Another prompt from Vanilla Cupcake. This one is: Friend. I haven't been doing this in a while, but I'm starting up again. Not sure if I'll do all 100, but here you go. Oh, also. I finally changed the intro to explain the new name.

I don't even have the words to say what you are to me. You gave me permission to be myself when no one else did; you gave me permission to speak when I did not give it to myself. You gave my mind permission to open its doors and bare the thing that thought it had to hide itself for safety. it didn't want to be hurt again, but it was so lonely. You told me I could let it out. You gave me permission to say that they were wrong, those who spoke with such conviction that I took it for granted that their words were true. You opened the door to question. And after all that, you told me you couldn't imagine what your life would be without me in it. You gave me a chance to give back to you, to be an equal. I'm not sure you know exactly how few people have given me that chance before. You told me their eyes weren't open. You told me I didn't have to take example from my parents and I hope to God you're right. I wouldn't know about spontaneous laughter or about being close enough to a person to drop the mask and reveal vulnerability. I also learned that being hurt and feeling betrayed isn't necessarily an end. You made me want to break free of the silent, scared girl hiding inside her body, trying to keep her words from bursting out. You made me want to be myself after it seemed the whole world told me that was a terrible thing to be. I don't have time or words to explain the whole story and I can't make anyone understand, so I'll leave it at this: I was raised knowing only one thing to believe, and you introduced me to the concept of questioning, without which nothing would have been possible.