Best Friends...But Not Forever.

Anyone who has ever been through high school knows that at times, you can make friends for life there while others show up before or after that period. However, this isn’t the case for me. Back then, I had this one friend and we were nearly inseparable. So what happened? Life happened.
As we went off to college, we drifted to different campuses. We each began our own separate lives, which is normal. However, he started dating shortly after. This forever changed the dynamic. What was once a close duo was now a trio. I did not learn that eventually, he would have to make a choice between me and his girl. Looking back on it now, I still think he made the right decision, even though the process wasn’t quite right.
One day while having some friends over, she was going through some of my electronics when I advised not to. However, two unfortunate elements mixed in what became a very bad event for everyone. First element: she kept insisting on going through my belongings when I advised not to. Second element: my short fuse. I have a problem with redundancy. The more I have to repeat myself, the more irritated I seem to get.
I admit, I did not handle that well at all. I yelled at her not to touch anything. I lost a grip on my composure, which was the first step to losing a good friend. And why not? I just yelled at his girl. Also, a man should never yell at a lady for any reason. What I did was uncalled for and I have nobody to blame but myself for losing that friend.
Afterwards, we began drifting apart. I had to apologize to both of them on multiple occasions due to my inappropriate behavior, but also because I didn’t want them gone. Unfortunately, it led to the inevitable end of our close friendship. Years later we were able to briefly reconcile, however it was unable to restore the way things used to be.
And yet, the separation is what led to me becoming the way I am now. Looking back, my own personal growth was due to one of my biggest mistakes. We aren’t perfect, but if we can try to learn from our mistakes, then we are headed in the right direction.

The Night The Sky Exploded (Revisit)

I believe this was back in 2009, but this is a story that takes place in the very middle of the night. Normally, I'm the kind of person who goes to sleep extremely early. However, that was the night I turned nocturnal for most of it.

As I was sleeping soundly, I suddenly felt a door shut and dismissed it as just minor. Seconds later, my best friend, Ace, calls me at 1am yelling at the top of his lungs.

"What do you want?" I say as I'm waking up.

"It's the end of the world! There was this big explosion, and the sky is on fire!"

"If it were the end of the world, why the hell would you wake me up?" I replied.

"You got to believe me! There's this big ball of fire, and it's a mess everywhere. The sky is burning up!" he continued.

If I were awake, I would have noticed something was odd about this. Not because of the big fireball burning in the sky, but the fact that he was speaking clearly. For you see, my best friend stutters often when he speaks. His level of fear was so intense, he didn't stutter a single time. But sleepy me didn't notice it.

"Go look at the window," he said.

I stood up and walked towards it. "I will bet nobody is outside," I said as I opened the window.

"Odd..."

"What?" he said.

"There's people pointing at the sky."

I walked out of the house and stood in the middle of the street as I looked up at the sky, realizing there was a giant fireball up there.

"The sky is on fire. Who knew?" I said, oblivious to the situation. And right there, I woke up.

What I think my face looked like when I discovered the fireball.

That's when I realized what was going on. I quickly hung up on my friend to check up on everyone else and make sure they were fine. Not many answered, but my buddy Johnny did pick up.

"Go see the sky," I said.

"Why?"

"It's on fire! You gotta see this!"

"I don't believe you," he replied.

"Would I call you in the middle of the night to tell you the sky is on fire just to get some laughs? I'm serious."

He stepped out of the house, keeping silent for a few seconds. When all of a sudden I hear him taking a large gasp on the phone.

"I stayed behind!" he yelled, thinking he got left behind in the rapture.

"It's not the rapture, you fool," I said. "There's been an explosion and I'm just making sure everyone's fine."

The real reason of the night's big bang.

He hung up as I heard him begin to yell in paranoia. Turns out, there was an explosion at an oil refinery nearby and the entire area woke up due to the massive blast. But of course, none of us knew that right away.

As for me, I spent the rest of the night calming both friends. Both thought it was the end of the world, and I had to convince them otherwise. What a night it was...