Split Sides

Message To My Friends

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for everyone who has helped me become who I am today. Today is 11 May, and this marks the second year of my new adult life. I may not be an expressive person in real life but I'll say all the things that have gotten me here and all the things I hope would happen soon.

Hayley, I want to tell you just what a phenomenal person you have been in my journey so far. I don't know what I would be without you, and frankly it would be unfathomable for me to imagine it. It seems so strange looking back at how we started: at first you were a stranger I met in an online conversation thread and we started with our usernames, then you messaged me and asked me something I have forgotten, and now we end up here, two years down the road, past the awkward stages into something resembling a special relationship. Two years of tears and hesitations and plenty of music and chumminess have brought us to a moment we couldn't have known when we first met. I don't know what you found in me (or possibly saw or sensed in me) but you stayed with me and kept me company for all those long nights and troublesome days when I would rather curl up and be gone. Your lasting energy and relentless confidence have helped me get by, and I'm happy that I've done the same in the ebbs of your life. Thank you for being a reliable and trustworthy friend and I hope this unlikely friendship can last the strains of time and life.

Katie, you're one of the first people I met here, and without you I doubt I would have the motivation to keep on going and learn to use my voice to create poetry and stories where my internal frustrations and aspirations flow. Looking back on how we met still makes me laugh: you responded in a post I wrote asking for friends here, and you were the only one who did so. I know there were things we didn't see eye to eye on, and times when we couldn't stand each other, but I'm glad we managed to put them behind us and supported each other during our difficult moments. Your gentle kindness and constant optimism have left a mark on me and I hope you've learned a thing or two from being my friend, even if it's how not to grow old. Thank you for your stories and insightful advice and I want you to know you're my friend I'll cherish forever, like my Warm Bodies novel.

But this does not mean this is the end; far from it. To all those people who have, in some way big or small, took the time from their lives to help us overcome the challenges ahead, I thank you for doing so. Though I couldn't name you all, I hope you know just how much it helped for you to lend your helping hands when we needed it.

To all those wonderful people I hope to meet and befriend, I hope we can do so, whether you are in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, or wherever else you hail from. Just please don't serve me alcohol or anything containing blood or animal organs and we'll go along just fine.

And to those I don't speak to or can't remember the names who put me or Hayley or Katie through needless suffering and torment I say to thee: you shall be paid in full, fear not.