50 Word Non-Fiction: Friendship – Batch 8

Every week, we publish the latest 50 Word Non-Fiction stories of Friendship. Read this week's pieces below!

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Growing up, we were inseparable, sharing everything and going everywhere together. Honest advice and friendship built an unbreakable link that remains to this day. The bond has never been broken. In the same clothes, Big Teddy, with one eye missing, sits on his chair in the bedroom. Listening and understanding.

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15 years have passed since Alice moved to South Africa. Time unravelled their relationship, Alice noticed Jill seemed stagnant, her usual posts still. Weeks passed; a little niggle pulled at her gut.
Jill's telephone buzzed, peeling away the hair stuck to her face, she looked at her phone and smiled.

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Un-acrimonious

You were a tangible presence while I hiked the Cornish coast alone, meri jaan. Solitude enhancing gratitude for time spent together. I hope and pray that our new friendship, now on parallel paths, may gently bend and intersect from time to time, in ways collaborative, loving, and spiritual.

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Every time I stepped into the garden, a little bell chimed hello. She leapt the wall, appearing beside me as I read, weeded, or hung washing. We shared sunshine, watched butterflies, and enjoyed quiet companionship. Then the moving vans came. But the beautiful memories stay, and I still longingly listen for her bell.

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Summer days that usually rained, playing Take That, and eating raisins because they were 'healthy.' Making plans and knowing they would not lead to fruition. You were unappreciated like the transient cherry blossom tree. I miss your uncomplicated friendship and our laughter at seagulls who stole tourists' snacks.

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“We don’t talk about that,” she said, her hands clasped primly. It was easier that way. No point upsetting him with her complaining, he had told her. Orwell had watched the elephant being shot, she thought. We invited it into our room and let it live there rent-free.

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Trees burst with wonderful clarity against a vibrant sunset. Cold nips at the ears, but I'm twice enveloped: the murmur of the wider group, bat locators fizzing; the muffled laughter of my friends, Ritz crackers crunching, shoulders warm against my own.

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Friendship
Ship vs friend,
On the journey that will never end.
Ships can protect you through the rough as well as the smooth.
Maybe that is what friends do, too.
Supporting you right up to the brink
Until they hit a rock and sink.
True friends lift you up again.

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A friend, always there, distance and time apart are irrelevant in true friendship. Trust, love, acceptance, a listening ear, connection, respect, and no judgment. Laughter, fun times, tears, grief, a perfect combination. To have a true friend is undoubtedly the best support in the world!

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There's a cyber-attack. Supermarket shelves are empty. Our little community shop still has food. I’m a shop assistant and I'm overwhelmed. I feel like crying. My friend comes in and buys an ice cream. I scan it and give it to her. “No”, she says, “it's for you.”