Dust and Memories

Basch's Letter

Dear Roderich,

I haven't spoken to you since our fight. It's been three years to the day, and I still remember every word you spat, and every word I didn't mean. I've been trying to figure out how to say this every day since, but foolish pride got in my way. (Not that it has completely moved aside - writing this note to you is still hard for me.)
Where can I even begin? It hurt a lot to fight with you like that. They say you never know what you have until you've lost it. I thought we were going to be friends forever, but the world is cruel, and pays no regard to the silly promises young boys make. Perhaps we really were not meant to be friends forever. Perhaps our time has come and gone.
By either token, the years that I spent with you were the best years of my entire life. You made it worth it, getting up in the morning. You were why I wanted to come to school. You were why I strived so hard.
Even if those years are long gone, and will never return, I will cherish the memories. I always have cherished them.
My apology to you is long overdue, and most likely unwanted. I was a bad friend to you when I should have been happy for you, and I'm sorry. I am really, really sorry.
If you are willing to forgive me, here's my number: 202-555-0139.
If not, then farewell.

-Basch

Perhaps Basch had been too hopeful in writing that letter, but he hadn't wanted to leave Middle School on a sour note with his best friend - after all, he had nobody else other than his sister and his mother. His father had left them the first few months of sixth grade, around the same time he had lost Roderich.

He had been too young to work throughout middle school, so he did his best to help his mother make ends meet by doing yard work for the neighbors, and watching people's pets. The extra earnings he got were enough to supplement his mother's wages as a teacher at the local preschool.

That was until his younger sister became ill.

Lili had always been a sweet girl, doing her best to help out around the house, and still finding time for her schoolwork and friends. She adored her older brother, who was five years her senior, and he doted on her frequently.

It had started when Basch noticed a dark bruise on her arm while braiding her long golden hair for school one morning. Instantly worried, his green eyes narrowed protectively.

"Where did you get that?" He asked, gesturing to it.

The young girl frowned and shook her head in an unknowing gesture. "I don't know. I woke up with it. I promise it wasn't there when I went to bed!"

Lili was never one to lie, so Basch let her off the hook without too much interrogation, assuming she had just bumped into something and forgotten about it.

Then the bruises started to multiply.