to talk to our parents again."

"Me too. And Lil' Catty Valor, being openly nervous about something? That's new," responds Fuzzynerd.

"But we should still try it," Ginny decides, and walks over to the door. Fuzzynerd, Midnight, and Lil' Catty soon follow. Midnight rings the doorbell twice, and in less than a minute, Zeno answers the door. Exa is just behind him.

"Kids?" Zeno quizzically looks at them. "We had no idea where you were, and we were worried sick about you!"

Fuzzynerd retorts with, "Actually, we were worried sick about you."

Ginny is on the verge of breaking down herself. "You were all so stressed, we just had to go away and leave you alone for some time!"

Both Zeno and Exa seem to understand. "All of you, come in, and we'll tell you about what's happened," Exa offers, and the kids enter the house and approach the dining table.

Athena and Odin jump out of their seats at the sight of their children, and run over to hug them. Exa and Zeno hug their children as well.

"Where were you?!" questions Odin.

"We went away, for the weekend, because you guys seemed so stressed out!" Ginny explains again.

"We were up in the Fluorite Hills, around Lake Turquoise, if that's not too far," clarifies Midnight. "Still, did we worry you?"

Exa begins telling the story. "Midnight, and Fuzzynerd, your father and I were already stressed enough. In fact, we didn't notice you were gone until around five in the evening on Friday. We searched the entire house for you, and there was no sign of either of you, so we went over to the Valors' place to see if you were there - and boy, were we wrong."

"When we all saw each other, we had no idea what we were going to say to each other, so we spent most of the rest of the evening in silence," Athena describes the next part. "Saturday was when we finally got around to talking things over. Everything, ranging from our government's action plan for recovering the economy to our breakdowns and, well, how all of us would be doing, including you kids. At this point, we all knew that you had gone somewhere, and in this state, it would be futile to call the police or anything like that."

"Well, we're glad you didn't," Midnight comments, "because it turned out to be a very relaxing weekend, and we all had a lot of fun."

All the kids agree, and it earns an "I know, right?!" from Lil' Catty.

"Besides that, we're sorry if we worried you that much," Fuzzynerd speaks up.

At this, the parents are almost frowning again. Athena replies, "Now we see why you went away in the first place. We're so sorry for having you worry that much."

"It's okay now. It really is," Lil' Catty reassures them. "By the way, what happened? And why are you in such a good mood? I mean, it's great and all, but we're just curious."

Odin reports what happened this time. "It wasn't always like this. At first, everything was so uncertain. No one had any idea whether this action-plan program was going to work. That's one of the reasons why we were so stressed on Friday. But as more action was taken over the weekend, things began to stabilize. For instance, your mother and I are happy to report that, because we now have orders to fix the roads, Best Builders Inc. - which is still our company - is back in business!"

"If I may, I'd like to add that the list of those keeping jobs at the Pyrite Bank was announced, and both of us are keeping our jobs there," Exa adds on, wrapping an arm around Zeno.

The four kids have the same thought, and exclaim it at the same time: "That's awesome!"

"Well, things aren't exactly the most stable right now, or yet, but we're really glad you think so," Zeno responds.

The Ginny grin seems to have returned, and Ginny grins and replies, "Yeah, we sure do!"

"And I'm curious about something, too," pipes up Athena. "We're so proud of you, and I and the others have been wondering just how you managed to get through all this."

"We stayed hopeful. Of course, even though you guys were all really stressed, we knew you still loved us. Also, as my friend Luna told me in one of her letters, there's a light even in the midst of darkness, and if you keep dreaming and staying hopeful, you will reach that light," Ginny answers, still grinning. "Besides, what helped with this is that we've all got each other, and that's how close we've become over these two years, though there will be even more for all of us to come!"

"You said it! We're friends, and we'll keep sticking together, no matter what!" responds Lil' Catty, while Midnight has unveiled a genuine smile, not needing to say anything to let them know how she feels.

"Then I'm more than happy to tell you all that I agree too. When we're together, it's as if we're ready for anything," Fuzzynerd replies. Everyone seems to agree with this, too.

And it holds true. It still holds true, to this day. As the four friends take hands and form a group hug, with their parents contentedly looking on, they together make a silent promise. No matter what happens, they'll stick together. Through happy times, they'll enjoy each other. If another crisis comes, they'll go through it together. Because they all have each other. When they have each other, they can and will be ready for whatever happens. They're ready for whatever befalls them. Together they can do anything.