Friend

I round the corner, out of breath. He’s sitting on the bench, at our usual spot, waiting for me. Like always. Except this time he isn’t smiling. Instead, his face looks flushed from tears, and the knuckles on his left hand are bruised.
I run up to him, asking him what’s wrong.
“They’re taking me away,” he whispers. I can feel the sorrow in his voice. It cuts right through me. I’ve never heard him speak like this before.
I know exactly who he’s talking about. The guards, who go to the poor sectors {…}   “I won’t let them.”
He’s been my friend for my whole life now. We grew up together, playing on the streets. There was not a single day where I was without him; he was my only friend. He was born to poverty, hunger and suffering, living in the poorest sector of the city, the Coal Sector; whereas I was born into a high-ranking rich family, with everything I could ever want, all the toys, the gadgets, the best education, living in one of the richest sectors, the Aquamarine Sector. And yet, I always feel like he’s the lucky one.
When I was eight, I snuck out one night, wanting to see him. I darted between the alleyways that we knew all too well, and eventually emerged right opposite his house. When I looked inside the window, I saw him, with his mother and father, eating dinner together. They looked so happy, with the warmest smiles on their face – especially him. His smile lit up my world. Oh how I long to have a family like his, with a caring mother and an understanding father. But my mother is dead, and my father is always too busy dealing with The War to care about me. Even my caretaker Jack doesn’t understand me. Only him. Only he sees right through me.
He looks at me know, with his piercing blue eyes. In them, I see trust. And hope.
Except I know, without a doubt, that I can do absolutely nothing, to stop them from taking him. To stop them from taking away the one light in the darkness, my only friend, the one joy in my life. I am powerless.
In my heart, I quietly say goodbye to him.
My dear friend, Alex.