He’s alright

A friend of mine came into my mind a few days ago. I met him while we were in school. I was around 14–15 years old.

He was my age. From the first time I met him, I was astonished by his early life. He wasn’t talking like my ordinary every day school friends. He had a very unique way of viewing things that nobody I knew had. Unfortunately, he had some experiences that made him seem like this.

He wasn’t in my school. He wasn’t attending any school either. He surprised me when I found out! Until that point, I had never met anybody that wasn’t attending school in my age. I asked him why and he responded by saying that he wasn’t any good at all at school, he couldn’t socialise, he couldn’t concentrate. So he asked his parents to drop out of it and they approved.

Then I asked him about his parents. He told me that his father died a few years ago and that he was all alone with his mother. She was working a lot.

He used to ride a motorbike. That also surprised me cause I haven’t met anyone riding one at that age. He didn’t even had a license. He told me that his father used to ride it. His mother had locked it in a fence nearby the house, so my friend couldn’t drive it. But he found the key, made a copy and he would take it out when she wasn’t at home.

He loved that motorbike. While it was locked, he used to wash it or even disassemble it and assemble it again to see the inside. He was enjoying it.

We used to ride together a lot. I would go meet him after I was done with school in the afternoon. I would go by his home only to find him in front of the locked motorbike doing something. If his mother was missing we would take it and ride it around.

I lost him at some point. I went to a high school that wasn’t so close to his house, so I couldn’t meet him that often. But I would learn news from our mutual friends.

After a few years, when we both became 18 years old, I found out that he got a job. He was helping a mechanic, near his neighborhood. I knew he was happy about that. Once, I saw him driving around a really big and cool motorbike. He looked so renewed. He didn’t listen to me calling him, so I continued walking. I was happy only to see him driving his new big bike.

Years went by and I was in college. My college was like a full-time job, so I had to work part time shitty jobs to have some extra cash flow coming in. But it was always a shitty shitty job that I was doing.

I was a waiter in a local restaurant. It was located in a central place near my parents’ house. One day and all of the sudden, I heard my name. I turned around only to see him.

He had a very old-looking face. He looked ten years older although I knew he was my age. He smelled really bad and his shoes was all brown, with oil spilled all over them. His clothes were really dirty too. He smiled at me. He looked very happy to see me. I was happy to see him too.

He was carrying a few helmets and some other motor accessories. He was trying to sell them. I told him that I got a bike myself and I pointed it to him. He offered me some of his stuff. He said that he would make me a better deal if I was interested. He surprised me again. Totally different reasons this time.

I kept asking him how he was doing. He wouldn’t respond to any of my questions. Like he was hiding something. It was clear that he was using drugs. I didn’t want to say anything cause clearly that would make him uncomfortable. But I kept asking questions: “Are you still working at that place?” What about that big bike you used to ride?”

Short Answer: “No. No.”.

I had to go back at work. We hugged and I left him. He returned to wherever it is he came from. His odor was all over my body.

To this day, I haven’t had any news from him. I keep asking mutual friends I run into, but nobody seems to know anything. Nobody seems to care. I’m kind of curious. I want to know how he ended up.

Since he came into my mind, I keep asking myself. I am trying to connect the dots. How did he end up like this? Does this has anything to do with his early life? With his fathers’ death? With that locked-up motorbike?

I will hear from him again one day. I hope he’s doing ok. It’s like I can sense that he’s alright. He’s alright..

Extra special thanks to my friends Sébastién, Attheodo, Tsif, for curating this article. You rock!

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