Pure Happiness

I tasted pure happiness. It was like sugar on my tongue. I think I must have been the happiest person in the world. After all, how could you not be happy in my position?

I met him in the hospital. He had just been accidentally shot by his best friend, I had just been in a car crash. I saw him every day, even when I wasn’t supposed to be walking around. The day he got discharged I thought my life was over, that he was going to walk out and never come back, that he was going to leave me there. But he didn’t. He came back. He visited me, day after day. He was my shoulder to cry on when my step-dad murdered my mum. He fought for me when my dad was being unreasonable. And he was there for me when my dad died. At ten years old, I was an orphan, and he didn’t hesitate to offer me his home.

But there was still the matter of Cheryl. Cheryl, my dad’s girlfriend, who adored my little sister. Cheryl loved Katie and Katie loved Cheryl, they were perfect together. And Cheryl wanted to “keep the family together.” But he was determined. He told Cheryl he was going to fight for me. And fight he did. I thought I was going to die, that day in court. No-one noticed anything but his tattoos. I thought they were going to give me to Cheryl, and I would have to go back to Oregon. But when they asked me what I thought, I told them that Cheryl wasn’t a bad person, because if she was my sister wouldn’t be living with her. But she just couldn’t measure up to him. I needed a father figure, and there was no-one in the whole world I wanted more than him.

And then the judge awarded him custody of me. It was like fireworks going off in my brain. I thought I must be dreaming. We left the courthouse together, and he took me home, telling me on the way about his life, his band, and his friends, who he shared a house with. Then, as we were walking up the path to the front door, he told me to stay put a minute. He opened the door slightly and leaned in, saying something to the people inside. Then he pushed the door open.

“Hi,” I said.

The whole room erupted in cheers. I grinned at him, and he hugged me, lifting me off my feet.

“Happy much?” he asked.

I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Couldn’t be more so.”