Childhood friends (Fruk)

1

Everyday

Every single day

He sat there by that tree by himself.

"Francis! Come on and play!" My friends called. I looked at them, smiling, "I will be there!" I called. I would turn back to that kid and watch him. He was in my class, and I knew him. His name was Arthur, and he had no friends and was always alone.

"Francis? What are you waiting for?" Antonio called. I looked back over to him and then back to Arthur. I had been seeing him there every day, and I wanted to talk to him every day. "Actually, give me a second," I spoke. My friend Antonio lifted an eyebrow at me, and I walked toward Arthur.

The closer I was to him, the more I saw how messy his hair and clothes were. Antonio had run away playing with Gilbert, and they did not seem to care about where I was going. "Hey?" I spoke. I looked down to the ground where he was, and he quickly wiped his face. I watched as he lifted his arm, and it caused his sleeve to go down a little. There was a mark on his wrist, and I could not determine what it was.

"Yeah?" His small voice asked.
"Your name is Arthur? Right?" I began to sit in front of him; however, he would not look at me. "Yeah..." he spoke. I crossed my legs and tilted my head, looking at him. He was sniffling and wiping tears away. "Why are you crying?" I asked. He looked up at me finally, and I could see how red his eyes were. "It's nothing..."

"Well, it can not be nothing if you are crying," I spoke. He looked up at me sadly and shrugged his shoulders. "My brother has this friend... he comes over a lot, and well, he is not nice to me..." he said sadly. Not nice to him? What does that mean?

"Oh... well, do you want me to save you?" I asked. His eyes looked up at me, and they were exhaustive. "I can save you if you want! I can steal you away, so he never hurts you again!" I smiled. His cheeks grew pink, and he stopped crying. "Really?" He asked.

"Yes!" I spoke seriously. I stood up from where I sat and stuck my hand out for him to grab. "From now on, I will protect you!" I cheered. He slowly reached his hand to me, and his sleeve fell lower. He had bruises on his wrist, but I did not understand why? Maybe he fell or something?

He slowly placed his hand in mine, and I pulled him up to his feet. "What happened to your wrist?" I asked. He looked down, horrified, and covered it quickly. "I....I... I fell," he said in a shaky voice.

I knew it!

"You must be clumsy? Do I have to carry you too?" I laughed. He looked at me with a lifted brow, and I continued to hold onto his hand. "My name is Francis! Do you want to be friends?" I asked. "Yeah, okay!" He said suddenly. His eyes sparked and I began to pull him to where Gilbert and Antonio were at.

Twenty years later

"Our reunion is in another week! You better come!" Alfred yelled at me threw the phone. "I know! I said I would come! Don't be so rude about it!" I yelled. Alfred was a high school friend, yelling at me about our reunion. "You are not in the States yet! Have you even bought a plane ticket?" He asked. "No, but I will! I promise I will be there, so please calm down," I spoke. "You better! I will keep calling until you do! Arthur is going to be there! Don't you want to see him?" He asked.

I stopped in my tracks hearing that name.

Arthur and I had known each other since grade school. We laughed, played, fought, and argued; despite arguing, we always told each other everything. I fell in love with him our senior year of high school. Well, I think I always loved him, but I realized it then. However, although I realized it then, it was too late to say anything. We decided to go to different schools far away from each other, and I figured it would not work out. He returned to his home country in England, and I decided to attend a university in the United States, in the crazy state of Texas. We kept in touch here and there, but soon, we didn't.

After college, I found out he got married to a girl he met. Her name was Amelia, and she was gorgeous, they seemed very happy, so I had to throw my feelings away. I also started dating and met a wonderful woman who had my entire heart. Her name was Monika, and she was also a foreign exchange student, but she was from Germany. The reason I say 'had' is because we both decided to get a divorce last year when I was twenty-six. We had only been married for about three years, and it was not a messy divorce. She realized she did not love men as she thought she should. She was a lesbian and came out to me, and that is when I decided to come out to her about loving men.

We did not have any children, so the divorce was straightforward. She ended up meeting someone this year, and we still keep in touch. I still love her, but it is not the same love someone would have for a significant other. She and I are still very close, and she moved to Italy a couple of months back.

After the divorce, I also decided to move back to my home country, France, where I am now. It is where I grew up with my sister until I went to school with Arthur in the states; he and I had just moved and met each other that same year. It was nice to be back after so much time had passed.

However, I haven't heard his name since we stopped keeping in touch.