The Light and the Darkness

Strange Friendships

Friends, we all have some. They could be close or just some acquaintance. Some of people might have a handful of friends while others have more than they can count. In both cases those friends will be there to support them, guide them and will not hesitate to tell them when they're being an idiot. I had Eliana and Dawn who had been there since I first came to the city. They were amazing friends and we never lost touch throughout the years no matter how much time we spent apart. Hailey who showed up at the best of times. Allison who was a friend from the scouts as well as Holden, who never failed to make me smile. These five friends were the people who helped me the most when I needed no matter our differences.

***

I was sitting in a coffee shop with Hailey. We both wanted to leave our houses for a while and the coffee shop seemed like a good place to go. We had ordered some pastries to eat and coffee to drink while we talked.

"Hailey, I need your advice on something," I said. Hailey looked at me and nodded, encouraging me to go one.

"You remember Kiara... well I'm having some problems with her. Don't get me wrong she's a kind soul who wants the best for the people around her. So, I met her a couple years ago when I was fifteen and she was twenty-four; I was helping my mom at the scouts and she was a new camp counselor, so I thought I'd befriend her and make her feel welcomed.  What I didn't know then and I now know was that she was going through a rough patch and that my sudden interest in her was helping her go through it. When I was seventeen, I was old enough to be a camp counselor for the scouts and our friendship began to grow. We got comfortable enough to talk about the past and our troubles. Of course, I wanted to help her, so I listened and tried to comfort her. Slowly, it became harder to listen to her and I would notice spouts of anger at things that weren't that bad. Now I know that I don't have a right to judge her on what angers her and what shouldn't but sometimes the issue seemed to small to be as angry as she would get."

I looked down at my coffee cup, willing it to give me the answer I was searching for.

I believed that everything happened for a reason, to help us grow and learn. We grow a little more every time a problem falls on us. It might make me naive but after everything that had happened, I knew that I would be coming out stronger after this.

"Okay, but I don't see the problem, she just seems to have a bad temper or something,'' Hailey said, looking confused about the situation.

"Yeah but the weird thing is that whenever I tried to find a solution to help her out, it never seemed to work, my solutions were always flawed. It would turn into an endless circle, like she doesn't like to live with her mom and brother because they annoy her, so I suggest that she finds herself an apartment because she has the money for it but she doesn't want to move out because she doesn't want to be alone and pay rent, so I say that just because she moves out doesn't mean she has to be alone she could always see her family and friends and she replies no one wants to hang out with her and she doesn't like her family. The problems are always unfix-able. It wasn't long before I started to dread every time we were supposed to hangout. Whenever we would hangout, I would try to steer the conversation away, but Kiara would always go back to her problems. I also had to explain to her the unwritten social rules in society and remind her that she in fact does have emotions and not just the dark ones. There's no way out. It feels like I'm trapped. Whenever I would seek advice about this situation, everyone would just say that I was helping her out and while I might uncomfortable with the situation, I was helping someone out and that it was for the greater good. And, that's exactly what I did. I decided to suck it up and be a big girl, I wouldn't be a shitty friend just because I was slightly uncomfortable. After all, she didn't have any other friend and with all the darkness coursing through her she needed an outlet. Why couldn't I just be there for Kiara. A little discomfort was better is better than hurting her." I took a deep breath in and looked down. My coffee was half way done, slowly disappearing into the unknown, fading away.