Childhood friends (Fruk)

5

"Hey! have you seen Arthur?" Gilbert asked.

"Ah, I do not think so."

"Well, can you find him? We need to get this project done."

"Oh! I think I saw him enter the restroom; maybe check the one on this floor?" Antonio suddenly came out of nowhere. We had this project to work on for our history class. It was for eighth-grade history, and we had to pick a country and present stuff on it. Arthur was in charge of writing everything since he had better handwriting. My handwriting was good too, but he made the sentences sound better. I was in charge of doing the board part and making the art stuff. Antonio was in charge of research, and Gilbert was the main speaker in charge of pictures and overall setup. Our country was Italy, so I was outlining the country as we talked.

"Francis, can you go get him?" Gilbert asked. "Yeah, I can do that," I smiled. I stopped what I was doing and stood up from my seat. I started to walk out of the classroom and toward the restroom. I quietly walked into the restroom and heard sniffling from one of the stalls. "Arthur?" I called. Suddenly the toilet flushed, and I heard movements coming from the last one. "I will be out right now," he answered. Thinking about it, I had not seen him all day, was he here the whole time?

I stood outside of the stall and began to knock slightly. "Yes?" He asked quietly. I felt my stomach sink hearing his shaking voice. "Can I come in?" I asked. I heard shuffling around and a quiet click.

"What do you want, Francis?" He asked. His head was down, and he opened the door slightly. "Well, we have that project thing...remember?" I asked. I felt my heart crushing as I stared at him. He was hurting, and I think I knew why. I slowly placed my hand on the door frame and began slowly pushing myself in. "Wait, I don't want you to see me like this," he spoke. He did not look me in the eye once. "Please, just let me in," I started.

"You know I will never judge you for anything."

I pushed myself threw softly and quietly closed the door behind me. It was a tight fit, but I did not mind it too much. He continued to look down, and I slowly raised my hand to his cheek. "Come on, what is it?" I asked. He began to sniffle, and I watched as a teardrop fell onto my shoe. "I... I can't do this anymore," he cried.

For years he had always been this gloomy kid that I always stayed with. We were thirteen, and I knew some things about his personal life and how his brother's friend hurt him.

"What can't you do anymore?"
"This! Living! I just..... I want to ...."
"Don't even think about it!"

I quickly cupped his cheeks and forced him to look at me. He had a bruise on the side of his face. Like someone had punched him or something. His eyes were red, and he tried his best to look away. "Please, I'm too ashamed," he cried.

I began to caress his cheek, and I smiled at him. "Don't be embarrassed; people suck sometimes, but you must remember that you can be better. Don't let it control you, please," I spoke. "How can I? That is impossible!"

"Well, I don't understand much, but my sister always tells me that breaking the cycle is the only way. Like when your parents are fighting, and you choose not to fight with your spouse? Something like that, I guess," I laughed nervously.

"Break the cycle?"

"Yeah! Maybe you will never let anything bad happen again when you are older!"

"And if I can't?"

"Well..... I'll just have to save you again," I laughed nervously. It caused him to laugh as well, and we both stood still, smiling at each other.

I started to fix his hair in a way that covered the bruise, and he stared at me. "I can't imagine what you are going through, but keeping it in doesn't help. You can always talk to me no matter what!" I cheered. I finished fixing his hair and took out my phone to show how it was covered. His eyes widened, surprised, and he looked at me happily.

"You are my best friend."

"Well, I know we fight a lot sometimes, but I still care for you deeply," I smiled. I grabbed onto his hands softly and opened the door behind me. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up," I added.

I pulled him out of the stall and toward the sink area. I grabbed some paper towels and began to put some hot water on them. "Close your eyes," I spoke sweetly. He nodded at what I said and slowly closed his eyes. My hand hovered over his face with the wet paper towel, and I watched him. He looked so cute, and his skin looked soft.

My heart started beating faster as I gently placed the wet towel on his face. This was the first time my heart had wanted to jump out of my chest. I was not sure what this feeling was in me.

But I liked it a lot.

I rubbed the towel on his cheeks and gently on his eyes. "That feels better," he whispered. "That's good; you will look good as new," I answered. He started to laugh cutely, and I felt my cheeks getting warm.

He had always laughed around me, but this time was different. He sounded so cute, and his laugh was like music to my ears. It was like I could listen to it forever if I could. "All done," I spoke. His eyes opened slowly, and I looked at him with so much love. He was my very best friend.