They all laughed.

Short story about a lost friendship.

“You can’t tell me it isn’t love. The way you look at him? It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before!” She said, excited from another day of laughing. I blushed, trying to hide my obvious happiness. It had been 5 years, and they were still talking about it.

By ‘it’ I mean my freshman year.

I remember the day everything happened. When I met him, I knew something about him was different. The way he laughed, smiled and talked was so unique. Not like any other grade nine, or even ten, eleven, or twelve.

He was special.

As we grew closer, I found out how broken he was, how shattered he had become. How his parents mistreated him, other kids had bullied him. I comforted him, and let him know he was never alone, that he'd never be alone.

We stood by each other, friends until the end.

As the years of high school flew by, we became closer and closer, until it all ended. At our graduation, I gave him my goodbye and wished him luck.

I haven't stopped thinking about him since. It has only been one year, but I was lucky enough to now have him. In college, I figured he would have abandoned me to go live his life.

But he came back.

"It's not love, he's my best friend. I told him that I'd be here for him, and I am." I said, my smile not leaving my face.

All my friends laughed.

 

3 months later

I sat, listening to the mix CD he made me, crying. He went to war, and he never came back. He abandonned me. He broke his promise.

I lost him to the anger that the world held for itself.