The Life of Griff

Friends Come and Friends Go

These are not our real names. This was based on something that happened in real life but some parts may have been changed or added.

I let out a small laugh as one of my best friend, Jeanette, told us something funny. We were sitting outside the steps of our church as me, Hope, and my other best friend, Alisa, gossiped. The building that we're using to hold our church programs was in an area with a couple more churches. Nearby, the small kids were running up and down the steps of another church building as they played tag. I sighed as I remembered when I was still young as I played tag with my friends and how my parents would always scold me.

"Hey," Alisa spoke, "Josh and Eric are coming back from the Philippines to go on a vacation here in the UAE."

I can feel their stares on me, waiting for my response. I just shrugged, "Aren't they in the other church?"

We are Christians called Seventh-Day Adventist. We go to church every Saturday and unlike others, we don't eat most sea foods (except for some fish) and pork. There used to be only one Seventh-Day Adventist church when a fight had occurred, splitting the church in half. I was still young when it happened so I haven't really understood.

"Well yeah," Jeanette said, cutting into my thoughts, "but you don't, I don't know, maybe miss them?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, "but I don't miss them that much."

That was all it took for the to start laughing and teasing me as I groan in annoyance.

"Aw," Jeanette teased, "Someone misses her crush. Oh wait no, her ex-boyfriend."

I just roll my eyes, "Says the girl who admitted his feelings to An-"

"Okay, shut it," Jeanette interrupted and I grinned triumphantly.

Alisa was just non-stop laughing at us, "Come on, Jen. Admit it, you miss him."

"I miss them," I say, emphasizing 'them'.

"Sure you miss them," Alisa repeated.

"Don't you guys miss them?"

"Of course we do," Jeanette answered, "but not as much as you do."

"Believe me, i'm not looking forward to meeting them anyways. Sure it's nice to see them but it would only be a 'hi' then a 'bye' kinda conversation."

I could tell that they didn't believe me one bit but they didn't question as they started talking about something else. Okay, maybe not all of that is true but there's no point in re-living the past. I told myself over and over again that I don't miss them and I would never will. You can say they used to be my old friends until they...left.

My gaze turned to where the little kids were playing and a scene started to unfold in my eyes. The church building where they were playing beside was replaced by a flat space filled with sand. The kids disappeared and two trees that have been removed when the church was built now stood there once more.

I felt myself running towards one of the trees as I started climbing up, being an 8 year old kid once more. I can see two other familiar kids on the opposite side, racing towards the same tree. The tree was quite small so I easily climbed up but that didn't stop the brothers from climbing up as well. Josh, who was two years older than Eric, reached the tree first and had started climbing up.

"Hey," I shout, "Two people can't fit in one tree."

"Too bad," he shot back, "Either we're both here or you go down."

At that time, I was 8 and so was he, yet I was born before him making me older. Eric, his brother, was 6 then.

"That's not happening," I argued, "Cause you're going down!"