"That was mine."
Kayl had barely heard the words. In his drunken state, he wasn't sure if he had simply imagined it or if he had said it and didn't realize. Kayl looked around the cramped room of his house, and realized quickly that he wasn't alone. Barbara was standing in the doorway.
"You don't remember? That mirror was a gift from my grandparents, and..."
Kayl nodded, "You gave it to me as a moving in gift. Yes, I remember...
Kayl took another drink from his bottle, by now he had forgotten what he had been carrying. Ever since the party ended he hadn't thought of anything else. Kayl pointed the bottle in his hand lazily towards Barbara.
"You were always giving me things. It pissed me off..."
Barbara laughed and shook her head, "I know, but you never said no. At least you were gracious enough to not throw it away."
Kayl looked around his room, it was the same. Nothing had changed, and as far as Kayl knew, he had been standing in front of a mirror. For how long, he did not know. He couldn't recall much of what had passed.
"D*** Kayl, you're drunk as hell..."
Kayl looked back to Barbara and laughed, "I don't even know what you're talking about. This is only my first bottle!"
Barbara walked over and took the bottle from Kayl's hand.
"Yeah, your first bottle of Vodka! Kayl, this thing is almost empty. Honestly, you're going to hurt yourself if you're not careful."
Kayl reached over to take the bottle back, but Barbara refused, instead offering her arm.
"Not right now, I think we need to talk."
Kayl sputtered and lazily swung his body around, "Talking is for weirdos!"
Barbara led Kayl out of the room. In his state, he was unable to really put up much of a fight.
"Well then we are a couple of weirdos Kayl. But I think we should talk anyway."
Carefully, Barbara helped Kayl down the steps. The house was a mess. Plates of food were still left around, reminders of the party that went so terribly. Barbara and Kayl walked past it all, grabbing Kayl's keys, wallet, and leaving the house all together.
Barbara's car was parked outside, a light blue Toyota Prius. Comparatively, Kayl drove around his much more powerful Ford Taurus. Barbara had always been the more Eco friendly of the pair, and Kayl had always said it was the one reason they had never dated.
"Where are we going?" Kayl muttered out through slurred tones.
"We're going for a drive. Don't worry about where we end up, because right now you and I have something much more important to talk about."
Kayl groaned as he opened up Barbara's passenger side door. Trusting in the instincts of his body, he miraculously made it into the car without a great incident. Barbara walked over to the other side and go into the driver's seat.
"Buckle up."
Kayl mumbled something about Barbara being a pain and made to pull down the seat belt, but after several failed attempts, Kayl merely forgot about it. Soon, they were on the road.
"So, what should I talk to you about first? Do you want to know where we're going, or do you want to know why I came back?"
Kayl shrugged, "I suppose I'd rather talk about the weather. It's a nice night out..."
"Fine, be that way," Barbara snapped back, but Kayl was busy lowering the window, "You should know that Beth and I have had a nice long talk."
Kayl groaned at the thought, he was sober enough to realize how terrible it was that his girlfriend and his only real friend were conversing. But as he was sure Beth didn't want to see him anymore, and Barbara probably didn't want to be friends now, Kayl couldn't find much to complain about.
"What did you talk about? How much you both hate me?"
Barbara laughed, "Actually, that's not far off. We both fumed about how much you ignore each of us. At first, Beth didn't even want to talk to me, but you should thank me. Because of me, Beth just might take you back if we can at least get you cleaned up. Or if not, we could just make you look too pathetic to be left alone."
Kayl chuckled weakly, "How happy for me, now I get to beg for forgiveness."
Barbara shook her head, "Kayl, friends don't beg for forgiveness, they just give it and that's that."
Kayl shook his head and smugly responded, "But I don't have any friends."
Barbara looked over at Kayl, there was a pause in the conversation before Barbara looked back to the road and sighed.
"Kayl, you know I've never talked to you about this. I don't need to ask if you remember what happened in high school. You've never let go of the fact that most of your friends abandoned you when you needed them. And we both know that sucks.
But you have let it take control of you. Now you can't make close relationships with anyone, not even working friendships. Honestly, if you didn't have me around, I'd doubt anyone would really want to talk to you."
Kayl sighed, "I don't really care what people want to say to me. Friendship don't mean anything, maybe all relationships are pointless. Why should I bother if people end up just using each other?"
"Kayl, when we were in high school, most of our friends wanted to come to your speech. But some of them had other things that got in the way like homework, or they got distracted with a game or something. It wasn't right, but afterward you were so butt hurt because of it that you refused to talk to any one of them."
Kayl looked over at Barbara and gave her a raspberry. Barbara smiled and shook her head.
"You're always so childish when you're drunk."
