What You Don't Know Could Fill the Universe

Chris

I am known as "that-friend-of-Jack-who-plays-a-ton-of-sports-and-is-really-quiet" in school. I never speak out, I ever say a word, and I never ever ever saw Jack do one bad thing since I knew him. Never until now. I have been friends with him for years. 

We met in third grade, and became friends immediately. At that time, I wasn't doing so well in school, and my parents were afraid for me because I was not a social person, and I was really shy and I didn't like to be around other people. I was weak and I had to go to the doctor a lot. My mom has always been overprotective of me and my twin sister, because she didn't always have twins, she had triplets. I had a sister who was three minutes younger than me, but only for two days. My mom was heartbroken and she cried almost every night.

I never knew until I was six when a distant cousin came over, she had just come back from Rome. She asked my mother where the third one was, the little girl named Rose. My mom had burst into tears, and me and my twin stared up confused at her What other child? Who is Rose? we had asked. My father ushered us into the kitchen, and had explained that we had a sister named Rose, but she had died two days after she was born. And that this little girl had been in our "group" as my dad put it. That's how we figured out. 

Ever since then, I have been a quiet kid, and sad child who always looks confused. Then Jack came, he moved a couple houses down on my street. My mother sent me off to play with him, hoping that we would become friends. The first time I saw him, he was playing baseball with his dad. He ran over happy to see another kid who was his age. 

"Come on and play with us!" he shouted dragging me over to his dad.

"But-but-but-I-I d-don't play b-b-baseball..." I stammered. I had a stutter because according to the doctors, I was a very nervous child who has been through a trauma and who has trouble expressing his feelings.

"Sure you do, come on!" he had said, stuffing the bat in my hand, "Just look at the ball and when my dad throughs it, hit it!"

"O-o-okay." His father looked me in the eye and tossed the baseball at me. I swung the bat and missed. 

"Try again, don't think about it, let it come naturally kid." his father had said in his deep voice. He threw, and this time I hit it, hit it very very far. Not like oh my gosh that kid just broke a world record, but like oh my gosh how can this kid who never did any kind of exercise hit a baseball that well especially for a third grader. 

"Whoa!!!" shouted Jack, "That was awesome!!!! let's try another sport!" And that's how we met. My mom used to send me over to his house everyday after school, and we would do homework then play together. I was a different kid, happy, playful, no longer stuttering. My mom didn't look so worried when she saw me. After I got older, I realized that she had probably thought she was going to lose me too. 

SO when I heard that Jack had pushed this girl over into the snow then tried to kick her, I was doubtful. I had never heard of Jack doing something like this before, ever. You may think I am being that bestfriend who is lying to save the others neck, but seriously, I had never seen him hurt a fly. EVER. I was confused, and asked the person who told me if they were playing a trick on me. They had just looked at me weird and asked if I had seriously never seen Jack do anything like this.  Jack was closer than a brother to me. He was always there for me, even after I heard what he had done. When I saw his face, I knew that it was true all true. 

"Why? Why have I not known about this for more than 10 years!" I said, trying to keep my voice under control.

"Oh please Chris, if I had told you about this a week after we met, you would have started crying like the baby you are." He snapped back. I was fuming, my past was meant to be in the past, and I hated bringing it up, Jack knew that. 

"Jack," I growled watching his thin lips curve into a smirk of satisfaction, "what are you talking about, you have never hurt anyone in your life, no one until now so-"

"No one, huh?" Jack said taking a step closer to me, "No one Chris? Or maybe, I have been since before we even met, and you have been blind, and I haven't had the patience to tell you."

"Or maybe, maybe you just don't want me to see that side of you, you want me to be that goody-good friend who will always do anything you say because you showed him he could play baseball. I have never seen this side of you until now, why?"

"I didn't want you to that side of me, but too late! I guess I kind of wanted you to be that friend who was always devoted, that one guy who I could act like I was five with. You were so innocent and unlike me, you were a goody two shoes."

"You are  a dirty liar Jack, you have been using me for years."

"You were never anything to me, you are just another one of those people in life who you have to toss out. So bye Chris, I'm tossing you out."

"You?!?!? You tossing me out? I should be the one to say that, I should be the one tossing you!"

"Well too bad, I said it first, and I'm doing it first." He walked away, and I stood there. He was right, I was a child, I had never been mature, I was a baby, and I should have change a long time ago. I stormed off and headed home, I was going to change alright, and I was never going to give Jack a second thought, never ever again.