A Letter to a Friend that Got Away
People write goodbye letters to their lovers. I grew apart from one of my best friends, so I wrote one to him instead.
Dear Green,
I hope you are well; I really do. I haven’t seen you or heard your voice for years, and have no idea what’s happening with you. Looking at you online though, it looks like you’re happy. It looks like you have found who you are and are content. You deserve it and I salute you.
You have never said goodbye to me but I will stop staying hello to you because it hurts to be forgotten by one of your once-best friends.
I see you with your new friends and I can’t say I am not envious. I am jealous of them spending time with you and hearing your contagious laughter that has pulled me out of darkness so many times. The laughter that is the soundtrack of my adolescent years and the sound that kept me sane when I was homesick, away from home.
I hope your friends realise how lucky they are are. I hope they really see you as the human treasure you are and not just someone to share a cigarette or a drink with. When you take photos together, I hope they print them and put them somewhere safe because they can’t store them in their hearts like I still do. When you give them presents, I hope they put them in a special box under their bed and keep them for years like I still do.
We have no future together, but here’s a toast to our happy past.
Please know that I don’t care what you do, who you love, who you spend your time with or what changes you go through in life. I thought I could be there with you through it all, but I guess I remind you of a part of your life you want to distance yourself from. It’s okay. I still love you. I am glad I was part of your life at some point.
Thank you for the memories. Thank you for seeing me through my words and encouraging me to keep writing. Thank you for being the light when I was alone. Thank you for making me laugh so hard, no sound came out of my mouth. I wish you all the best, my dear friend. Remember me.
Love,
Sofia
