It was a good day. School was finished, and all the worries and stress about exams and the grades I would get finally disappeared for a few months. I could do anything I wanted: sleep until I woke up and not be forced to get up at 7 a.m. like I used to, and go outside and stay out late without worrying about waking up early for school the next day. It was finally a good feeling—until one day. That day was supposed to be good like the others, but it turned out to be a total nightmare. Why? You will soon find out. Here is how it went.
I had just woken up and was ready to get out of bed and start a new day. I did the usual morning things and ate breakfast. After a few hours, I decided to go to the beach with my brother to have some fun and swim. It was really fun, and we even brought a ball, so it was ten times better. We played many games with it, and when our mom called from the window to tell us we had spent a long time at the beach, we decided to go home. I took a shower and then sat on the couch to watch some TV.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a message from my friend—let’s call him Mark. Mark invited me to hang out with all of our friends. I agreed. We set the time and place to meet, and it was all set. After half an hour, I got dressed and left home for the meeting place, a café. We were all there—actually seven of us. After sitting for a while, we decided it would be nice to take a little walk around our small town. We all walked together. It was fine; we were talking and joking, but something felt terribly off. I noticed that some friends who had been with us disappeared without a trace. I was confused. Why would they just vanish like that? I brushed it off as my mind overthinking, but it stayed in the back of my head.
As we neared the place where we met, Mark’s friend—a girl; let’s call her Anna—heard her mom asking her to help with the groceries because there were too many bags to carry. Mark offered to help, and she accepted, so Mark, Anna, and her mother went to her house. I noticed more friends disappearing until only two of us were left: me and my friend—let’s call him Damian. Damian and I were heading to the playground. I was confused about why we had been left and where everybody else had gone. I asked him, and he simply said he didn’t know and continued walking.
I saw some of my other friends at the playground and decided to say hi. We all sat on a bench and talked. Damian was quiet, his eyes glued to his phone, and he kept looking at me in a strange way. I didn’t think much of it and continued talking. A few minutes later, Damian disappeared without a trace—no goodbye. It was so weird, so I said bye to my friends and went looking for him. As I searched, I saw shadows in the distance hiding behind a wall. I looked closely; the figure looked like Damian. I called his name, but he did not reply, and the shadows disappeared. I thought it was strange and stayed confused about what had just happened.
After walking a few minutes, I saw someone who had been with us running, sweating, and gasping for air. He said hi, and I replied. I asked if he knew anything about our friends disappearing, and he brushed me off and said he didn’t know. I went to tie my shoes, and the next thing I knew, he started running as if someone were chasing him. I realized something was terribly wrong. I searched every street, hoping to find them, but I didn’t. I messaged our group chat, asking where everyone was. After I sent the message, I saw that half the group chat was active and had seen my message but didn’t reply. I typed more messages, begging them to answer.
Then Damian started typing. I waited, and the message appeared. He asked why I wanted to know. I was stunned. I typed that I wanted to know what happened to everyone and why they had all disappeared. As I sent that message, I felt nervous and angry. Then he started typing again. What I read left me speechless. He said they were hiding from me, that they didn’t want me with them, that I was boring, and that they didn’t like me. That message left me in complete disbelief, and I stared at it for five minutes. I couldn’t believe it. Why would they do this to their best friend—someone who was always there whenever they needed help? I was mad but also sad. I started walking home, and the message kept replaying in my head. I kept asking myself why.
Then Mark messaged me asking where everybody had gone, and I told him the whole story. He was speechless and couldn’t believe what he was reading. He offered to meet and talk, and I accepted. While I waited, a friend passed by on an electric scooter and stopped when he saw me. He told me that while he was riding, he had seen my friends hiding behind boats that had been taken out of the sea for cleaning. I was shocked. I thanked him for the information and quickly headed toward that location, which was on my way, so I could see them. I approached and saw them all whispering for me to hide because I had arrived. I told them I could see them. They tried to get rid of me by telling me to go away. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
I took out my phone and recorded them. I sent the video to all my friends on an app called Snapchat and quickly went home. I felt like I was about to collapse. My throat tightened, and I cried silently. When I came home, I greeted my parents and lay down on my bed. I debated whether I should stay calm or do something terribly stupid to myself. That was the day that changed my life. I argued with myself for a few minutes until a friend who had seen the video replied. She was a girl—let’s call her Rose. Rose asked what the video showed because I had recorded it in a rush and it was hard to tell what was happening. I explained everything to her, and she was angry like me. She comforted me and said everything would be okay. We talked for an hour, and other friends saw the video and started asking me about it. I told them the same story, and they were shocked. I had to go to bed, so I turned off my phone and slept.
The next morning was sad and strange. I wasn’t motivated to do anything. There was so much in my head that it drove me to tears. Half the day passed, and I asked my mom if I could go outside for a bit. She said yes. I thought about the whole situation and finally came to a conclusion.
Real friends will not treat you like this. If they had been true friends, we would all have been hanging out together. Instead, they left me and talked badly about me. I realized I could not trust them anymore, so I decided to leave them alone and never speak to them again. On the bright side, my summer friends were coming in a few days, so that was something to look forward to. Even now, this day still haunts me whenever I think about it. The story was driving me insane, and I had to tell someone, so I decided to write it down.