What would I do if my Best friend Stole something which is valuable to me...

Date: 10th April 2011
Place:Bangalore
(This topic is our assignment, it is supposed to be short speech, but I ended up writing a short story as i was in the story too much.:). It is pure fictional )

This topic reminds me of the incident which happened to me while I was in 5th grade. It was just like yesterday because I still remmember the feeling exactly. I had a very good friend named John. We were always together not only in the school, but also everywhere else. We used to do everything together, we teased some girls together although he talks very less. Whenever we have any kinds of problems and have any kind of troubles, we helped each other without any hesitation. The moment the school hour was over, we rushed home and changed our clothes and meet up again in our own rendesvous as soon as possible. When people called my name, the first thing came to their mind was John and vice versa. We didn’t hang out with anyone else, we were happy just the two of us and just the way we were. At night when we were at home, i always tell my mom and dad about John, and he did the same.

One fine evening, my dad bought ‘The Hero Bicycle’, which was the dream of every boy of my age at that time. Words couldnot described how happy I was. I was overjoyed and John was so happy for me too. I hugged my dad saying thanks a hundreds of time. John and I took the bike to the street but we didn’t know how to ride at all. So we called a group of rich kids, who were older than us to teach us how to ride. Theirs was older than my bike so they were interested in teaching us how to ride. Since I was the kid with ‘new bike’, they kinda like me, but i could see that they didn’t like John so much. But since he was my good friend, they didn’t want to say anything to me directly, instead they started saying something,”How can you still hang out with him?” or, “He doesn’t have a bike, so you two are slowing us down” etc. Being a kid, I didn’t really understand their intensions, but eventually i started to ride bike without inviting John.

One evening, I saw John while i rode accross our RV, a place where we always meet up after the school hour. I asked him what he was doing and he said,”The same thing, i am always waiting for you but you never showed up these days, when I came to your house your mom told me that you were riding bike with Jesse and the gang.” And at that time, i never realised how touching and how important the things he just said. And I replied, “Oh really??, anyway, we are planning to visit the old tombstone at the outskirts of the city, you wanna come with me?” With a smile on his face he nodded his head and together we headed for the place where we were supposed to go.
When we arrived the place, the moment they saw John’s face, they started whispering to each other and gave us the ‘weird’ look. Jesse called me out of the gang and had a private conversation with me. He said, “ You are one of us now, You can’t hang out with him”, and I replied, “But he’s my friend”. With a frown on his face he walked a way saying the choice was mine. I was just a kid and wanted to be in the gang so much. So I walked to John and told him the thing which embarrased me the most till today. I said, “John, you have to go home.” Our Street was about 3kms from where we were. He didn’t say anything, i was watching him while he walked away slowly. He turned his head three times towards me while he was going and he was disappeared. I felt so bad for him but at that moment Jesse called me and did some stuff like curving our names on the tombstone. But i could not enjoy anything. I was feeling so bad for John.

The next day, John tried to talk to me several times but I was with the gang so he couldnot find time to talk to me. He was hanging out alone, sat alone in the bench in the classroom, he had no one to talk to. He was with his pen and notebook all the time. I noticed him writing down something several times. I really wanted to talk to him, but i couldnot do it.

Later that long day, i could not find my pencil. I noticed it was not there anymore in my pencil box. I was looking for it everywhere. And I asked everyone if they found it. And Jesse whisppered to me saying that he saw John took it. I doubted him but he seemed too confident. So, I walked towards John and asked him whether he took my pencil or not. He looked at me gently and said, “No”. I trusted him when he said no, I knew John and he never lied to me before. But at that moment, Jesse spoke up and said, “I saw you took it John, don’t lie” and started to twist his arms. His tears were coming out of his eyes and i said, “John, why did you do this to me? You are not my friend anymore” and i walked away from him. With a tears in his eyes, he was looking at me walking away, he wanted to say something but couldnot say anything. Jesse took John’s notebook and put it in my bags and said, “He took your pen, and you can have his book, now you are even”. John didn’t utter a word.
Since then i never spoke to him and pretend like I didn’t know him at all. Later that year, during the autumn, Jesse and I went to a lake to swim. A lot of kids were there and I even noticed John was there but i pretended like i didn’t see him at all. So we were swimming and having fun. While i was swimming and showing off by going to the deeper area, suddenly my legs got stucked in some bushes and i could not let it go. I was out of breath and waving my hands meaninglessly. I swallowed lots of water and began to choke, at that moment out of nowhere, some one grabbed my hands and tried to pull me out, but my leg was stucked and I was blackout.
When I opened my eyes no one was with me but I heard them shouting ‘John’, I got up as fast as I could and looked around and I saw all the kids with John who was lying near the water. And I shouted with a shaking voice asking them what was happening. Jesse came to me with a tears in his eyes and nervously, “John was stucked in the bush while he was saving you”. And I ran towards John and called out his name. He coughed and opened his eyes a little bit, and smiled at me, and with tears in my eyes I cried, “John, buddy, come on.. Say something to me” And, he stirred weakly and opened his mouth. “I never lied to you and didn’t steal your pencil, ” he managed softly. He was awful white. I cried, “I know John, I know, I am sorry”. And he called out my name softly. I barely heard him. I came closer and leaned over to hear what he was going to say. “I’m sorry I could not be a better friend.... Friends Forever”. That was the last word I heard from John. I tried to say something but I couldnot make a sound. Something warm was running through my eyes. And at last I cried at the top of my voice. “John, I’m sorry, John please forgive me”.

By that moment adults came and pushed on John’s belly and gave him an artificial respiration. If only we knew how to do those stuff and the start, we could’ve save him. I ran home and cried to my mom telling her what was going on. My mom dressed up hurrily and went to John’s place. I was crying like everything. I handed out john’s notebook which was taken from him by Jesse. That was the only thing I had to remind me of him. I turned the pages and saw a drawing of the two of us in a bike. And beneath the picture, there was a writing in block letter, “Friend Forever” followed by the name of the two of us.

So, I realised that it is so difficult to have good friends. And I dont want to lose the one I already had in any conditions. So, if my best friend stole something from me, I will just ignore it and the truth will always reveal at the end no matter what., if he’s my real friend, he’ll end up saying sorry. And that is more than enough for me.