You are my FLAME

Struggles you never understand.

No matter how hard the path is today,

No matter how long it takes,

Life will get better.

Difficult situations build strong people.

You may be best friends with someone for your whole life. You may think you know what struggles that they were battling. You may even think that you can help them because you care for them. But you are wrong. You never understand what they are going through unless you have been through the same situation yourself. Even then I don't think you will understand them like they want us to. That is why some people tend to isolate themselves when they are troubled because they know that no one will understand them as much as they want someone to be on their side. Sometimes... Life sucks, and you can do nothing about it.

It has been four days since we saw Jay. I was going to school every day hoping that Jay might show up, but he doesn't. Vian went to his house to see what happened but his parents told him that he has gone to London to see his Grandma. Somehow Vian wasn't convinced that Jay would go without telling us and it is true. He thinks that his parents were hiding something. So he kept searching for Jay in all the possible places.

Jay didn't even leave a message for us. His phone was switched off. We started getting restless thinking about Jay as every day goes by without any news about him. Part of me was convinced that he went to London, and he is safe. It must have been an emergency and his phone must have broken or something but part of me couldn't stop worrying about him. I just want to hear his voice once to know that he is ok.

Vian is more worried than me. He firmly believes that something is wrong. He is hell-bent on searching for him and I couldn't convince him otherwise even though what he is doing is illogical. Every day after school he would drop me at my home and go away. Only god knows where. I can understand what he is feeling, though. Since they became friends, they have never been alone. Jay always stayed with V at his house or mine because of his abusive parents. They always knew what the other person was up to if they happen to be alone. So this whole situation is making Vian cranky.

I can see a lot of changes in Vian since he came back from that vacation. He is calmer and less mischievous than before and one more drastic change is that he started getting angry easily. I have never seen him angry except when he throws some tantrums but that was cute, now he is a little intimidating even for me. He always looks like he is thinking about something and not caring anything that doesn't pique his interest. His body and his walk show this careless attitude but all of it is fake. His eyes... his eyes are the only thing that tells what he is feeling.

Jay's absence made him cranky. He was always angry and on the verge of exploding. Less than ten words came out of his mouth and his eyes were blazing in anger. Let's just say that the tiger is trying to break from its chains.

"Argh," Vian punched the wall in anger.

Everyone went to lunch, so I took him to an empty classroom to talk. He stopped coming to my house and was avoiding me most of the time at school, so I wanted to know what he was up to.

"Calm down, V," I said moving closer placing my palm on his chest while looking him in the eye. He tried his best to calm himself down, but his breathing was rapid and his nostrils were flaring. He turned his head away looking at everything but me. I gave him a minute to cool down.

"I don't know where he is," after a moment of silence he said in despair which softened my heart.

"It's not like him. He never left me like this. He would at least send me a text about his whereabouts. He always let me know. I have been going to his house for days now and I even waited all night for him to appear but he didn't. I am sure his father has something to do with it. I know he is just a lying bastard," he knocked the chair beside him in anger.