When a friend becomes a stranger…

“When it hurts to look back, and you’re afraid to look ahead, you can look beside you and your best friend will be there.”

We exchanged some form of “hi” everyday in high school, usually in a wave or a smile, but after reading that quote, it felt different. He was a stranger to me now. We smile at each other, occasionally wave, and that is it. From 8th grade, maybe earlier, we were the best of friends. And in high school, we just make eye contact and smiled and keep walking. No exchange of words. Not even hi.

It’s strange when you become friends with someone who was once a stranger. And even stranger when a friend becomes a stranger. There were so many times a day could have I said hi to him in high school. Three or four. Three or four times a day I could have said hi. I could have said hi and be less of strangers, but instead we made eye contact and just smile. How did someone who was once my best friend become a stranger?

And what happen? How did we drift apart? What happen to us? To our friendship? What even happen? How does someone you use to tell all your secrets to, become someone you no longer know. There was no downfall, we just drifted… How did my best friend become a complete stranger to me?

And that hurts the most, when you just drift apart. You have no reason to no longer be close with this person, you just didn’t take the time to talk to them anymore. Neither of us took the time to reach out to each other, so we just drifted apart. Looking back on that is what hurts me the most. That is what happen between majority of me and my friends from middle school. And we all just drifted. We all lost touch. It hurts to look back and see how friends become strangers. It hurts to remember how it all ended… Or remember that nothing caused an ending.