Medlyne Alice Kutwa

Best Friends Forever – More like Best Friends NEVER Nothing cuts deep like betrayal. Worse, if it is from someone that you have loved and cherished for years. It is true what they say –heartbreak from a friendship is more painful than from a boyfriend or girlfriend. Lovers are transient, never really expected to last long unlike a friend who is expected to be there till time in memorial. Sadly, that is never the case. Just like everything else human, friendships die, a slow, painful death filled with betrayal, bitterness, feelings of stupidity and unanswered questions. When it happens, one is going to be in denial. Excuse after excuse, you will take their word when they say that “something came up” or that “work is killing them literally so plans have to be cancelled”. It becomes kinda old quickly, but then you reason that it is your best friend and that they would have been honest and straightforward if they didn’t want to hang out, right? Wrong! When the realization that you much rather be alone on a Friday night other than calling your go-to person for plans even if it was a night in pigging on all-things-junk-food watching horror movies while she laughed at how you quickly turn to a wimp when scary music came on. When you find yourself checking your phone and see their name, you want to text them but stop yourself, engulfed in feelings of abandonment and confusion. Like a balloon drifting away from a kids grip, dejected and helpless is the same way some friendships end. For no reason at all, two friends drift apart, no longer sharing the same things that glued them together. Oh and don’t get me started on memories encapsulated in pictures thanks to Facebook’s memories feature that keeps reminding you of all your happy, drunken, ecstatic and what-you-thought-meaningful time of your life. All those memories mull in your thoughts as you ask whether you really meant anything to them, whether all that was real or it was just a ploy to use you, get chewed up like a stick of gum and get thrown when the flavor dies. Worst of all, is that you know that when you bring it up, there will be a barrage of lies or just a wall of silence. The one person who used to get you no longer seems to be on the same page with you anymore. And it drives you up the wall with anger mixed with confusion. But the truth of the matter is, people drift through our lives. Some stay for a long time, some for a short time while others are lessons or epiphanies. Losing someone who you deemed important in your life is like an uppercut blow in your heart. But if you have a friendship that overcomes all the breakdowns, that conforms to the changes in life and that withstands all the hardships, you should cherish it.