Prompt: It was the third creative writing assignment, one that had to describe a character in detail. It's autobiographic. Title from Kids in the Dark by All Time Low.
One of the things I liked best about Sarah was how she always kept going. I’d known her for a long time; my parents always jokingly said that Sarah had already been reaching for me when we’d still been lying in the incubators. We practically grew up together, and it was only after her parents divorced and she moved away that we saw each other much less often. Yet even if we didn’t see each other that much, I could always count on Sarah calling, or coming over. She and her mother had moved to the other side of the country after the divorce, but she had surprised me and my parents multiple times, by suddenly standing at our front door bringing a gift for my parents and her kindest smile. I loved those surprise visits. In hindsight, I should have probably realized something was wrong. I never questioned how an eight-year old girl travelled for two hours by herself to come find her best friend. I never questioned the bruises; I just took her to be a clumsy girl. I never questioned the divorce of her parents, never thought about the fights I could hear when I was staying over. I should have realized something when Sarah matured so much faster than I did; but that was exactly the problem. Sarah had to grow up, while I didn’t have to; and so, while Sarah was doing the groceries when she was eleven, I was still playing outside with kids from the neighbourhood. I knew that was the reason why eventually our contact was minimalized to a monthly phone call. And still, that was all Sarah’s doing. I never called; it was always Sarah, always asking how school was, how my parents were. I never asked her. We lost contact in high school, but at some point she added me on Facebook. I followed her updates on life as she went through high school, graduating with the highest marks of her year. It was a coincidence that we ended up going to the same university, but it was a good coincidence. We became close friends again, and I could always rant about anything to Sarah. We spent a good amount of nights in her dorm room with a bottle of wine, talking. Although, if I’m honest; I was doing the talking, and Sarah was mostly listening. Very slowly, I discovered that Sarah perhaps wasn’t the happy girl I had always made her out to be. It started when I realized that for a student, she worked many hours. It felt like she was drowning herself in work and her classes; but I didn’t necessarily think of that as a bad thing. Only later I realized that Sarah was avoiding things. Being alone, mostly. She surrounded herself with people, evident in how she asked me over on a daily basis. At a certain point, after we’d both had a stressful week filled with exams, we spent the night in her dorm, getting drunk. It started with Sarah telling me how her mother hadn’t bothered to make it to her graduation. That night, I learned the reason behind her parents’ divorce, and so much more. I realized that in all those years where I thought I knew Sarah, I never truly knew her.
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February 2017
About meWelcome to my blog! This is where I post my stories, occasionally accompanied by personal thoughts. I always post short stories, as I keep the longer ones for myself. My stories are often based on songs. I listen to music a lot (mostly pop punk / punk rock), and often get inspired by melodies, lyrics, or music videos. |