I didn't have many friends in school, but I remember one friend who, after all these years, is still tortured in his mind by what happened one day by the hall lockers.
He was a nice person at heart, I know this because he hung out with me at lunchtime. It was late fall when he found himself also hanging out with the popular kids.
One day I was walking through the hall and he had his back to me. One of the popular kids saw me coming and made a joke about me. My friend, because he was so nice, under peer pressure, laughed at the joke.
The popular joker kid looked at me and said hi to me. My friend turned around in horror and saw me walking by. I didn't look at him. I just kept walking. We never spoke again.
Gradually over time he forgot the incident, but every time he saw me, he would have negative feelings, which by now he forgot was his guilt.
He eventually came to despise me because I triggered negative feelings in him, which were actually his own fault.
Hanging out with the popular crowd, he began to mock me and continue to become ever more popular.
From time-to-time he remembers me, and takes another drink of Whiskey. He died. The end.