Kayl sighed, "They didn't want to talk to me either. They were perfectly fine with letting the friendship end. That just goes to show you how flimsy and frail it is."
Barbara nodded, "Yes, you're right about that. Friendship is frail, and all of your friends back then weren't willing to fight to keep it safe. But you can't escape responsibility for the fact that you didn't try to protect it either!"
Kayl leaned up and shook his head, "What was the point of fighting for friendship when you're the only one trying?"
Barbara got quiet for a moment. She reached up and wiped a tear quickly from her eye, "What the hell do you think I do with you!?"
Kayl didn't respond, though if he had, it would probably had made the matter worse.
"Kayl, d*** it. I was so mad at you back then, and I'm honestly mad at you now. But I'm your friend, whether you want to believe it or not you at least have one friend in this miserable world! And it may sound naive, but I'm going to fight for our friendship no matter how badly you try to push me away. That's what friends do!"
For years, Kayl had often wondered if Barbara had realized that Kayl had no wish to be friends with Barbara At times, he had convinced himself that Barbara was merely sticking around for the fun of it. But clearly, Barbara was emotionally invested. Kayl looked over to see Barbara watching the road, tears streaming from her eyes.
"Why would you really want to be my friend even when I ignore you? No one else would want to."
Barbara laughed behind a faltering smile, "Well, I know I might seem crazy. But despite being an asshole you're actually a pretty good friend."
Kayl shook his head, "I'm just good at faking it..."
"No you're terrible at faking it. Let's start with the fact that you have always been honest with me."
"Honesty?" Kayl mumbled, and he suddenly felt as if he was in a grove of apple trees. "I just told you I've been lying about being anyone's friends. How is that honesty?"
"Kayl," Barbara sighed, "That's what I mean, you've always been honest about how you feel about friendship. But you could have lied and told me that you wanted to be friends and then faked it. You're missing the point that with me, you're at least honest about your feelings, even though that's concerning to me. Maybe I can't say the same about anyone else, but I appreciate it. Besides, you're also pretty loyal to."
"Loyalty?" Kayl mumbled, as the word sunk into his skull. He felt as if his body was on air, fueled by Barbara's unwillingness to simply let Kayl go.
"Kayl, I was one of your friends in high school. And I gave you plenty of opportunities to simply leave, but you never did. You always stuck around with me..."
Kayl shook his head, "You were the only one who was there..."
Barbara laughed, "Because I didn't have anything else going on. That hardly makes me much better. You know, most of us were so confident in you winning that silly school president race that we thought you would’ve done it all by yourself. We forgot what loyalty meant, but when it came to me you didn't.
Also, you might be surprised to hear this. But you are unquestionably kind of heart."
"Kindness?" Kayl sighed, and he felt a forest grow around him, surrounded by a blanket of his own emotions. He had always thought that he deserved no praise, and wished for none. Barbara was shattering walls down one by one.
"Oh yes, as kind as any person could be as a friend. You have never forgotten my birthday. You were with me when my dad died. And except for tonight, you have never let the situation between Beth and I keep us from hanging out. You always know what to get me as a gift, and I never have to ask. You may think that it's just a game you play, but I know you don't do it that well with anyone else. Oh, and since we're on the topic of gifts, why don't we talk about your generosity?"
"Generosity?" Kayl felt himself sink into warm water, and all of the guilt and shame of the night was washing away.
"You give more of your time and money to other people then most people I know. Why do you do that?"
Kayl shook his head, "I don't have any need for money..."
Barbara laughed, "That's just not true. You like to help people. You like to make them happy. So you do things for people. Oh sure, you can tell yourself that in the end you get something out of it, that it's all a big game to you.
But generous people may have motives of their own, the point is that you always give. If the worse thing that can be said about that is that people help you in return, that still makes you a great person. Besides, you're always good to give people a laugh when they're feeling down?"
"Laughter?" Kayl said with a snicker, "So I am a big joke then?"
Barbara laughed, "No, it means you like to make other people feel good about themselves. You know what everyone says at these parties you throw? They always tell me how much fun you are to work with. People say that if you weren't as entertaining to be with as you are, they'd never come to your parties. I've heard some tell me that they give up family get togethers to be at your parties."
Kayl laughed, it was probably the funniest joke he had heard all night.
"Neighborly of them isn't it?"
Barbara laughed, "Kayl, each and every one of them brings things for your parties. They bring you booze, food, and whatever they can bring. You may be lieing to them, and you may not trust them, but for someone who hates friendship, you certainly act like one really well."
Kayl shrugged, there was a silence in the car for a lingering moment.
"So what? Why can't I just live like that?"
