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Nothing Lasts Forever

David turned the key and walked inside.
“Mom! I’m home!”
No reply. David smiled to himself and threw his school bag onto the floor. He walked into the kitchen, picked up the phone and dialed his friend’s number as if he were a programmed robot, not even having to look at the buttons. Two rings, three, four…
“Hello, Mitch speaking.”
“Hey man my mums out, wanna come over?”
“Sure thing, just give me a minute and I’ll be there” replied Mitch enthusiastically.
“Sweet, see you soon.”
“Yeah, later.”

Mitch and David were best friends, called inseparable at times by their other mates. But this didn’t bother either of them, they both knew the others were jealous of their strong friendship that none of them really had. Well, that’s what they liked to believe anyway.

By the time Mitch arrived, David had put on his favorite AC/DC record, Highway to Hell, and was attempting to play along to one of the tracks on his guitar. Mitch walked into the lounge.
“Don’t give up your day job man” he joked.
“Nah seriously, listen, I’ve almost got this bit sounding like the real thing” replied David.
He played along with the record impressively, keeping up with the high speed guitar.
“Yeah that’s really going well. Nice work.”
Now followed an awkward silence, which was rarity between the two of them.
“Listen man, I have to talk to you” said Mitch hesitantly.
“Sure what’s up” said David, unprepared for what was to follow.
“My dad…he applied for a job overseas…”
“And?” probed David, knowing what was coming but letting his hope take him over.
“He got the job. We’re moving next week. ”
These words hit David with the force of an atomic bomb. He stood there, stunned.
“So everything...is final? asked David, refusing to let go to of his last strands of hope.
“Yeah. Yeah it is” said Mitch.

The rest of the afternoon went by with little talking. After a subdued goodbye, David went into his room and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. A flurry of memories surrounded his intense sadness. And it hadn’t even sunk in yet.

The following week they spent almost all their time together, making a fresh lot of memories, during which they sometimes even forgot that Mitch was leaving. But the hardest part was closing in, every breath taking them closer to that airport goodbye.

After staying the night at David’s, they went out to the airport together and met Mitch’s family there. They had about 20 minutes before Mitch had to board, and as they sat in the unfriendly café, David realized that what he had previously refused to believe was actually coming true.

When it came time for Mitch’s departure, the two best friends hugged and reassured each other that they would keep in touch.

Mitch began walking down the tunnel, turning and waving once, and then walking on down the tunnel, repressing his feelings for fear of embarrassing himself. And as a tear raced down his cheek, David watched his best ever friend disappear around the corner.

Karrah's Knight

"Parron! Where are you? C'mon now, its getting dark," Karrah called out, glancing through the deep jungle. She sighed, rocking back slightly. She shook her head, and pushed a lock of red hair back behind her ears, as she surveyed the landscape around her. "Dumb bird. Where did you go?"

"Braawk! Pretty bird!" A parrot's voice sounded from behind her. Karrah sighed once more in relief, and then turned around to greet the small green bird. Parron squawked once more, then flew from the branch he was sitting on onto Karrah's shoulder.

Karrah shook her head, and lifted her hand to pet him. "There you are, you silly bird. Why'd you have to go and fly off? You know you're already on thin ice with mother... once more, and you'll get your wings clipped. And you know neither of us want that to happen!" Laughing, she turned and headed back, only to realize she had gotten lost.

It was because it was dark she had gotten lost, and if it was daylight she could probably pick out her surroundings enough to figure out where she was. Everyone knows that in the darkness everything looks different, and it was no exception in her case. The trees cast strange shadows over the ground, hanging eerily over her and the bird, and the moon gloomed eerily upon them. All was strangely silent, and it seemed very out of place…

Wait. Silence? The thought rushed through Karrah’s mind quickly, over and over again until it outnumbered all other thoughts. She frowned, remembering the nights when she could hardly go to sleep because of the noise the wild life made at night. Something isn’t right here…
She began to walk slower, looking about her for any sign of movement, all the while soothing Parron. And then, she saw them. The Panther’s eyes gleamed at her from the depths of the bush, and as it moved closer to her, flashed a deep violet. It growled deep within its throat, its ears flicked back.

“It’s not going to hurt me…” Karrah whispered, mostly to soothe herself as she backed slowly away. “I’ll just make a lot of noise. Is that what you do? I’ll do it anyways… Parron!” Her voice squeaked as she called out the parrot’s name. She was too late though; the parrot had already flown off. She took a deep breath as softly as she could muster, staring into the eyes of the large cat, too frightened to do anything else. She started counting by tens, trying to remember what she had just been thinking of doing, and willing herself to stay calm.

“Ker-click. BANG!” Karrah jumped high into the air at the unexpected noise. It had startled her very much, but it startled the Panther much more. With a surprised yowl, it sped off into the night, and Karrah could hear it for what seemed like forever afterwards. Then she heard the soft flutter of wings as Parron once more fluttered onto her shoulder. “Ker-click. Bang!”

