“Is he your boyfriend?” my dad asked. My heart sunk to my toes and I got a squeamish feeling in the pit of my stomach. I looked at my feet, embarrassed and annoyed that I had made the mistake of not deleting a message from my secret boyfriend.
“Yes,” I mumbled, my face expressionless. Lying would only make it worse. I knew the rule of no dating and had blatantly disobeyed. The bigger issue would be that while all this was going on, I had pretended to be honoring the rules that I was breaking all along.
“How long?”
“Since November.”
“So, two months? Have you kissed him?”
I nodded, blushing at hearing those words from my dad.
“Wow, and you acted like he was just a friend all along. You talked like it was just a crush. You played your mom and me, huh?”
I cringed at his words and could not answer. My mind raced as I tried to figure out the right thing to say while also trying to figure out just how angry my parents were.
“You don’t even seem to feel bad about it.”
“I don’t,” I replied matter-of-factly. I knew it was false. I felt guilty and I felt terrible for lying and sneaking around behind my parent’s back, but I did not want them to know that.
“Wow,” my dad said again.
Mom was crying at this point and dad was angry. After having me quit my job, drop out of the play I was in, my dad said, “You are now on lock down, which basically means you are on an intense grounding. Your mother and I cannot trust you, therefore you will stay in our sight at all times and are on our schedule now.”
I could feel new tears pooling in my eyes. This what not how I wanted things.
He continued, “If you want to run away-”
“I’m so sorry I lied!” I cried, breaking down. “I don’t want to run away. I don’t want to leave you!”
“How long did you think you could hide this?” Asked my dad, quizzically.
“Longer than this,” I sobbed.
“Nothing stays in the dark forever, Andrea.” His hand was on my back now as the three of us sat on the sofa. “Everything comes out eventually. Everything is eventually brought to the light and then you have to face the consequences.”
I did not realize the truth of my dad’s statement that January night until later on in my “lock down.” It lasted for almost eight months. I spent the first few days in my room with only a bible, a journal, and a pen. Initially I was mad at my parents and bitter about my current situation, but soon I realized that the feeling of having my secrets revealed and out in the open was beautiful and freeing. I had begun the process of healing and rebuilding of my relationship with Christ and with my family. In the future I would point to my lock down as the one of the best things that ever happened to me.
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