The Internet's Shadow.

A Month and a couple of Weeks.

It's been one month and three weeks, since 'Lisa' died. I've been recovering since that incident and I've never realized that there was so much more life outside the virtual hell I was in. Yash had been such a supportive friend, he forgave me which was surprising. I never expected anyone to forgive me but he did. He has been helping me cope up with whatever I missed, in school and in life. He introduced me to few friends who spent their times outside, doing activities like working in the public library, or help in a campaign as volunteers who want to clean up, and teach children who don't get proper education in a local orphanage. My parents started to introduce me to their sides of the family who knew what was going on with me, and they've all said that they have been proud of my progress. I've been more social to many people outside the internet. I've actually made a friend or two, without the help of Yash, or anyone.

I've been going for therapy as well, but my therapist told me I didn't need to come anymore and believes that I can now handle my control over myself and the use of the internet. I am determined to stop my addiction. I've barely used the internet over the past weeks. Only times I use it is for either my assignments I get from school and to check the news. If I ever felt bored, I would pick a book from the local library and read it. Other times, it's going out with my friends and helping them with community work and on some occasions I exercise and learn about how to live a healthy lifestyle.

And if I ever felt lonely, I'd start conversing with my mother about how school work is going on, or what I did for the day. My Dad didn't leave the job after I told him about 'Lisa' and was proud of the courage I had to muster up in order to tell him and helped me with it. So now whenever my father comes home, he'd ask me to help him with his work and occasionally he would play some music in the living room and he would take turns in dancing with me and my mother.

I have said goodbye to my online friends, and when I told them that they may see me rarely online because of my problems they actually understood, wished me good luck asked to meet up or just bid me farewell for the last time. Some of them told me that it was going to be a tough journey but in the end it will all be worth it, and they were right. Tristan was another supportive friend, he promised to meet me in person soon. Matthew and Tanya said they'd send me letters every once in a while. It was so bizarre yet so terrifying, how a connection to different world took control of me than I did. But those days are over, now I can live.

It felt nice to bring back happiness in this family, and my life. I don't think I wouldn't have seen life as such an amazing and happy experience if it weren't for the arrival of 'Lisa'. If it weren't for her, I would most likely still be a socially awkward person, who had only one friend and would stay indoors, with or without the connection to the virtual world. But now I understand why so many people tell us teenagers to enjoy our lives discovering new things in this world and about life, because not many people can experience the lives we live. So in a way, thanks 'Lisa' for teaching me a life lesson.

It's just a matter of time until we all have to go, at young or at old. But whatever we do in our lives, we should enjoy and help others enjoy. We all want to make that painting a unique and beautiful one, don't we?

"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back."-Harvey MacKay

-The End-