Lost Friends

Just came back from DMC's drama... I have to say that I was impressed!

I was on the car, back from the show with my neighbour/childhood pal at the backseat of the car and I realized something...

We weren't talking like we used to.

I've known him since Standard 1 and he lived just behind me house. When we were in the afternoon session in primary school, his mum will be the one who will bring us back from school. We used to talk like there's no tomorrow in the car. About friends, life, school, teachers, family... His brother was also part of the chat. We laughed at the jokes he made all the way from school to home. Same goes to the afternoon session of secondary school.

We used to cycle our bikes around the neighbourhood. He used to show me secret pathways to go to "secret hidden spots". We used to promise each other to wake up at 7 in the morning to play badminton in the court in front of his house. We used to talk behind our house, under the blazing hot sun in the afternoon, under an umbrella, until my mum comes home. We used to tease each other about the rumour boyfriend and girlfriends we used to have. We used to call out each others names from the back of our house to borrow movies or books or just to talk or show him my new pet or puppy. We used to play with lanterns on the night of Mid Autumn Festival. We used to do school projects in my place. I used to go over to his place and he was so eager to show me his new bed which is a shape of a racing car. I used to go over to his place for a Christmas party.

There's another friend of mine who I've missed terribly although I still see him in school and I just saw him perform just now. Watching him perform made me think of the memories I have had with him.

He used to sit next to me when I was Standard 5 and 6.

We share the same hobby. We like to sing and we both loooooved Harry Potter!

We used to have a book filled with lyrics and would share it with each other to copy. We used to cheat at the spellings our Chinese teacher gave us everyday where we have to exchange it with the one sitting next to us to mark. He will give me a tick even though I was wrong and the same goes to me, so that we don't have to go up front to be caned by the teacher. We used to split our exercises or homework so that we don't have to do that much. I can copy his part of the homework and he can copy mine. We used to write quizzes from Harry Potter and exchange it and answer the questions that we gave. We used to talk about the teachers in our school, and compare it with the teachers from Hogwarts. We used to go soooo crazy about Harry Potter. We used to fight with each other for petty, petty problems. But we always get over it and laughed about it. I used to be the one who will write down his homework when he was absent. I was the one who replaced him in the singing and story-telling competition, and yet, he laughed at my singing.

At first, he wasn't accepted to Kwang Hua. So I thought that the last time I will be seeing him was on graduation day. I was looking at his back and holding back tears as he walked out of the school gates. I was surprised to see him at Kwang Hua. But we didn't talk that much now. Or in other words, we didn't even talked at all now.

He went his way and I went mine. He went to a different class, mixed with different friends and joined the school drama club. Since then, we were like strangers when we met.

I hate this kind of feeling. When I meet them at school, I should have smiled at them. But something held me back. It's not that I liked them as someone else instead of a friend, but I hate to be a stranger to who I've been knowing for so long.

Other then them, there are many more friends that went to the same secondary school with me and lucky for me, I have been around with those who are inseparable with me since primary school. But unlucky for me, I slowly lost contact with some of them who have been with me since then.

They were part of great memories together in my childhood and I won't want to forget them for as long as I live. Even having them in my life is something special, what more is there to say when we were the best of friends? Doesn't that make them extra special?

Sometimes, I really wonder, 'Where did our friendship sail? Did I missed their ship when it was right in front of me? Where did our conversations go? Will it come back to me? I sure hope it will.'


- Dedicated to all my friends who I have met in my life so far. Thank you for treating me as your friend. Thank you for sharing your joy with me. Thank you, for being my friend!