Family Forever

In my defense, I never said running away was a good decision. It was just the first decision that came to mind. I’m only 13 years old, blonde and super gullible. Okay, now I’m getting ahead of myself. It all started when my parents called me downstairs for a snack.
It was that time of day when you get home from school and start working on your homework. I had a ton of homework and that sucks. I mean a ton of homework and a bad day, this day couldn’t get any worse. I remembered the last time I had a bad day, my dog had died. I miss Gage, I thought as I did my math. Then, my mom called me downstairs for a snack. I finished my math problem and walked downstairs. When I got to the kitchen my mom and dad were sitting at the kitchen table having a very serious conversation. The last time they had this serious of a conversation was when my teacher gave me an F. They stopped when they saw me staring at them. I could see the anguish in my mom’s deep brown eyes and the frightened look in my dad’s shiny blue eyes.
“You tell her Mark,” my mom said, her voice shaking.
“Ok, Cece you know how much your mom and I love each other, but we just don’t feel the same connection we had when we were younger.” My dad saying that was like a giant sucker punch to the gut. POW!
“Sweetie, I know it’s going to be difficult for you, but we just think it’s right,” my mom added. POW! Another blow to the gut.
“I’m sorry honey, but we’re getting a divorce.” POW! That last jab knocked the wind out of me. When I caught my breath, I stared at my parents in disbelief. I can’t believe this. How could they? I could feel the bulge in my throat growing bigger and bigger. Then, the tears started prickling up in the corners of my eyes. Just as the first tear fell I turned around and bolted up the stairs. I could hear my mom stand up in her chair, but she didn’t go any further, she just stood there watching me run up the stairs. When I got to my room, I slammed the door shut, jumped on my bed and cried until I had no more tears to cry. After I finished crying, I stood up and packed my bag. I grabbed my bag and crawled out of my window and onto the roof, grabbed the gutter, jumped down, and ran to my friend’s house.
When I got to my friend Caitlin’s house I told her what happened and she called our other friend, Brittany, to come over and help. When Brittany finally got here, she gave me her advice which is usually good, but this time it turned out to be horrendous.
“Suck it up.  A lot of parents get divorced,” Brittany said.
“It’s true a lot of parents get divorced, so you’ll be fine,” Caitlin said. I left Caitlin’s house with no help at all. I didn’t want to go home and didn’t have anywhere else to go, so I dashed into the woods behind our house.
I don’t know how long I was running, I just ran until I couldn’t run anymore. As I was running, a memory flashed before my eyes of me and my family. I stopped and looked around. I had no idea where I was, so I started to look around for somewhere to stay for the night. When out of no where I see a cabin. It was small, but maybe they would let me spend the night. I walked over to the cabin and knocked on the door, no one answered, but the door swung wide open anyway. I carefully walked in and turned on the light. I had seen two soft and comfy beds. I crawled onto one of the beds and fell fast asleep.
I arose to find a man staring at me.
“Who are you?” the man said, his voice booming through the cabin. I crawled back into the headboard my back pressed up against it wishing I hadn’t run away.
The man noticed my worry and asked, “Why are you here? Where is your family?” I realized this guy wasn’t going to hurt me, so I told him everything. About my parents getting a divorce, about my friends, and about me running away from home.
He looked like he understood, then he said, “Everybody goes through family issues, but they don’t change you, it’s how you deal with them that changes you.” I started thinking about it and he was right. I knew my parents getting a divorce was hard for them and me running away wasn’t helping. I thought about it some more and decided to go home. The man was right. I have to deal with the changes in a good way or it will haunt me for the rest of my life. I said thank you to the man and left on my journey home.
When I got home, my parents were waiting for me. My mom was pacing back and forth by the door and my dad, was tapping his fingers on the counter by the phone. They both turned to look at me when the door slowly opened. I walked in looking at the floor and when I looked up all our eyes met. It was like a room full of disappointment.
“I’m so sorry,” I began softly, but got interrupted by a bunch of hugs.
“Cece, don’t ever run away again.” I knew then that I had made the right decision to come home. My parents loved me and that’s all that really mattered.
“Mom, Dad, I just want you guys to be happy, so if you want to divorce, I’d be okay with that.” My parents looked at each other.
“What?” I asked intentionally.
“Sweetie, we decided we’re not getting a divorce.”
“Why?”
“Well, when you were gone, we realized we care so much about you that we found out we still love each other.
After lots of hugs and kisses, I went into my bedroom and put on my PJs. I laid down and looked up at the moon thankfully. I’m thankful for my great family and friends. I closed my eyes and happily fell asleep.