Friendship (standard:other, 3290 words)
Author: Durk	Added: Apr 15 2002	Views/Reads: 3308/2288	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A friendship between two men is tested to the limit resulting in a devestating climax.

“A man in his late twenties has just been shot during an attempted bank
robbery. One officer had heroically put his life at risk to save the 
Bank Teller and the three other people who were inside. The man had 
reportedly taken the Bank Teller hostage as a way of escaping. After 
some heated exchanges, it is known the Officer finally talked him into 
releasing her. However it is rumoured that the police fired shots 
during a time when the mentioned offender was not a serious threat to 
public safety. The identity of the deceased is still unknown as of yet. 
We shall have a full report on the story in our next bulletin.” 

* * * * 

Jack looked down at his watch...hmm, the time was only a quarter to
eight and the Bank would not be open for at least fifteen more minutes. 
The passenger seat opposite him still contained a newspaper, which had 
been there since the previous night. A mini article on the left-hand 
margin of the front page read 

‘Two Friends Reunite Again after 25 Years.' 

It was an amusing story of two people who had made a promise to return
to a location, which they had last seen, each other. Their next 
encounter would be twenty-five years later and they had both kept their 
word and showed up. Jack soon grew tired of the story and turned the 
pages to read about other news items. 

However the article still remained in his mind. The theme of friendship
set off some sort of trigger in his mind and it sent him back in to the 
past. Back to the friends he made in his years of high school. Those 
years were the happiest times of his life. Back when the world was 
anything you wanted it to be. So many roads to go down leading to 
different careers, it made it exciting to be young. He made many 
friends there and it was a shame that he lost touch with most of them. 

Now it was almost fifteen years later and he was once more back in his
hometown. One of his closest friends of that time was a guy named Paul 
Bennett. He had lived next door to Jack for as long as he could 
remember. 

They grew up together and began to trust and depend on one another. They
enjoyed the same movies and had the same hobbies. Both liked the same 
sports and were typical young teens. Academic wise they were very 
different. Paul was interested in following a career as either a Police 
Officer or an Army Official. Jack did not know what he wanted to 
become. He did not really mind as long as it didn't involve homework or 
lectures from teachers. 

Originally Jack and Paul were members of a close trio. A young man by
the name of Francis, made up the three. Tragedy struck however and he 
had been killed in a freak train accident, along with six other people. 


It happened in their final year of high school. It was a horrible thing
to happen to such a bright young man who had his heart set on emulating 
his parent's success as a doctor. His mother at the time of his death 
had been five months pregnant and at the shock of loosing her son 
became deeply depressed and also lost her unborn child as a result. 

Jack had not kept in touch with any of his friends once he had left the
town. He had dropped out of school early due to his father leaving the 
family to go off with another woman. He'd simply dumped his children, 
leaving them to care for their sick mother without any help. 

Being just seventeen years old Jack started off working as a labourer.
However he got mixed in with a wrong crowd, which lead to him misusing 
drugs and alcohol. His actions had torn their small family apart and so 
he felt he had no choice but to leave the town for good. 

Having no work experience or a trade he had little choice but to steal
as a way of survival. This had resulted in him having another run in 
with the law and being handed down a jail sentence of four years. Those 
years were an absolute hell for Jack. 

He was subjected to regular physical and sexual abuse from fellow
inmates. The prison officers were a joke. They rarely tried to 


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