Best Of Friends

  As Sheryl walked down the road to school, she smiled. In her hands she carried Brian’s chemistry book. He was always leaving things at her house. They have been best friends ever since they met in pre-school, so she was used to his little bad habits. As she turned into school, her feet carried her automatically to her locker, which is (conveniently) right next to Brian’s. From a distance she saw him standing there leaning against her locker, waiting. As she approached, he turned and smiled at her. “Hey, did you bring my chemistry book?” he asked as he made way for her to open her locker. “How’d you know it was at my place?” she asked, just for the sake of it. “Coz it wasn’t at mine.” He replied smoothly. She laughed and handed him the book. “Next time, I’m chucking it in the trash can.” she warned playfully. “Yeah yeah, that’s what you said the last time, and the last, and the last..” he said, disregarding her warning. Together, they walked to their classes. “So, your house, mine, or the hill?” Brian asked as they reached the threshold of their respective classes. Sheryl grinned. “The hill. Definitely.” They had discovered a wonderful star-gazing spot at the top of a small hill one night when they decided to go ‘night-picnicking’. To this day, Sheryl and Brian cannot recall the incident without getting into a fit of giggles. “Alright..” and with that, he waved her goodbye. She smiled as she watched him walk away, and turned to enter her class.

  “Would you hurry up already?” Brian called out, looking back. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” she panted. From the bottom, they decided to race to the top. As usual, Brian won. Sheryl lacked stamina, and longer legs. When she reached, she fell onto the grass and inhaled mouthfuls of air. “Girl, you need to stop eating so much.” Brian commented as he sank down on the grass next to her. Sheryl glared at him and gave him a slight push. Brian laughed. They stared at the night sky, and all the stars. Even though she had been to this spot a thousand times before, whenever she stared at the sky, she always felt the same feeling she felt when she had laid down on the patch of grass for the very first time – contentment, and the feeling that nothing could go wrong. She turned and looked at Brian next to her, and saw something in his eyes that she had never seen before. She was puzzled, and she couldn’t quite place what it was. Fear, disappointment, sadness? She could tell that Brian was in deep thought about something as he stared at the sky. She turned back at the stars to ponder on what she had seen in Brian’s eyes. “Hey.” His voice pulled her out of her trance. “Your place or mine’s?” He asked. “Uhm, yours.” She replied as she turned to look at Brian again. He grinned at her. “Alright.”

    Sheryl panted as she climbed up the stairs. As she reached the second floor, Sheryl noticed that Brian’s sister, Hailey’s room was open. Inside, she saw that Hailey was sitting in a huge armchair, and she looked very pale and sickly. Sheryl stopped. Brian stopped too. Hailey’s eyes were closed, and she looked tired, and resigned. Sheryl didn’t know that Hailey was sick. She looked at Brian. His expression had changed. He was no longer laughing, and his face was clenched tightly, and his mouth had thinned to form a line. “Brian, what’s wrong with Hailey?” Sheryl asked slowly. “Nothing. Come on.” he said, but by the tone of his voice, Sheryl knew that something was wrong. She didn’t say anymore. As they climbed the stairs to Brian’s room, Sheryl noticed that there were tears rolling down Brian’s cheeks.

  Over the weeks, Sheryl noticed a sudden change in Brian. He had constantly refused to tell her what was wrong with Hailey, insisting that she was “just tired and in need of a lot of rest.” Sheryl felt hurt every time Brian uttered those words. There had never been a time when they had hid things from each other, and Sheryl knew Brian was hiding something from her. Brian had stopped laughing, and his face was constantly tight and clenched. Brian became cold and unrevealing, and it hurt Sheryl to see him like this. Even when he came over to her house, and he went to his, he was quiet, and they studied in a cold atmosphere. The tension could’ve been cut with a knife.

  One day, Brian called. Sheryl leaped at the receiver and answered it. Brian’s voice was as cold as ever. “I won’t be coming to your house anymore. I won’t be calling anymore. Don’t try to contact me. I’m going it alone from now on. Bye.” And he hung up.  Tears slowly rolled down from Sheryl’s cheeks. She was all alone now. Brian had left her. She cried and cried, all the memories she shared with Brian running through her head. As much as she wanted to break down and cry some more, a part of her felt determined to find out what had caused Brian to leave her so suddenly. She made a solemn vow to find out what happened to the Brian she knew and loved. An image of the laughing and joking Brian came into her head, and she cried some more.

  For the next week, Sheryl tried everything she could think of to talk to Brian and to see him. But as usual, Brian was already one step ahead of her. He had pulled out of school, even though it was the last week before they broke off for the holidays. She went to his house only to have the door constantly slammed in her face by Brian’s housekeeper. He refused to return any of her calls, let alone answer the phone. After a few days, Brian’s phone was ‘no longer in service.’ Sheryl spent all her nights crying and plotting more ways to see Brian. That Saturday evening, Sheryl went up to Brian’s porch and rang his doorbell again. His housekeeper opened the door and before Sheryl could open her mouth, the old woman held up her hand. “My dear girl, this family is going through a very dark time at the moment. It is unwise to intrude on it’s grief.” She said. Sheryl felt her eyes widening. “What’s going on?? Is there something wrong with Brian? Or Hailey? What is it?” she asked anxiously. But the housekeeper only shook her head and closed the door with a resounding and final click. Sheryl was left once again, feeling even more defeated than ever before.

  She was in no spirit to go home and have another cry, so she went to the only place she felt could cheer her up, even the slightest. It was a rough climb up the hill that night, but she kept pushing herself. She was convinced that if she reached the top, somehow she would find a sense of something that would make her feel better. When she finally did reach the top, she stared at the patch of grass she and Brian had spent so many nights lying on, gazing at the stars, discussing everything they could think of. The spot looked so empty, and Sheryl collapsed on it and started sobbing uncontrollably. Brian refused to talk to her, he even refused to see her. The harsh fact started to sink into her, and she cried even more. She cried and cried, until she suddenly heard his voice again, as deep as before, but somewhat bitter. “Guess the climb finally became too much for you.”

  As she turned and looked at Brian, she saw that his eyes were bloodshot red, and could have possibly been redder than hers (which was a feat she had thought impossible) and that his face was hollow and tired-looking. Before she could say anything, Brian sank down on the patch of grass next to her. He then turned to look at her, and said “Hailey’s gone. Leukemia.” Sheryl gasped with horror. Brian let out a bitter laugh. “I’m so sorry Brian, I didn’t know!” Sheryl started but Brian stopped her. “You weren’t supposed to. We didn’t really let anyone know. It was her wish.” He said. “But she’s gone now. Died this afternoon.” Sheryl thought of all the weeks that Brian had been hostile towards her, and the hurt she felt, and she knew it was nothing compared to what Brian was feeling at the time. “ohmigod Brian!!” she exclaimed and threw herself onto him. She started sobbing some more, feeling ashamed for everything she had done, harassing him, and his family, all for her own selfish gain, when all the while they were enduring much worse pain than her. “Shhh, it’s alright.” Brian whispered softly into her ear. They both lay together that night, under the stars, with their arms around each other. As Sheryl’s sobbing ceased, she noticed that Brian had tears rolling down his cheeks as well, and squeezed his body slightly. As they lay there, Brian having suffered a loss, and Sheryl having suffered a great shame,  deep inside, they knew that no matter what the circumstances, they would never suffer a complete loss, for no matter what, they would always have each other.