When Trust Breaks, You Lose More Than a Friend

Jorja Hill and Carlos Kole couldn’t understand why their friends weren’t answering their phones. They were allowed one call each, and neither call was answered. In their holding cell, someone had a phone, and they made four more calls. No one answered.

“We have to call our parents?” Jorja suggested.

“I can’t call my Mom!” Carlos’s fear informed. “She can’t afford a lawyer. Why aren’t Tony or Grace answering their phone.

“I can’t stay here, Carlos. My mother will find ways to help me,” Jorja regretted as tears flowed.

One hour later, Jorja’s mother, Sharon Hill, arrived at the Police station in tears after getting her daughter’s call.

After the police officer explained the charge, she called attorney Grace Francis, who answered. After explaining what she needed, Grace declined and hung up. Tony Scott did the same.

“What is going on?” Sharon asked her daughter as they sat in one of the interrogation rooms. “Tony and Grace said you create your own exit door and you and Carlos let yourselves out of their lives. What the hell does that mean?”

Jorja sighed, swaying her head, then quickly said, “They are lying.”

“So, the charges against you and Carlos for receiving stolen goods and scamming them are lies too?” Sharon asked her daughter, staring into her soul through the pain and fear in her eyes.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Jorja said.

“A quarter of a million dollars’ worth of misunderstanding?” Sharon asked.

“It was Carlos’ idea to cheat them,” she admitted.

“They were good to both of you. You never asked for help, and they refused. You should have told Carlos that friends don’t cheat friends,” Sharon drilled into her daughter.

“I am sorry,” Jorja wailed. “I can’t stay in here, Mom. I just can’t!”

“I can’t help you, and the people who can, you build your own exit door with greed and dishonesty. These are honest, kind friends. They won’t open any door with greed and dishonesty behind it,” Sharon explained to her daughter.

“Call her husband. I knew of his one-night stand with Sonia. He will force her to defend me if he doesn’t want her to know,” Jorja said in protest.

Sharon’s eyes popped, with sound. She blinked several times, glaring at her daughter in shock. Then said, “How did you get like this? I didn’t raise you this way to cheat, lie, and blackmail anyone!”

“It’s the way of the world we live in now, Mom. Call him,” she demands.

Sharon took up her phone, dialed, then said, “So you can’t live how you were taught. You have to follow the world. Paul, can you pick me up at the police station?”

“Call him!” she demanded.

“No!” Sharon stood her ground. “I don’t interfere in your life since you became an adult, because I know I raised you better than that. My job is done. Now life will replace me. You are on your own with this. I am not helping you to destroy a friend!”

“So, you are creating your exit door too? I am your daughter!” Jorja shouts.

“No,” Sharon turned to her child and said, “You locked me out when you chose blackmail, greed, and dishonesty. You locked all of us out when you chose to cheat friends. Don’t you know that when you cheat your friends, you are cheating yourself.”

“How am I cheating myself?” she asked as pain touched her heart.

“No support. No encouragement. No one to help you when you need it most. This life lesson, you will have to learn on your own. Mothers can’t save their children all of the time. Trust is a gift of love, and when you break it, you will lose more than the friendship it came with,” Sharon said, heading for the door.

As she opened it, a police officer entered and said, “Your accomplice made a deal. He sold your daughter out.”

In secret, Sharon made a deal with Tony and Grace. Jorja got a five-year probation, and so did Carlos, as it was their first offense. They were ordered to repay the money as part of their probation terms.

Both apologized and begged for forgiveness. They were forgiven, but their friendship with Tony, Grace, and several other good friends ended.

Good friends are as rare now in our world as honesty, kindness, and the truth. So, when you have people in your life who are good to you, don’t use dishonesty, cruelty, greed, lies, or anything negative that would build an exit door that would lock you out of the best things in life. A good friend is one of the best things anyone could have in their lives.

Humans often build their own exit door using negative energy with their actions, choices, and decisions. Annelise Lords

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enkoyed it.