ZACK’S POV
A week later, Zoe was allowed to do activities other than her bed rest. And for that, I had personally taken the initiative to help her with her physiotherapy. I started off with mild ones along with the help of a professional instructor who watched over us. It was done to help her not to give extra stress on her legs so that gradually it could gain its balance.
Once the instructor felt me being the perfect help for Zoe, he had asked me to continue her exercises and physiotherapy sessions alone after giving me the required instructions. Above the therapy sessions, she was especially helped by Mike, Dash and Will during those days. They had become one big gang in a matter of days and as always, Zoe had attracted her tribe to her!!!
As the result of the dramatic climax of our story, the whole town had finally come to know about mine and Zoe’s story especially Noah, his gang and the plastics. Those girls were really ashamed of themselves knowing our story and whatever that happened. And they did a shocking gesture by visiting Zoe with flowers and gifts to ask forgiveness for their rude behavior towards her. Zoe was so happy that she asked Sarah to forgive her for the way she treated her at the beach. That one kind gesture melted Sarah and she threw herself at Zoe like a koala.
“You had done what exactly anyone would have done. Mistake was ours. We should have never seen you that way. But for you to be our friend you will have to promise us that whatever happened in the beach amongst us, you won’t tell anyone. We are plastics and will always be the plastics” Sarah told Zoe in her plastic attitude. For the first time in forever, her attitude felt so damn cute and everyone burst out in laughter!!!!
Zoe as always knew that these girls were kind by heart and was happy for them that they had realized their mistakes and apologized for it. Then they proceeded to invite me and Zoe to the success party which was to be held in the beach for me in the weekend.
During the weekend, me, Mike and Zoe arrived at the party and everyone surprised us by cheering for us as if we were some sort of celebrities. What astonished me the most was how Noah had come to me in the party for a talk.
“So, she is the reason you were taking about. I’m glad that I lost to you for such a good cause” he told me in a praising tone.
“Losing doesn’t matter here Noah. We shall still see in the nationals” I encouraged him like a challenge to boost him up.
Hearing me cheer him, his face turned guilty as he felt sorry for troubling me so much because of his ego. As it was more like a reunion time for us in time, I took the initiative and hugged him. He was extremely stunned by how I took it all so easy. I simply turned to Zoe and winked at her because it was all happening because of her!!!!
“Cheers for the best couple in the town” Noah raised a toast for us and it led to Zoe feeling shy and she hid behind me.
Finally, everything was back to normal. We had overcome all struggles and were finally accepted by everyone in the town and high school. It also led us make good relations with them. All the misunderstandings were cleared off and we had a great time in the party.
This party was very much special for me and Zoe because it was the first party that me and Zoe really enjoyed in the town. Later at the evening, I had planned a surprise for Zoe and took her to the lighthouse. It had been a long time since we had visited it. Zoe was curious to know what I had planned and when we reached the gate, Zoe halted for some moment. It was quite obvious for me to understand why she did it. Hence, to make the moment a bit memorable, I took and kept her crutches besides the gate to lifted her in my arms. She was definitely shy with it and her face said it all!!!
“What are you doing I, put me down” she squeaked in embarrassment and I gave no ears to her.
She then stared at me with a cute little smile the whole way I carried her to the top. Upon reaching, I put her down and made her sit down comfortably facing the ocean. It was so calm and peaceful vibe that Zoe rested held my hands and rested her head on my shoulders.
We spoke nothing for the time being as we were happy. Two broken people were finally repaired together with each other’s support and love. we were survivors and were proud of ourselves. I sighed and held her hands more firmly. When I did that, I felt her wrist band and it made me feel bad. She looked at me confused and I reached out for the wrist band and took it off.
She didn’t need it anymore and so I caressed her scar. She leaned more stronger to my shoulder and expressed how nice she felt when I cared for her. And with this, to end our silent talk, I asked her the question which I was so curious to know the answer to.
“Why do you love the lighthouse so much?” I muttered to her and chuckled in a cute tone. Holy molly, this girl was making my heart flutter!!!!
Before she even said anything, she simply stared at the ocean with a mysterious smile which was saying a lot of things. And eventually, she began to share that story with me which even her own family didn’t know about!!!!
“I remember that day so beautifully. That was the day which had given me a hope for the future. me and dad walked on the beach together holding hands just like this, enjoying the breeze and silence. I was pretty numb those days and that state of mine was made his take that decision. After the walk dad brought me here to the lighthouse. Together we watched the calm ocean and then, he started telling me a story” she began to narrate the tale and I was truly intrigued to it.
“The first thing he asked me was whether I knew what the lighthouse implied to everyone and I nodded no. Well, who knew that one simply story was going to change my perspective towards life forever???” she chuckled as she reminisced that day.
“He simply pointed at the ocean and asked me to imagine the ocean as life and a ship in the ocean as us, the humans. When there is a storm in the ocean, the ship could lose its direction. It can either go in the wrong direction or the right direction which was to the shore. But the direction could not be known in the storm. That’s when the light of the lighthouse gives the ship a hope. When the light from the lighthouse is seen, it gives the ship a hope. They could understand the direction and propel the ship towards the shore and save themselves” she paused in middle and looked at me with a strange look. What are you hinting at girl???
“Exactly as the story, when we are tangled up in the challenges life gives us, we may end taking the wrong decisions thinking that it was right for us. That’s when we end up in a more terrible state than we were in. The lighthouse doesn’t go firing cannons to show boats and ships where it was. It just stands there shining and spreading its light. We may not know who is the lighthouse of our life was but that doesn’t mean that we will never realize it. One day we will find ourselves back to whom we were with the help of that hope” she smiled at me and my eyes kind of teared up. Whoa, this was definitely an intense story!!!!
“That day, he thought me a very important lesson. He looked into my eyes and told me that broken coolers still color. It just takes time for the artist to realize it. Just like the artist we will also take time to understand that we can still live as we wish but would just have to wait for some time. His thoughts and words had given birth to a new hope in me. I didn’t know what I had to do in my life. But I knew after listening to dad that my situation was not permanent nor it was impossible to be treated. I just had to wait. And during that time, I had to keep myself alive. I hugged dad tightly and told him one thing. From that day onward he was my lighthouse” with a nostalgic tone, she concluded the story.
Both of us had got quite emotional after the story was concluded and to be honest, she was absolutely true. This story had the power to change anyone’s life and now that it had given me too a totally new perspective towards life, I had the perfect idea to put a wonderful start to the love story of us......