Worlds Apart

I ran. I ran as fast as I could, listening to his soft voice fade away behind me. He was almost there. I threw myself behind a playhouse, holding a hand over my chest to make my breathing steady and tried not to pant too much. I heard his voice call out for me, which made me crawl into a ball, trying to hide myself even more. I didn’t dare to peek around the house to see how far away he was. When someone grabbed my shoulder, I squealed and gave a single punch to the arms around me. “Whoa!” Alex exclaimed and held his hands up in defense. “I thought we were playing hide and seek, not Tekken,” he chuckled at his own joke. His short light brown hair was firmly put down with hair gel and his smile revealed the little gap between his front teeth. We were both wearing our uniforms. I got up, brushing dirt off my skirt.
“You didn’t have too scare me like that, though” I muttered grumpily. I had been really grumpy since Alex’s family told my family they were moving to The United States. Alex and I had known each other since we were 2 and now we are 8 years old. Best friends ‘till the end, is what he always told me. “Well, sorry I guess,” he said softly, not taking his eyes off me. “Still sad?” He asked concerned. I sighed. “My best friend is moving across the big ocean…” “The Atlantic,” Alex corrected me, only making me glaring at him. “Exactly. The Atlantic is huge!”
I leaned up against the playhouse. “It’s not fair. We were supposed to be best friends forever. How are we supposed to be that when you live so far away?” Alex patted my shoulder. “We’ll figure something out, I promise. I won’t leave you.” His other hand was planted on his own chest. “I’ll always be in here.”

The day before Alex and his family were supposed to leave, my family had invited them over for a huge feast. I’ve only seen this much food at Christmas time. Our parents were talking merrily to each other, as they had become best friends too as Alex and I engaged in our friendship. Alex and I just said quietly, poking to our food with our forks. We didn’t really know what there was to celebrate. I mean, they were leaving England tomorrow.
Possibly forever.
When I asked Alex if they were coming back, he just kept quiet and told me to pay attention to the class we were in. I smiled in response to my parents making a comment about me. Alex’s mom gave me a concerned look across the table. I bet she felt bad for Alex and I. I knew she couldn’t stop them from moving away because it was a big possibility for Alex’s father but it didn’t change the fact that losing your best friend at the age of 8 is tough. Especially when you’re as close as Alex and I. We told each other everything, hung out every day, even when I had soccer practice. He would stay and watch then hang out afterwards. I was going to lose all that tomorrow. When I snapped out of my little bubble of thoughts, I found the entire table, inclusive Alex, looking at me. “You okay, sweetheart? You look a little pale,” My dad said and reached over a little to feel my forehead. “Yeah. I’m okay,” I said simply stuffing a piece of broccoli into my mouth. Maybe eating a little could shut them up. It did, but it only made me feel sick. I hated broccoli.

We went with the Gaskarth family to the airport to say goodbye. I watched my parents hug every single one of them then stepping aside to let me do the same. I hugged Alex’s mom tightly. My mom used to be an alcoholic and it was really tough for me to go through and Alex’s mom was always there for me, being a second mom for me. She even made my mom go into rehab and helped her as much she could. She was truly an amazing woman. Tears started to fall out of my eyes and I tried to hide them. “Don’t cry, sweetie” she said with sad eyes. “You can come visit us in the summer maybe?” she looked at my parents behind me and smiled then looked back at me. She let go of me, as I hugged Alex’s dad and his brother, Tom. As I stood in front of Alex, reality crashed down in front of me. He pulled me into a tight hug. I started crying even more. “Don’t forget me,” I whispered and he hugged me even tighter. “I won’t. I promise.” After a long time, we finally pulled back and the family disappeared into the gate and sooner into the flight. I sat down on the wooden floor, not caring about anything. I hugged my legs. I realized they were not coming back. I wasn’t going to visit them. At the age of 8, I had my first real mental breakdown.