Today's #flashfiction The Friend Once Known

“Do you pick door number one, door number two, or door number three?”

Saint Peter* #quote

If you adopt a mentality that every plant is beautiful then you'll never have to pull weeds again. Anyway onto the flash fiction!

The Friend Once Known

           People sometimes have wonder if the world would be a better place if they were never born. They may think this because their mind is simply wandering, or perhaps they are feeling depressed. I found a way to do this, to attempt to answer this question, and even with all the time I've had to contemplate it in this strange void I've placed myself in I still haven't figured it out. That's why I need to ask a close friend. You.

           We knew each other very well in the time before I made myself no longer exist. I still remember you're favorite outfit, you know the one. I remember that story you told me about the people who bullied you, and I remember the time that you helped me with the children who bullied me. Yes, we were friends even when we were kids. You consoled me while rain poured and I cried, and helped me face them the next day. Though I consider the many games we played together, like tag, to be the memories from the time we spent together to be favorite. Unfortunately I did move, it was a terribly cold winter day when I said my goodbye to you. I'm afraid that I made you feel horrible when I did that. It would be years before we met again.

           We met again at our first jobs, did you get a job or stay home and watch your kids in your current timeline? Or both? I've always been afraid that I held you back, like your friendship with me kept you there. Did you start your own business in your timeline or win the lottery? Over the years I've begun to think that all those days we spent together at parties you could have been becoming a better person. I'd like to believe we had a wonderful go at life, but did I waste away your life by dragging you to whatever party or just to my house for a lazy day? I don't know at what point in your life I'm getting this message to you, you could be ten, twenty, thirty or eighty, but I erased myself probably far into your future. So I know I could have very well wasted a good decade of your life with meaningless “fun”.

         That's how it went with all the people I knew. Parties, a few trips to where I could manage with the funds I could gather. People become great by doing things like winning Noble Prizes or building vast businesses or contributing to and helping charities changing lives. I just wasted people's time. Do you feel satisfied in your timeline? Would you want someone like me holding you back with pointless fun? Did I contribute anything?

        I erased myself because I considered someone like me unhealthy. Like watching too much TV. Lazy and unhelpful. Did I make a mistake? You're my best friend, I can trust you to be honest with me.