Karrah laughed softly as she realized that it had been the parrot that had made the noise, and then remembered why she was there in the first place. She opened her mouth to scold him, but the words she wanted didn’t come out. “Good bird, Parron! I’ll get you a Papaya when we get home. You like those, don’t you?” And with that said, she walked off in the direction she thought was home.

---
Karrah opened her eyes sleepily, blinking as she turned off the alarm clock. She held her breath for a second or two, and then breathed out as she heard the soothing voice of her mum. She tried to pull the covers back over her head, so she could get back to sleep. Her dream had been interesting, she remembered, but she couldn’t remember exactly what it was about… just that it had been scary, but had turned out for the better after all.

“Karrah, honey. I know you’re awake. Can you do something for me?”

Karrah grumbled, not wanting to leave her bed. After a few seconds, she gave in, however. She sat up, and looked at her mum. “Sure. What is it?”

“Parron got out again… do you think you could go get him? You always seem to find him.”

Nodding, Karrah slipped her shoes on and grabbed the torch near her bed. After all, this time she might not be so lucky.

Everything Changes

Mark sat on his bed in shock. His mind fluttered back to the last half hour, when he received the call. The call that had changed everything. His best friend was dead, gone forever. Hit by a car when coming out of the mall. Andy’s mom had been crying while on the phone, repeating the horrific details as told to her by the police. Mark had ended the call and then ran straight to his room and bolted the door, he could hear his mother on the other side pleading with him to come out. But he didn’t feel like facing anyone right now, maybe not ever.

As he sat there, the sunny Saturday afternoon turned into night and Marks thoughts ran to Andy and the fun they had had together. Who was he going to go fishing with now? Who would be there to play the latest video game with? The pain in Marks chest exploded, he could feel something hot streaming down his face but was numb to anything other than the overwhelming sensation of being unable to breathe. He lay down and too exhausted to do anything else fell into a troubled sleep.

The rest of the weekend passed in a blur. At some point on Sunday his parents had tried talking to him about Andy. Mark could understand their concern and his mom did look worried but how could he explain to them how he felt? No one could understand what he was going through.

On Monday morning Mark walked to school, turning down the offer of a lift from his parents, this was something he needed to face alone. Every step brought back a fresh memory of Andy, as they often used to walk together. Choking back the tears Mark pushed himself on and soon arrived at the gates. Suddenly he stopped, what was he doing? How could he face everyone, and most importantly how could he face seeing Andy’s desk unoccupied? While he was contemplating skipping school he saw his teacher, her face was fraught with worry and it was then that he realized he wasn’t the only person finding today hard. Steeling himself, he marched up the steps and through the door.

Entering the class Mark could feel the sadness hanging over it. Andy had been the class clown and it was obvious everyone was missing him, most of the girls were crying (some of the boys too) while everyone else just sat in silence. His teacher walked in and threw Mark a look heavily loaded with sympathy, she smiled weakly and then turned to the rest of the class. Her eyes were red and it was obvious that she had been crying. Mark missed most of what she said as Andy’s old desk had caught his eye bringing a fresh set of tears. Somehow he stumbled through the rest of the day only faltering when in the Gym for assembly, the principal had talked about Andy’s funeral which was to be held on Wednesday at the local church. Mark was filled with panic, he didn’t know if he could attend the funeral, it seemed so final.

Wednesday arrived in a flash of thunder and grey skies it seemed fitting to Marks mood.
His parents drove him to the church and sat at the back while Mark went and sat at the front with his class mates. He couldn’t take his eyes off the coffin at the front, he couldn’t believe this was real. Andy would jump up any second and say it was all a joke. But he didn’t and he never would. Ever.

Mark stood up and ran, he ran past his friends, past his teachers and past his parents. He didn’t stop running until he came to the stream where he and Andy had been fishing just a week ago. Then falling to his knees he let out an almost animal like scream.

“This isn’t fair! Why did you have to die?”

The pain was so consuming and the anger so overwhelming that he started hitting the nearest tree, while shouting at Andy until his voice was hoarse and his fist was dripping with blood. The sky opened up and the rain came down evaporating his anger, Mark collapsed in the shelter of the tree and silently cried. One hour turned into two.

Then the rain stopped, the clouds parted allowing the sun to stream through. A bright light settled over the stream and Mark could see a wonderful rainbow effect on the water. He stood up to get a closer look and then he noticed that over to the left, where Andy had stood while fishing last week, was a family of Mallards, Mark and Andy had found their nest just last week and had counted the eggs laying there, four in total. The mother and four ducklings paused, the mother studied Mark and gave him a quizzical expression, then ushered her babies back to the safety of the water.


Mark watched them for a while, his tears dried up and he felt at peace. Andy would never come here again but Mark could feel his presence and knew his friend was saying goodbye to him. The pain would never go away but it would get easier. Everything changes, but life goes on.

Mark took a deep breath and headed for home.