Misery Loves Company

#2: Finding Broken Friends

At the beginning of my senior year, I knew I needed to get help before the pain ended up killing me, so I began to search for others who were like me. I started my search with anyone who looked depressed, having found no result in the month that I searched. My second target was anyone who looked happy except when nobody they know is around, in the two months I searched, I found nobody. My third target, those who stayed away from school.

Looking for those who skipped school was much more difficult, as I would need cooperation of the school to even know who was commonly absent. Within three weeks of pleading and expressing my reasons, I finally gained access to the information I needed. The only one who wasn't a known troublemaker was a sophomore named going by Eric.

I went to visit Eric's home two days later after planning for the operation. I knocked on the door, greeted by a middle-aged woman with a look of concern on her face. I had a detailed conversation with her and learned she was Eric's mother and that he claims to be feeling sick everyday and won't leave his room. That is when I explained to her about my case and why I was there.

The woman had pointed the way to Eric's room. There, I had asked for entry. Eric had let me in with suspicious curiosity.

"Why have you come here? Are you here to try and bring me back to school...?"
"No, I am actually here for something else that has a connection."
"And that is...?"
"Have you been avoiding school for any particular reason? Don't worry, this is just between us."
"Heartbreak... Don't want to be anywhere that she can see me."
"Good, looks like coming here wasn't a waste of time"
"What?"
"I am thinking of starting a club that acts as a support group for people like you and me."
"Really?"
"Yes, would you like to join?"
"Why not, that is about the only thing I haven't tried to get over this."

With Eric's help, I was able to start putting up flyers for the new club at school. In total, we ended up with three people joining the next week. A freshman named Jeff, and two juniors named Tom and Zach. The next week we had our first meeting.