Reality

And Nothing Lasts Either.

Fast forward futher into the November of 2016. Exams were close and the days were getting colder. Timmy had caught a cold and was stuck in bed for days. John would visit and stay the whole day near Timmy and study. Helping him to revise as well. On the night of the 25th of November, Timmy asked John if he could go and buy some soup from the store down town which usually stayed open late. Even though it was 10 pm, John agreed without even hesitating.

An hour had passed and John still hadn't come back. Timmy was worried. He thought John went home so he called his parents and when they said John didn't, he decided to go out and search. Just when Timmy was about to leave, he got a call. It was John's parents. When he picked up, they sounded distraught. They sounded broken. They sounded extremely sad. His mother was breaking down. The police had found John in an alley in town. He was stabbed and robbed. The police had taken him to the hospital. John's parents and Timmy rushed to the hospital as fast as they could. Upon reaching the hospital, they were escorted to the room where John was being treated. John was still conscious but he was in pain. The nurse whispered to them that he wasn't gonna make it. John's parents broke down and cried. Timmy cried too. There was nothing anyone could do.
Timmy rushed near John's bedside and held his hand.
"Hang in there buddy. We're gonna make it through. We always make it through remember?"
John was simply able to mumble the words, "Good-bye" before he succumbed.
"No! No! John you cannot leave! No! Please. John. You cannot leave", with tears in his eyes, Timmy was dragged away by the security to wait outside.
He couldn't believe it. His best friend in the whole world died and it was all his fault. He made John go out in the middle of the night to buy soup just to get mugged and lose his life.
"Why!", Timmy thought to himself, "Why couldn't it have been me"

Days passed after John's death. The funeral was held with weeping parents and relatives. John's parents gave Timmy his diary for memory's sake. Timmy was never the same again after that. He wouldn't make any new friends. He kept blaming himself for his best friend's death. He locked himself inside his room the whole vacation, barely coming out, barely eating.
Months passed and Timmy finally decided to read John's diary. It was unbelievable. He had maintained it since 2008. The year they met. Timmy cried as he read each and every page.
It was in that diary that he saw the words, "Losing people is a part of life, but that doesn't mean you stop letting them in".