Daffodils

Chapter 9

We thought about Lisa the whole day. The Lisa we knew never cried. She was the strongest from all the girls of our age I know. Seeing her cry and miserable like that hurted both of us. We saw her sat near the tree and hid her face between her knees and covered her legs from her arms. I tapped on her shoulder, she looked at us. She wiped her tears. As soon as we asked her what's wrong, she just ignored and ran away. We tried approaching her, but she ran way too fast. I wondered what had happened to her.

"What are you thinking about?" Kim tapped my shoulder and asked. We were sitting in our class while teacher was taking class.

"Nothing." I replied and started scribbling on my notebook.

"You were thinking about Lisa, right?" He said. And I looked at him.

"Yeah, I mean what happened today was totally unexpected. The Lisa we've known since years wasn't even a bit like that."

"I know. It was strange. Seeing her like that kinda hurted me."

"Hmm." I didn't know what to speak after that. Seeing her crying, seeing her miserable was killing me. I've seen Kim crying and I always got worried and tried to console him, but never felt like that for anyone else. But it clenched my heart by seeing her crying. She never let anybody hurt her. I sometimes envied her for being so carefree.

She didn't attend any class, the whole day. We told this to our friends and they proposed to help us. We all bunked our classes and looked after her in canteen, on terrace, even in that park where we found her in the morning. But she was nowhere to be seen. We gave up at the end and decided to leave for our places. I dropped Kim to his home and drove towards mine. I was glad that I took dad's car today.

I reached home. The daily drama was going on. I ignored both of them and walked towards my room. I doubted that they both didn't even knew that I entered the home. I laid down in my bed and staring towards ceiling. This feeling was totally depressing. I didn't knew what to feel.

I got up and changed my uniform to pajamas. I sat on the window sill. Dads asked me to have some food but I said that I have some important work and I can't come down. They didn't disturbed me the whole day. When I was about to go downstairs in the evening, my phone started ringing. I ran towards my phone. I wished for Kim or some other guy who have found Lisa or know something about her, but it was a wrong number. I sighed deeply and put my phone in the pocket. I grabbed a jacket from the stand and go downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Dad asked me. Dads were enjoying their evening tea.

"Nothing. Just for a walk." I said and walk straight towards the front gate.

"Hey, champ! Come here. Sit." Dady motioned his hand and called me.

"Yeah." I sat beside him.

"Is something bothers you?" Dad asked.

"I'm perfectly fine."

"Hey, you know you can share anything with us, right? We won't force you, but if there's something, you can freely share that with us. Okay?"

"Ofcourse dady, I know you both are always there with me. But trust me, it's nothing. Just some school stuff and all." I gave them a weak smile. They both nodded. I knew that they are aware about my problem, but they didn't know the exact problem. And I don't want to bother them. I stood up and got out of the house. I just wanted to be alone for some times. I don't want anyone around me.

I went to the under bridge where I and gang along with Lisa used to hang out. It was a beautiful place. I sat there for a moment. Thought about everything, about the whole day after Lisa ran away from us. Kim and I waited for her in the class, but she didn't arrived. When we reached canteen, our gang sensed some tension and they, without any question, started helping us.

I sat there for like 15 minutes and then I decided to get up. I promised Kim that I'll meet him. When I was about to leave, I saw someone sitting at the other end of the under bridge. First, I ignored them. But then I saw that it was some familiar figure. It was Lisa. I approached her slowly. She was writing something on her diary. I sat behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. I was ready to grab her wrist if she tried to ran away again. She turned back and her face was covered with tears. As expected, she was about to run but I grabbed her wrist and made her sit on her place.

"W-what are you- you doing here?" She asked in between her sobs.

"Shouldn't I ask you this, Lisa?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Noth-nothing. Just go away. Please. Please go away." She started crying harder and motioned me to go away.

"Lisa. Lisa, please tell me. What happened? Why are you crying?" I lifted her face with my one hand and grabbed her hands with my other.

She hugged me as soon as she saw my face. And started crying even more harder. I patted her head, tried to calm her. She cried for a long time. I wrapped her in my arms and made her comfortable.

"Are you good now?" I asked her when she broke our hug. She slightly nodded at my question.

"Now tell me what happened? Why are you crying like this and why'd you ran away from us?"

"I-I...Rick.... I d-don't want to te-"

"No no. You don't have any other option now. You have to tell me Lisa." I cupped her face and cut her off mid sentenced. "I can't let you go this time. Please"

"B-but you have to promise m-me, you won't tell anyone. Not even Kim. Please." She stuttered while talking. Lisa looked serious. I nodded without asking her further questions. But how could I hide anything from Kim.

"So.." She started. "I've never told any of you about this. But I've been in trouble since last year when I saw my moms.......fighting. Rick, y-you know, they both, they...they never fought like that before. They do fight a lot b-but that...that day-" I hugged her again. She was panicking. I couldn't let her complete the sentence and got more panicked. So I asked her to leave that topic and that we'll talk about it later. But I assured that I'm there for her. And asked her to talk with me on the other day. We both left the place. She went to her house and I went to mine. When I reached home, I acted normally. I didn't want my dads to worry about me. And also I was relieved that Lisa was okay, and she promised me to tell everything on other day.