The Friends

Best of Friends

Josh and Nick are the best of friends. They love to laugh, both at and with each other.  They spend time outdoors and playing every sport under the sun.  The kids they go to school with seldom see them apart and no one else is close to either boy. Not that Josh and Nick want to be left alone.  The other children want nothing to do with them.  The boys hear the whispers and things said when no one knows they are listening.

It all started at the end of the previous school year.  Josh and Nick had been part of a large group of friends that always spent time together.  They all ate lunch together and played on the playground at recess.  One day, all of the other kids but Josh just quit speaking to Nick.  They wouldn't even acknowledge he was around.  Josh tried to keep the circle together, but no one else seemed to care.  So he made his choice and Nick came first.  

Now in late September, the leaves are beginning to change.  Its colder now and Nick seems sad to Josh.  They still laugh and play, but both boys feel like something is missing.  They both try to ask the other about it, but they stop when the tension becomes more than they can bear. 

            Nick misses two days of school and when he returns Josh can tell something has happened.  Nick won't hardly talk to him and looks at him like he isn't even there.  As the sun begins to fade into late afternoon, Nick sits down on one of the swings and just stares towards Josh and the building.

The deputy who drives through this corner of the county feels a little more sad each day he passes the burned out shell of the school.  Little Nick Cartwright, always sitting on the same swing, staring at place where all of his classmates died on the last day of school, the previous year.  Nick had been home sick and was the only one to survive.  The deputy turned his eyes back to the road and said a little prayer for Nick hoping he would realize its ok to be the one to survive, but knowing in his heart Nick just couldn't say goodbye.