Impact

Asher skipped stones in the nearby pond, containing his tears as best as possible. Riley had taught him how to skip the stones for what seemed like miles. Riley. Asher’s best friend. The one who died in a hit-and-run accident.

It was strange to even think that Asher would never see Riley again. It seemed like yesterday that Asher had moved next door to Riley.

“Come on, Asher, help me unpack. This stuff doesn’t get out of boxes on its own, you know!” Mrs. Goldman scolded her ten-year-old son.

Asher ignored his mother’s “lecture,” as he called them, and caught sight of a boy that seemed to be only a little bit younger than him. He was in the driveway next door, only a few feet away, so Asher mustered up the courage to introduce himself.

“Hi, I’m Asher and I am ten-years-old. Who are you?” Asher said, trying his best to be polite, like his mother always taught him to be.

“Hi Asher. My name’s Riley and I’m only eight, but I guess we can be friends!”

Asher half smiled at the memory of the start of the most amazing friendship of his life. Words could simply not explain how much he and Riley had done together; hopped fences, gotten arrested for the first time, talked about every girl in the book, and everything else best friends could possibly do.

He hadn’t cried… yet. He knew Riley was up there somewhere and he didn’t want Riley to be laughing at him even in heaven. He remembered Riley’s bizarre last words to him.

“Hey, I’m going out, Ash. I was just wondering if you wanted to come, since we haven’t hung out in a while,” Riley had said over the phone.

“Naw man, I can’t,” Asher said, a bit disappointed that he couldn’t even if he wanted to. He missed Riley and their friendship, but his mother had him on house arrest for fighting with his sisters… again.

“Alright, dude. I seriously miss you man. And I love you, bro. I just wanted to let you know. Talk to you later,” Riley had nonchalantly said.

Before Asher could respond, Riley had hung up, leaving Asher’s mouth wide open. Riley never spoke like that… but then again, Riley had done weird things in the past. Asher shook it off and went back to “doing his homework.”

Had Riley known? Or was it really just a coincidence? Of course, Asher would never know, but it was one of those things he could think about in place of crying.

The memories were all Asher had to live on. So, he remembered the best and worst times he’d had with Riley.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Riley said, fidgeting with everything he could find in the store.

Asher groaned. Riley was eleven and boy could he be a wimp sometimes.

“Don’t worry, I’ve done it before, there’s no way we can get caught!” Asher tried to convince Riley.

Riley sighed and nodded his head. He picked up a leather wallet and Asher chose to grab a necklace for his new girlfriend of the month. They both successfully hid their souvenirs in their jackets and walked out, with no expression whatsoever. That’s when the alarms rang.

One hour later, the two boys were in the county jail office.

“I told you it was a bad idea!” Riley whispered loudly to Asher.

“Well, we almost got away with it, but you gave it away by crying when the security guards asked us to check our pockets!” Asher retorted.

As if going to jail weren’t bad enough, their mothers coming to pick them up was the worst of it. Asher’s mother screamed explicitly in Hebrew, while Riley’s mother just shook her head and cursed herself for being a terrible mother. And yet, the boys smiled; it was so worth it.