Friends

Friends

“Did you see that?” Frank asked.

“What?” Andy asked, not enthusiastically. He’d known Frank all their lives, living next door to one another, and born two weeks apart. They were literally brothers with another mother.

They had always gotten along; Andy knew Frank better than anyone. Andy really knew Frank. Growing up and both having mothers that worked full time they’d spent most of their time together. First at daycare, then once school age, in the same class. Now third grade.

Andy knew that tone of voice. Frank was seeing something that people don’t generally see. Andy never did. Over the years though, he realized they were quite real to Frank. In the beginning he always believed Frank really saw them. Now that he was getting older, he wondered.

“What is it?” he said again. He still considered Frank his best friend, and wanted to support him.

“I know you don’t see a lot of the things I see. I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter, you see them, I trust you. I just wish I could see them too.”

“I could help you see them, if you want...”

Andy stopped in his tracks. “Really? How?”

“I know how, I just don’t want you to see them if it bothers you. You seem upset now when I see them.”

“You’re my best friend, seeing things nobody else sees. I worry about it. But I do believe you.”

“So, do you want to see them? I can make that happen…”

Andy wasn’t sure, if they really existed, maybe, but what if his best friend was really nuts? He finally decided he needed to let Frank try.

They both lived into their nineties. Andy regretting his decision every day as he watched the weird beings, now visible to him too, that Frank truly loved.