Language Barrier

...19...

"How could you be so irresponsible? Sneaking out of the house! Going to Zombietown after dark! Do you have any idea what your father and I would have done if something would have happened to you? " My mother frantically exclaims, pacing infront of me.

But I knew better than to try to answer her. What can I possibly tell her to make this situation better? There is no logical reason for me to be in Zombietown at this time of night. There is no logical reason for me to be in Zombietown at all, period.

Oh, I was just going to see my zombie friends and hang out with my zombie boyfriend, that mostly communicates in zombie. You know the usual teenage things.....

Yeah, I do not think so.

So all I do is stay silent and listen to my mom, while trying to avoid my father's disappointed face, hearing the ocassional giggle from Brian on the sofa in the livingroom.

Finally fed up with my mom's mini rant I stand up, cutting her of mid-sentence.

"So do you have anything to say young lady?" Surprisingly, my dad asks me first.

"We got lost?" I try unconvincingly, trying to deflect the question.

"This is not a joke Daisy. You could have gotten seriously hurt. You know that just because they let the zombies into the school does not mean that they are safe to be around," my mom adds after cooling down a little bit from her episode.

"Well it is not like I was alone there, Addison was with me," I add trying to make it sound better.

"Oh how can we forget! You dragged the mayor's daughter to Zombietown!" Dad angrily exclaims, throwing his hands in the air, "You snuck out of the house to go to Zombietown, for a reason we still do not know,  got caught by the police, escorted to our doorstep and still you have no answers to give us!" He continues shaking his head once again.

I try to answer him but I seem to have frozen because all that I can think about is the fact that my dad just yelled at me. I have never been yelled at by anyone of my parents and the fact that my dad just shouted at me, shows just how much this has affected them.

"I am sorry alright. We just wanted to go see our friends. I did not think that it would effect you guys that much. I do not want you guys to hate me now.  You can ground me and take away cheerleading if you want, just -just do not hate m-mmmmee!" I reply, trying to hold in my tears but failing. The thought of my parents being disappointed in me to the point that they would resent me, crushes me on the inside.

"Oh no no no, honey we could never hate you. You are our flower, the colourful spark in our family that brings joy to us all," my mother reasures as she envelops me in her arms, rubbing my back and leaving a kiss on top of my crown.

"Dase you need to know that you are so so so loved and that we could never ever hate you," dad adds after cooling down a bit," but you need to know that we are just worried babes and just because we are tough does not mean that we care for you any less. Regardless, we still need to punish you so you are grounded for two weeks but you can still go to cheerleading practice. I know how much it means to you and that would just be cruel to take away."

Relief floods me.

They do not hate me, they still love me. Sure I got punished but that is just for a little bit but if they hated me that would be forev-, "But we want to meet these friends of yours that you were willing to go to Zombietown at this time of night for," my mom cuts off my train of thought.

Did she just...?

No she could not have, this has to be some kind of joke.

Right?

Right?!

Wrong!

I stare at my parents as they stand there, expectance written all over their faces.

Oh, they are not joking they really want to know. How am I going to tell my zombie fearing parents that their strange child has a zombie boyfriend and hangs out with zombies all the time in school.

Ugh!

Why is it so hard?!

"Ummmh, what if I do not want to do that?" I ask them, trying to convey how uncomfortable this is making me. 

"Well if they are so scary that you do not even want to introduce us to them then I am afraid to say this but you are not allowed to hang out with them anymore," my mom tells me, with a sigh.

"Wha-at but they are my friends! They are not influencing your lives in anyway," I exclaim, throwing my hands in the air.

"Is that so, young lady? Well who do you think is going to be worrying about you, everyday and night, if this is going to become a regular thing? This is totally going to affect us!" Dad sarcastically replies, walking towards the livingroom. Just as mom ushers Brian towards the stares, probably telling him that it is his bedtime.

I sigh.

He has a point there. Why do parents always have to be right? Can they not just let us indulge in our fantasies? Cut me some slack please!

"But but but..... Ugh! Fine if this is so important to you guys then I will invite them over," I reply, finally fed up with this conversation, " But you guys need to be open minded and remember that they mean a lot to me and I just- I just want you guys to see them as I do."

"Honey, you need to understand that we are just looking out for you," my dad tells me as he stands up to hug me.

"I know," I mumble into his chest.

"Now it is time for you to go to bed too young lady, we will talk about it more tomorrow but right now we are all tired so it is best if we leave this for later," mom tells me as she too gives me a hug and sends me off to bed.

With a final goodnight towards my parents, I enter my bedroom, change into my pyjamas and climb into bed.

Waiting.

As I hear my parents bedroom door close and their shuffling seems to stop, indicating that they are finally in bed I quickly get out my cellphone. I quickly type in Addi's number and wait.

After three seconds she picks up.

"So how did it go with your parents?" I ask.

"Well......." She starts.

Oh we have a lot to talk about