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What Happens When a Childhood Friend Becomes a Stranger?
It hurts to see you this way
I saw you in the distance, and there was something so familiar about your gait.
It’s the one thing that hasn’t changed. I’d know that step anywhere, the loose way you’ve always carried yourself, with a confidence I never managed.
I called out your name, despite second-guessing whether it was really you. It’s been years, after all, and you definitely don’t look the same as you did the last time I saw you.
You turned at the sound of your name on my tongue, and I saw the truth that had ravaged your face and body, the story that was told without a single word.
I heard you went away on a burglary charge a while back.
I heard you’d gotten hooked on drugs, but I’d hoped it was just the rumor mill doing what it’s best at. I didn’t want to believe it, and we hadn’t been close in years, so I just continued with my life, ignoring the niggling voice in the back of my head that kept asking what I could do.
That voice was screaming today as I watched the deep lines on your face cave in with each word, your teeth speaking a story as old as time, and your eyes screaming about a pain I felt helpless in the face of.
