Friendships are essential since they teach us much about life, which would be boring otherwise. We all tend to make friends in kindergarten, or rather, those friendships happen because our mothers were acquaintances. During kindergarten, as far as I can remember, I was very shy about talking to others(mainly because my mum had scared me by saying that talking to strangers would lead me to be kidnapped), it would usually be my mum coming to pick me up and while she would wait for me outside the school-gate she would end up talking to some or the other parent. Later, when I came, she would introduce me to the stranger's kid, and that would be it. My early friendships were thanks to my mum since she would talk and introduce I had to smile and nod simply, then ask the other person whether they liked to play in the park. If the answer was yes, he or she was my friend; otherwise, I would place them in the ‘no talking’ category. During that time, I made a friend with whom I used to spend most of my time, her name was Mehek. She used to live in the same society as I, and we both went to the same kindergarten. Our mums became friends first, and then we. In class, we would always sit together and eat together. Even during our play time, I would hold the swing for her to enjoy the ride together. We had some sleepovers, which got to a point where my mum would threaten me that if I didn’t finish my homework, I wouldn’t be allowed to go to her house. We would even celebrate festivals together every Christmas and New Year, she would come to my place to spend the whole day and every Eid I would be at her place. We enjoyed each other's company very much, but then came the time when I had to shift to a new school for my primary education. Our timings clashed terribly, and the tradition of sleepovers was discontinued.

Slowly, there was a distance that emerged between us, and the interactions we had started to minimise. Of course, I wanted the friendship to last. Until one evening she came with her mother to our home, as usual, my mum and hers started their normal conversation about life and work, etc Then came the point where Mehek’s mother stated the purpose of her visit. Her father had got a transfer to Saudi Arabia, and the whole family was preparing to leave the next month. This news came as a sudden shock to me, and I stared at Mehek, hoping that she would say it’s a prank. However, she just stared back and nodded at me, confirming that it wasn’t. Even though there was this distance between us, we still had memories together, and it was very hard to let that all go (that too in a month, which seemed fairly unreasonable). After they had left, I didn’t speak to anyone, somehow trying to digest the fact that she was going to leave in a month. Then it came to my mind that I should give her a going-away present, so I searched through my toys, thinking I should give her something that would remind her of me. Finding nothing ( also because I did love my toys a lot, and it was already hard for me to part from my friend, parting from a toy would make things worse). Later, I decided that making a card for her would be a nice option. So the next week I spent on making a card with so much imagination and colours that I feel the paper would have been actually proud of how I had used it. I was pretty proud of my work, too. I kept it safe in my cupboard so that I could give it to her before she left. In the coming days, we saw a lot of boxes and people going in and out of their home. Knowing that there won't be anyone living above us made me feel blue, my mum noticed this and tried to cheer me up by allowing me to go to play with her on the terrace. We would play a lot on the terrace, flying kites, running about, racing on our cycles, etc. But when our respective mothers called us back home, we would be sad again.

Finally, the day came when they were going to leave for Saudi Arabia. They were scheduled to leave in the morning, the day before they left, I told my mum that I wouldn't sleep the whole night, so that in the morning I could give her a letter. However, I ended up sleeping the morning that they were supposed to leave. When I woke up, it was pretty late, and I ran to my mum to see whether they had left. To my disappointment, they had. My mum also told me that she had given the letter to Mehek, and also that she had a letter for me too. It was a letter that had many pictures of us and glitter, and phrases. It felt odd not to have her in society, and I was saddened by the fact that I couldn’t say goodbye for the last time, and it stung me.

Many years have passed, to be precise, 16 years have passed since she left for Saudi Arabia. There are moments still that I am reminded of her. With no contact between us, all those conversations and laughter run silent in the lobby of the apartment complex. Now, sometimes I sit in silence on the steps close to the terrace. I still hope, though, that someday we will meet again and we will begin our friendship again and have fun just like the old times, or at least chat about those days. For it was one of the few friendships that I have wonderful memories..

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