The Sins of The Past

I look into the darkness as I walk in the rain. My eyes wander across the street to a park. I instantly look away, recalling what had last happened there. I run back to my home as lightning strikes behind me. I remember what my best friend told me. He told me to never give up, no matter what the situation. It pains me to think about

him after so many years. I get into my bed and go to sleep. The next day I wake up and put on my uniform. I do my routine and go to my table. As I am chewing my cereal a memory pops up in my head. It is about the store. 

*** 

My forehead was sweating as I arrived at the store. I looked around. The store was our favorite because of the drinks. They tasted delicious. We also had a lot of fun here. I sat at our booth and looked around again. He wasn’t at sight. We were supposed to meet here to discuss the conflict between our parents. I sat down and drank a glass of water. Finally, he arrived. But before I could open my mouth, he said something that took away the power of my voice. He is leaving for another country with his family. His dad hates my dad too much to stay. I tried to convince him to stay, but he just walked away. He was my best friend.  

*** 

I shuffle off my memories and focus on getting to work. I go to the construction site and start drilling. My boss tells me that my shift is at the top floor. As I trudge up the stairs, I look outside. I see my old house that I grew up in, and the house that my best friend grew up in too. 

*** 

I looked at my best friend as we were playing soccer in my backyard. I ran with the ball and shot. He jumped up and rejected it. He was a few inches taller than me. I laughed as I ran to my goal and started defending it. I see him getting closer and closer and I tried to think of a tactic to stop him. But he launched it at the goal and got it in. 

*** 

I hear my boss shouting my name and I run back to the ground. I finish my shift and walk back home. I can’t help but think if our parents didn’t hate each other, would we still be friends? I reach my home and open my door. I slump onto my bed and close my eyes. I start to drift off to sleep… 

*** 

I screamed in triumph as I got another win in the video game. I saw the shock on my best friend's face when I beat him. We suddenly heard voices getting louder from downstairs. We looked downstairs and saw both our dads screaming at each other. My father looked at me and pulled me downstairs. He stormed out with me and we

drove away back to our house. 

*** 

I wake up to a bright sun shining through my window. I get up and get ready. I get into my car and decide to drive to the store. I check it out and then I see something shocking. I see a person sitting down and drinking coffee. I slowly walk up to him and look him in the eye. “Sam?” I say softly.  

I laugh as Sam makes another joke. So much has changed since we were best friends a long time ago. I ask him why he is here. He says that his dad died a year ago and now he decided to move on and meet me again. I offer my condolences and we continue walking through the park. We talk about old times and how so much has changed when so much hasn’t. We continue talking about random things. Finally, I look him in the eye and ask him something. I ask him if he wants to be best friends again. He looks at me back and says yes. As we are chatting it finally gets to the topic of our dads. 

*** 

I had asked my dad repeatedly about why he hated Sam’s dad. All he said is that I would know when I’m older. I asked him again and he finally cracked. He said that Sam’s dad sued his company a year back and that his company had lost one million dollars. I still wouldn’t look him in the eye. I just didn’t get it. You couldn’t hate someone just for one case. I said that him hating Sam’s dad wouldn’t get between our friendship. I looked back at him for one final time and then left. 

*** 

At home, I call my dad. I tell him that Sam is back, and his father is dead. I ask him one more time why he hates Sam’s dad, and he tells me the truth. He says the real truth was that he used to be part of the mafia and Sam’s dad used to be an agent for the CIA. Sam’s dad was basically against my dad. At that moment all my memories made sense. Everything that happened between our dads was because of this. 

*** 

I hid in my closet as Sam’s dad and my dad raced into my room to have a private talk. I looked at my dad and I saw he was holding a knife and in his belt there was a gun. I looked at Sam’s dad and he was unarmed. I heard Sam’s dad telling my dad to calm down. But he had that look in his eye that scared me. He advanced forward toward Sam’s dad. I suddenly bolted out of the closet and went into the middle of the fight. I told them to stop fighting. My dad pulled me out of the room and pushed Sam’s dad out of our house. He told me that him and Sam’s dad were just joking around, and he told me to go watch tv.  

*** 

I sit down and process all those memories with this new information. I think about it and then I rush outside. I run as fast as I can towards the store. I open it and look inside. Sam isn’t here. I call him and tell him to rush here. 5 minutes later I see him open the door and sit across from me. I tell him everything, even the fight between our dads. I try to read the expression on his face as he processes this new information. I look at him again and I see his face is stained with tears. I ask him why he is crying, and he tells me that I’m too dangerous to be his friend. I try to stop him, but he opens the door and drives away like he did all those years ago.