Barbara nodded, "It's worked really well for you for a while hasn't it? But the problem is that while you're able to act like a friend, you won't trust anyone like a friend. You close yourself off and at least with Beth, you don't open up your feelings. You avoid confrontations that get into your personal life, you usually try to change the subject. Thankfully you're drunk, so you can't really fight me off."
Kayl snickered, "So where are you taking me then?"
Barbara paused for a moment, "I'm taking you to see Beth."
Kayl choked and looked at Barbara, "I don't want to see Beth like this!"
Barbara shook her head, "Kayl, you are going to talk to Beth; you're going to tell her you love her and you want her to move in; and you're going to explain that you have been an ass. I have been on the phone with her for over an hour to try and make things better, and you are not ruining your life just so you can continue to be alone. Or do you like being drunk and alone in your house when the party is over?"
Parties, Kayl finally realized how much fun they are. He thought of cakes, and streamers, and suddenly he wanted to have more parties. He wanted to have parties with many people over. Good times, laughs, and people being sincere with each other. What he wanted was everything friendship stands for, but he didn't want people to care about him.
Kayl let tears stream down his face, reluctantly crying in front of Barbara.
"I don't want to go see Beth. She deserves better. So do you Barbara. I guess I just wish I had realized how much I needed you sooner..."
Barbara looked over at Kayl. For a moment in time, Barbara pitied Kayl more than anything. Here was a man who in every way wanted to have friends, but didn't want to show them his heart. Barbara reached out and placed a hand on Kayl's shoulder, and for the first time, Kayl wanted to go back to being friends again.
And then there was the sound of a horn.
Barbara looked back to the road to see another car streaming out of control, she barely had time to avoid it as she turned hard on the wheel.
Kayl flew from one side of the car to the other, and grasped at anything he could to get back in his seat. He could barely see anything that was going on until he looked out of his open window.
It was a light, bright and gloriously shining. As the light bounced off of the wet road, it created rainbows of colors in Kayl's eyes. It was the light that had taken him to Equestria. And soon he would go on many adventures with Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Names he had hardly heard before, and soon he would learn them as friends. The light of Equestria was pulling him in. But this light was not from Equestria.
It was from an oncoming truck. And as the two vehicles collided, Barbara screamed out and grabbed hold of Kayl as tightly as she could.
The collision threw Kayl around, contorting his body this way and that. He lurched forward, just as he had done when he traveled to Equestria. And the worse pain he had felt as he traveled through the mirror, was the same pain that he felt as shoulder, leg, and neck were all broken in the accident.
The car rolled, and Kayl hit his head several times, knocking him out quickly. He did not feel himself fly from the car through the open window. By the time he hit the ground, Kayl was just waking up in Twilight's living room.
As Kayl was traveling to Canterlot as an alicorn, Ambulances had arrived and taken Kayl and Barbara from the wreck and taken them to the nearest hospital. Barbara was beat up badly, but she continued to scream and cry out for Kayl. Kayl's human body was in a second ambulance. He was bleeding profusely, he had a severe concussion and multiple injuries. He was wounded in several spots, and it was a miracle he had not been decapitated during the crash.
In Equestria, Kayl could barely learn to fly or use magic. On earth, Kayl was lying in a comma in the hospital. Doctors kept Kayl constantly medicated as they performed emergency surgery, staunched bleeding, and prayed that Kayl would be able to recover. His wounds would soon be staunched, but Kayl's brain damage had left Kayl severely incapacitated.
As Kayl finally learned the true value of friendship from Twilight and her friends, doctors had discovered the damage to Kayl's body was too severe, and the only way for him to be kept alive was by life support. Months ago, Kayl had signed a Do Not Resuscitate agreement. Kayl believed that if it was his time, he should pass on. There was nothing else to do.
And so his life support was stopped. As Barbara shouted and screamed for the doctors to ignore the DNR agreement, Beth cried and sobbed next to Kayl's body. Kayl's parents had been notified, but were out of state and were busy rushing to the airport to catch a plane. And Kayl, finally at peace, realized how much friendship meant to him.
Now, you may be confused, or angry, or perhaps you are sad. Certainly it is a tragic ending to Kayl's life, that at his last hour of life, he would finally learn how much friendship meant to him.
You may remember at the beginning of this tale, I explained that this was a story about a man who would learn a valuable lesson about friendship. As we saw, Kayl learned many lessons about friendship, many that you and I might already know. But this story was written so that you may learn a valuable lesson about friendship. The one lesson Kayl learned far too late.
Life is fleeting and friendship is frail. You must always take care of your friendships, and be willing to work hard to maintain them. But most importantly, I hope you learn this one thing. When you are wondering if you should tell your friends how much they matter, or if you wonder when you should show them that you care?
Don't wait.