Autumn Leaves

       It’s mid autumn again, the air crisp and cool. All the leaves have turned into their delicate forms, with bright oranges and brilliant reds spreading through every tree in sight.
       

      Here I am, standing in the place you and I used to meet in times like this. We would just sit and enjoy the fall colours, talking about anything and everything going on in our lives.

       Now I’m left here, empty and alone, wondering about what happened to our friendship. Gone one day, just like that. Well, not quite. You and I both knew it was happening, and it did. We just drifted apart, in such a short amount of time.
 
      I still acknowledge you in the hallways, giving a halfhearted smile, and you always give me that sad look with a small wave. But nevertheless, nothing has changed since then, and never will. The awkward small talk, avoiding each other slightly, finding excuses to be somewhere else without noticing.

      Even with my new friends, I still see you with yours, laughing and enjoying yourself. Not that I don’t want you to be happy, but there’s still that small feeling of bitterness left, like when you’ve finished a sour candy and you can still taste it ever so slightly.

      
    Do you still remember all the time we spent together, not a worry in the world? Everything could have been going wrong, and we’d be as happy as can be, just content with each other’s presence.

     We used to spend entire summers together, not wasting any time to dash over to the park, playing in the sun and running around. I can still picture us begging our parents to let us go visit one or the other’s house. Or the hours we’d spent idly chatting on the phone, only to get told off.

     Can you remember the times we would celebrate holidays? Like the fourth of July. The soft, damp grass and the evening chill, the big blankets we’d haul with us. Getting so excited to watch the fireworks together, running around barefoot on the ground.
      
        It was funny, how as children we would be so open and understandable, readable, in a sense. But now older, I almost feel like I know nothing about you at all. All the small little details we would learn about each other, what we ate for dinner or our favourite type of pen to write with. That almost feels useless in a way now, like it would get us nowhere.

       But that was when we were back in elementary school. Over time, you started hanging out with your friends from new classes. First only during those classes. Then it became lunch. Then after school. Weekends. Breaks from school. As I slowly watched you become more distant, I discovered other people that I liked, and in a way, it did help me learn to be a bit less dependent on my friends, the way I was with you.

   But now I’m here again, reminded of my melancholy memories from the fall leaves, trying to forget about the friends we used to be.