We all have that one friend. The one who is with us 24/7 (mentally if not physically), the one who makes you happy, the one who lifts your mood with a silly joke, the one with who you have a lot of memories and inside jokes, the one who knows the real you, the one who is the most precious thing that you will have, the one who stays, never leaves. Except mine did. Not by choice, but she did. It left me shattered and confused. She meant so much to me but I took too long to realise that she was my routine, my tutor, the real deal.
From the start of the day when I get on the bus to school to my lunch buddy to the person, I talk in English with. She taught me things the school could never teach, she taught me real friendship. She was my pillar, the shoulder to cry on, the one who you could communicate with without breaking the silence.
Being with her felt natural as if she was a part of me, she was embedded into my heart. She was always with me whether the teacher was scolding me or whether we were acting like crackheads. We couldn’t have been luckier than this. Best friends, same school, same bus, same class, same single brain cell and literal neighbours. Wow! We had all the other people dreamed about. Little did we know it was about to be spoilt.
Just as the 2020-2021 slum of depression had started to fade, the offline school started and everyone was having fun, our lives did a full 180-degree turn. Life seemed to turn into a bad dream. After her departure, I was overwhelmed as every little thing reminded me of her and the good old days. I felt all alone, who to talk to? Who to eat with?
Sometimes when I go for a walk, I stare blankly at the veranda where she used to wave and talk animatedly with me. We would go for walks, eat chocolates and have a mini picnic on the lawn.
The day when I met her is blurry but the day we became friends is still vivid in my mind. I remember she fainted during a school event so after dismissal I started telling her about all the crazy things the kids did so she wouldn’t feel awkward (I don’t understand how that could have worked well). Turns out she was agitated and thought the school was full of weirdos. If someone else was in her place they wouldn’t stay a moment longer, but she didn’t run.
After a couple of years spent unwrapping each other’s enigmas, people started asking us if we were sisters. It doesn’t matter if you are not blood-related, what matters is whether you understand the other person.
When we parted, we wept and embraced each other. She thought I would forget her (the irony), She left me many things, plushie, drawings, and letters but most of all, beautiful unforgettable memories. We thought it was the end.
But as a friend of mine said-“it’s not the end until you decide it is, you can continue to make your bond stronger and contact each other”. And that’s what we did. To this day I receive calls from her, if not I call her. Twice a week, we discuss what she is learning in her school, which class I almost drooped to sleep in and every little thing. It isn’t the same but it will do.
In the end, I would say, It’s up to you to choose your friends and maintain the bond. One simply does not lose a friend if they put distance between them. A real friend stays. Be unique, not perfect.