Fortitude

33-Flashback

Don’t expect anyone else to fully understand both the bitterness and the joys of all you experience in your life.

Proverbs 14:10 TPT

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Lily

I couldn't wrap my head around it. People usually give three strikes and that's it, but with this one, strike two bore the weight of all three. All my life everyone thought that the bubbly Lily couldn't be fazed by anything. That's always a common misconception about people with my personality. It's always harder for us to cope with things head on because we are barely negative about anything. My mind had cleared up enough for me to open up for real since I decided to go back to church. I told Mark, and he started acting different. I couldn't blame him though. It was a lot to take in. I chose to ignore whatever tantrum Raz was throwing and narrated the story to Taji.

I'd known Ken since I was 17 and he was 18. We were what people would call high school sweethearts but as far as we knew, we were best friends with a twist. I met him outside our house one weird night. I'd sneaked out of my room to go to a party at a friend's promising myself that I wouldn't get drunk. What were promises when all you wanted was to be a free spirited teenager.

The leap over the gate was always easy. But when you put together intoxication and a wall that seemed to wobble in my eyes, that's just a whole other story. I tried it the first, second and third time. By the fourth, my guts were threatening to spill out as my head weighed a ton. So I sat with my heavy head held in my hands waiting for it to get lighter.

"Hey?" A male voice called out to me. His tone would have been normal but my intoxication had heightened my senses so it hit my ears like a shrill yell. I furrowed my eyebrows in disdain as I looked up to whoever it was. I couldn't quite make up his facial features in the darkness around us and it didn't help that he was dark skinned. However, he had a very noticeable lip piercing.

"What do you want from me?" I slurred. He crouched to get to my level then smiled at me.  I noticed that he had a brown leather bound book in his hands but I didn't pay that much attention. All I needed was some sleep.

"I can help you get over the fence," he said.

This was all too confusing, but my desperation led me to trusting a stranger. He got up then stretched out his hand for me. I held on to it and got up. I, however, didn't want to let go. There was some sanity injected back into my system at the feeling of his slightly coarse skin on mine. I actually smiled at the guy who was quite shorter  than me. I had always been a giraffe everywhere I went anyway. He then led me to the fence then locked his fingers together as he bent, indicating that I should use him as a stepping stool. I placed one foot into his hands and he pushed me higher till I was comfortable enough to get over the fence. I then felt something drop in my bag but I was too far gone to even make sense of what just happened.

I got to my room and shook off all the contents of my bag to find my phone. Something brown dropped out of it but I didn't even bother checking it out. I didn't even get to use my phone before sleep took over me.

The next day, I woke up with the worst headache ever. I'd slept face down on my bed, still in last night's clothes. I raised my head up a bit to check the time as I brushed my hand over my duvet expecting to feel my phone. I felt something bigger than a phone. I got up abruptly then winced from the pain that shot straight to my already aching head. I rubbed my eyes then looked to see what it was.