Friend Forever

The Day

The two of us strolled down our front sidewalks, on our way home from school the same day. The first day of school had been productive, and rather fun I had to say. Except  for the part where no one really spoke to me other than Carly, however I had learned to ignore and accept that fact a year or two ago.

We both remained silent for a few moments, as the only sound came from our light steps hitting the cemented sides. Holding onto both of our backpacks, we turned the corner onto our street, as the sky was still very blue that afternoon, and the sun shone bright in the sky. It was a beautiful day. It really was. And I wanted it to stay for awhile, as I knew it would, for it was still summer time, which meant the days stretched longer, and the darkened sky didn't dim until later in the evening, around nine or ten. And I enjoyed those times greatly, as that meant I could play and hang out with Carly more, as it wasn't like my parents would care none.

  "Hey, do you want to stay over for dinner tonight?" Carly spoke up towards me as I turned my head to face hers, as my long blonde hair curled over my shoulder. And a smile washed over my mouth, as I nodded to her gently.

  "Yeah. I would like that," I replied to her, as she too nodded and smiled gently, and from there we approached our houses closer, as I could see mine at least poking through trees and shrubs down the side of our street. I wasn't sure what Carly and her parents had in mind for dinner, but whatever it was I knew it would be good. Carly's parents always made such quality and great dishes, as if they made them gourmet like in some restaurant. They really did know how to cook, and well at that. A quality my parents didn't possess. I wished they did, but they just didn't. And another thing, Carly didn't even have to ask her parents if I could stay for dinner, I knew they would automatically agree and say yes, for they were the ones who usually invited me to stay in the first place. Most nights they just expected that I would be eating with them, almost as if I was apart of their family. Since I spent more time back then with them, more than my own. But I didn't mind, for I liked them very much, and I knew they liked me.

  Carly's parents had even given me Christmas presents in the past, something I didn't expect at first. Not at all. I felt somewhat bad in the beginning, since they would give me a gift and my parents didn't give Carly anything at all. They rarely spoke to her. However she seemed to understand, and she realized what my parents were like awhile ago. She knew they didn't really care. Didn't care for me, or really anyone that wasn't each other. I had learned to accept that—somewhat—and so did Carly and her family, although it took some time with others.

  I remembered one year, the year earlier, Carly's parents had gotten me a tiny ring for Christmas. A tiny silver ring, with little hearts all engraved on the face and around the surface. I was thrilled and stunned, but overjoyed, even by the tiniest little gift that most likely didn't cost them much. They had gifted Carly a ring as well; a tiny silver-shaped  butterfly ring, with one delicate diamond in the middle of the body by the wings. Carly was obsessed with butterflies at the age of nine, and she had mostly everything in her room designed with butterflies. They were quite pretty, but Carly thought they were beautiful. Gentle. Kind. Free. Pure almost. Like her in a way. Or that's the way her parents would describe her I would imagine. I very much admired that butterfly ring, along with my heart ring, and I wore it everyday. Since Carly and I were around the same size, along with our fingers, we both wore our rings on our pointer fingers, however we knew as we grew older we would have to switch fingers to wear them on, most likely graduating to our ring finger maybe, and then lastly our pinky finger. But that would be for a time when we became much older, teenagers perhaps.

  On most nights, I didn't return home until much later, after supper usually, maybe around eight or nine'o clock at night, since my parents didn't care. I could be gone all night perhaps, and they might not even care. There had been only once when I was at Carly's house way past ten'o clock at night, and my parents called over to the Hall's house, asking if I was there, or if they had seen me. I hadn't returned home at all that day, and had gone to Carly's straight after school. Fortunately for them, I was only at Carly's still, and they asked her parents if I could return home soon. And I left and ran across the street back home as soon as Carly's parents received the phone call from my Mother. I wasn't in trouble when I returned home, my Mother and Father only told me to call them next time if I was going to be out late. Didn't really seem to care, that was the highest amount of worry and care they had ever given me. No more than a call asking where I was, and a slight and calm talking to when I returned home. And that whole night later, while I was in bed, staring up at the ceiling in my darkened room, I only thought about earlier, and what my parents would have done. What would they have done if I wasn't at Carly's? What would they have done if Carly's parents told them I was never at their place? What would my parents have done if Carly had said she hadn't seen me all day? That no one saw me all day? What would they have done if I really was gone? If I was perhaps taken away? By someone I knew, or a stranger? Or what if I just ran away? What would they have done if no one knew where I was? Would they have worried more? Would they have gone looking for me? Would they have called the police? Would they have made flyers and missing posters of me? Would they have posted them up all through town? Would they have hosted search parties for me? Would they have spoked on the news about me, trying to get the word out that I was missing? Would they have been worried about me? Would they miss me? Would they care for me then? Would they cry for me? Cry for a missing daughter that could be hurting and in pain? Crying for a daughter who could have been locked up by someone? Or just in hiding? Would they even cry for me? Was I worth it to them? Did they really care for me like that?
Or would they have just tried forgetting about me, and just living the rest of their lives kid-free? Would they be happy if I was gone? Gone from their lives? Would they have moved away, so that if I did return home I wouldn't know where they were? Would they even care if I was gone? Would anyone care if I was gone?