LET'S BE FRIENDS

I walked to the kitchen to prepare dinner as soon as I entered, I saw all the chicken leftovers were scattered all around, "Krish..." I shouted while he came out of his room as cool as possible and said, "Megha, what happened? Why are you screaming so badly?"

"What on earth is all this?"

"Chicken, can't you see. Are you blind?"

"When will you ever learn how to dispose of the things properly" I questioned him and the argument continued for the next few minutes and, suddenly he started blabbering something like 'bus, trip, mom, etc.." and held his head and fainted, in a reflex, I called to Dr. Dhruv, the legal guardian of Krish. The doctor arrived and checked a few things and said, "This is his usual PTSD attack."

"Doctor," I asked confusingly.

"There is nothing to worry Megha when he tries to forget or recall his past. Even when he gets stressed or gets into some arguments he gets this attack."

"Before he fainted, he blabbered some words like mom, trip, and all. What was that?"

"Okay. So a few months ago, while Krish was traveling with his parents and friends group for a short trip, their bus met with an accident. There were many casualties, only around seven members survived with major injuries. Luckily, Krish was one among seven, but he lost all his dear ones. This incident led him to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"Is there any way to cure him?"

"Therapy and medications didn't work with him."

"Does that mean he can never recover?"

"Not exactly Krish, feels that he is lonely and that there is no one in this world for him to take care of and love him. When that thought of his is changed, he will recover completely, but there is only one risk factor of this PTSD the more stress might lead to many consequences, suicide is also one of the consequences."

"But doctor, I have been staying with him for the past six months."

"I know it, but you guys don't share any bond. Both of you only fight all the time or study, nothing more than that."

"You are right.", I said and thanked him as the doctor left.

I walked near to Krish and went closer to his ears, and whispered in the lowest voice that I could, "Krish, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but today I'm going to say something that I never told you. I grew up in an orphanage during my childhood and later joined this college. You know that I have never had anyone with me throughout my life. I surely know how it feels to be lonely. You should also know that I don't speak to anyone other than you. I fight and scold you because you are the only person in the world whom I know and trust. I will make sure I break your thought. You will always have me by your side loving and caring for you." I sat next to him, ruffling his hair until he gained consciousness. As he gained consciousness, I held his hand, helped him to sit, and gave him some food to boost his energy.

"Krish, listen, what am I to you?" I asked him.

"Why are you asking this question all of a sudden now?" he replied

"Because I want to be your friend."

"Okay, let's be friends," he said to cut the conversation. I left so that he could rest.

As days passed, we became best friends. He was a friend I never had and ever wanted. We used to drive together to college, watch movies, exercise, and do most of the stuff together. We still have our small arguments like 'which movie should we watch? What food to order?' and so on. I was getting to know him better now. He was an amazing person, very kind, funny, and also strict. He was very caring about me and always wanted me to be safe and also got into a fight with Jones Mathew one, of our classmates who is always behind me asking me on a date which, made Krish yell at him multiple times for creating nuisance around me. Krish even wanted me to stop going to the job because he felt that Mathew might disturb me there. He always says to me, "You are the only one in the world I know and trust so, do not let go of our friendship."

After meeting Krish, I understood the meaning of friendship and how amazing it is. Friendship is not about whom you have known for a long time, but it is actually about someone who never left your side on the days when you are sad or happy and gave you the utmost care, with whom you feel safe and never cares for being yourself, do crazy things around. A best friend is someone whom you can rely on and always gives you a shoulder to cry on. In this world, everything seems to be temporary, but I feel only one thing is permanent which is Krish, and my friendship with him was beyond words, beyond time, and beyond distance with, no limits to enjoying life until the last breath. Dhruv uncle, the doctor, Krish's guardian, used to visit us every weekend. He loved me so much and gave me the essence of a father's love, which is something that I had never experienced. After a long wait, the feeling of loneliness closed its stages in my life. Now I had Dhruv uncle like a father and Krish in my life, atlast I had felt the atmosphere of safety, family care, and love around me. They kept me on cloud nine always. I experienced the feeling of being the most special person in the world. They always did something or the other to make me feel that I was not just a random person to them. My life completely changed after meeting these two.

There was a time when I had no idea about vacation, but after meeting this person, holidays were always crazy. Krish took me now and then on some trips. I explored many places because of him different cities to different countries. He made me experience many new things like trekking, rafting, skydiving, etc.