Hello! I’m Randy. I am 17 now, but the story that I want to
share with you happened a few years ago when I was only 13. This was the hardest and the most awful period
of my life. I should probably start this talk talking
about the death of my closest friend ever… Michael was 14 and he’d been suffering from
a severe disability since he was born. He had a very weak immune system and it was
so bad that he couldn’t even go school. As a matter of fact, I was the only person
his age that he could speak to. Not only were we friends, but our parents
also had a really close relationship since we lived next door to each other. Some of our neighbors even assumed that we
were all one family. We spent each and every holiday together and
oftentimes I stayed the night at Michael’s house. So, you know, we were like brothers and even
though I knew some other guys, like, from school, for example, he was the closest friend
I’d ever had in my life so far. Even though everybody knew that Michael was
going to die as a kid, it was really hard to swallow when he actually passed. I remember right after the funeral, while
his and my parents were busy with their adult stuff, I snuck to Michael’s room. Everything there was exactly the same way
it was when he was still alive. Michael used to sit on the window sill and
look out at our street waiting for me to visit him after school. So I just sat there and tried to remember
every single detail of our friendship. I hadn’t even realized that I’d fallen
asleep. But I do remember that I had a dream about
Michael, and he was there next to me in his room, and he said he was happy because he
no longer felt any pain. And it took me a second to realize that it
was the next morning when I woke up in his former bedroom. Later on, I found out that Michael’s dad
had found me, but he didn’t want to wake me up. I don’t know why people say that the pain
of loss gets better with time, ‘cause it doesn't. About a month later, Michael’s parents decided
to sell their house and move away. But you know what was strange? They seemed to no longer be friends with my
parents. I mean, I knew they were going through a lot
of grief, but I’d always thought that it would be better to have someone close nearby
in that case. We no longer spent evenings all together in
the backyard like we used to and our dads no longer fought over another football game
or things like that. I tried to ask my mom what was going on, but
she would only say that I was too young to understand. I remember once, when my dad was at work and
my mom was doing something with her daisies in the garden, Michael’s mom had come over. Apparently there was no one except me in the
kitchen, so she just came up and sat down nearby and started asking some regular questions
about school and stuff. For a second I felt as if nothing had ever
changed between our two families, but then my mom saw us talking. She’d gotten really nervous and told her
former best friend to leave us alone in a very rude way. Then she told me to go to my room and never
talk to Michael’s parents again. I was totally confused, but I decided not
to argue with her. To be honest, I’d never seen my mom that
furious before. A few days later, it was already late and
I had practically fallen asleep when I’d heard some voices downstairs. It seemed like my parents were arguing about
something in a loud whisper, so to speak. I’d gotten curious and went to find out
what was going on. I saw my parents and Michael’s and everyone
seemed to be worried and angry. I stayed hidden over the stairs to try to
hear what all the fighting was about. Suddenly my dad looked up the stairs and noticed
me. I guess all four grown-ups had finally come
to the conclusion that I finally had to know everything because Michael’s parents almost
immediately disappeared and so, my parents invited me to the kitchen. What happened afterward changed my view of
everything and everyone that I thought I had known. My parents told me that many years ago Michael’s
mom had given birth to another boy. She and her husband already had a son who
was sick and they’d been trying for almost a year to cope with two children, but then
their financial troubles began. They didn’t know what they were going to
do and that's when my parents bought a house next to theirs. Our two families had become friends and Michael’s
parents had found out that their new neighbors couldn’t have their own babies due to some
medical issues. That’s how the idea was born to have them
adopt their second child. Anyway, their plan had been implemented and
the two couples were happy having not only a shared fence, but a common son. But when Michael died and his parents decided
to move away, they wanted their second son to stay close to them. And this meant that he had to know the truth,
but his legal parents were not ready for that. At first, I didn’t get that the whole story
was about me and I thought that I was still sleeping. It couldn’t be true that my mom and dad
were actually not my mom and dad, and that our neighbors were my real parents. I mean, yes, we had always been close, our
two families, and Michael and I had been like brothers… Wait a minute. We actually were brothers, as it now turned
out and I just lost my only blood sibling! I felt like I was totally lost. Of course, mom and dad, I mean, the ones I
had been living with, tried to calm me down and find the right words to explain everything,
but I couldn’t stop crying. The only thing I wanted back then was for
Michael to be alive so we could run away together from these grown-up liars. Time has passed and my life has sort of gotten
back to normal. Michael’s parents – I'll keep calling
them that so you don't get confused – finally sold their house and moved somewhere else. And the family that bought it also had a son
who was my age and we’ve become friends. And I finally felt relief, because I guess
there is nothing harder in the world than living in uncertainty. I've had plenty of talks about everything
with my mom and dad since then and they even took me to a child psychologist for a couple
of months. To be frank, if I were them I’d probably
have done the same thing and I would've tried to keep this kind of secret for as long as
I could. We haven’t been in touch with Michael’s
parents for years, but two weeks ago I received a letter from Australia. It was from them and it was the longest letter
I’ve ever seen in my life. All in all, it included their apologies to
me for everything, and it was about their life in Sydney, and about their depression
of falling apart with my mom and dad. And they also kindly asked the three of us
to come and visit them there. They even promised to buy us tickets as soon
as we decide on the dates. So now I am packing my stuff to go to Australia
for a whole month! Who knows, maybe my next story here will be
about this trip. See you soon and don’t forget to click the
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