He Is Broken. // H.S.

26~Wide Eyes

And you know what, I believe him.

I finally look up, pulling my fingers--along with the knots--out of my hair. I clasp my hands together and rest my chin on the back of my hands, studying everyone's expression. Everyone mostly looks depressed and upset and possibly angry, it's hard to tell if they believe Joseph as well. There are so many mixed feelings inside of me, I don't know what to do to be honest. One part of me feels like bursting with head-on anger, while the other part of me wants to curl up in a tiny ball and cry in a corner.

Neither side is winning.

"So what do we do now," I ask absentmindedly, flickering my eyes towards Joseph.

"What we do now is move on," he says positively. "With the skills you guys have, you can make it anywhere and I don't mean just in the acting field. You guys can set your minds to anything. Go travel, go party, go risk your lives! I'm giving you my permission." His last comment made us all lightly chuckle, even though our spirits were still crushed and our smiles were small and sad. "We just have to move on and make the best of it. Okay?" He looks in between all of us as we simultaneously nod our heads, processing every word he just spoke through our heads. He is right, though. We do need to move on and have fun with life while we still have it, and not let this drag us down. But I still feel completely horrible!

"Thank you, Joseph," I say, weakly smiling, "For everything."

He shakes his head, holding his hand up slightly. "No, no, thank you, thank you all for making this show come to life with your brilliant acting. You guys made a simple idea we made up in our silly minds come true. So thank you," he says kindly, offering us all a warm smile which we gladly return. "Now, where is our waiter, I'm starving!" He chuckles, causing all of us to do the same. We open up our menus and begin to scan the many selections of food, our lips finally pulled into a small, but weak smile. I still can't quite wrap my whole mind around this. I just, can't believe this is all happening, especially now, when things couldn't have gotten any worse.

But unfortunately, things have.

Our waiter finally arrives back to our table with a tray of Champagne glasses filled halfway with the sparkling liquid, probably paid for by Joseph. The young waiter sets a glass down in front of us in one swift move, sending each of us a small smile. We then told him our food orders, which he wrote down quickly. I thanked him and he scampered away to fetch our orders with a wide grin.

"Let's make a toast..." Joseph then said, raising his glass up slightly, gesturing for us to do the same, "... to a, Bigger and Brighter Future Ahead." We all grin and lightly laugh, clinking our glasses together and taking a small sip of the bubbly drink.

Overall, it's been a pretty good day I guess. I got to spend personal time with Nicole and Britne, and what I think is most important, I'm got to spend the evening with my cast members who are more than just friends to me at this remarkable restaurant. They're like my family, a very mixed up and unique family. Other than my aunt and cousin, whom I love with every ounce of me, their as close to real, caring, loving family I'll ever get. And I am so grateful for that.

While everyone begins to remake light conversations, I dig out my phone and tap on the Twitter app. I tap My thumb over the little script in the upper-right corner and begin to tap away on the touch-screen keyboard.

@everestmilestone:

'RIP #Ravenwood An amazing experience shared with wonderful ppl! Grateful 4 the opportunity! Thx 4 all the support! x'

I attached a group black and white photo of us and tapped post, treasuring all the memories shared while making Ravenswood. They will forever hold a special place inside my heart.