“Aaron, come on, please don’t do this, I love you. You’re my best friend.”
Aaron and I had always been very close. Over the years we had grown inseparable. Aaron was my best friend. Aaron was always a seriously troubled kid. He didn’t have the greatest life at home. I remember once when he had called me and I thought it was just a regular conversation with my best friend. Turns out things didn’t go as planned.

“Aaron that is ridiculous, you can’t do that for your project, Mrs. Williams will freak!”
“That’s the whole point Britt, it’s just for fun, I don’t think she will mind at all.”
He chuckled softly. I knew he was shaking his head, laughing at my reaction.

We continued our conversation for a little while longer until Aarons’ dad walked into his room. Aaron whispered for me to hold on for just a moment. I think he put the phone down under his pillow so I couldn’t hear what was going on.

“You lazy, no good piece of dirt! Get up off your butt and go do the darn dishes!”

I heard something hit the bedroom wall and started to worry.

“Dad, I did them two days in a row already, it’s Hunters’ turn tonight.”

“Boy, don’t you dare talk back to me! What part of what I said did you not understand? Let me just repeat it since your too stupid to understand. I said get off that darn phone and go do the dang dishes before I shove that stupid thing down your throat!”

The line went dead and he was gone. Twenty minutes later Aaron called back.

“I am so sorry you had to hear all that, and I am sorry that I hung up on you too. I just didn’t want you to hear what happened next. It is so embarrassing.”

“Aaron, did he hit you? He shouldn’t be talking to you like that you know. It’s terrible. Doesn’t your mother ever say anything to him?”

“She tried to once. She knows better know though. He hits her too. Relax, Britt, I am used to this stuff. It’s no big deal.”

“Aaron, it is a huge deal. You need to do something about it, tell someone. You can’t keep defending that monster.”

He went quiet for a few seconds; I knew he was up to something.

“Britt, sometimes I just wish that I had the guts to take my life into my own hands. I just wish I could put this gun to my head and pull the dumb trigger. I should never have been born. I am not even important no one would miss me. I want out of this place.”

With that Aaron said bye and hung up the phone. He didn’t even give me a chance to say anything. I was too shocked to hang up the phone. I was scared out of my mind. I had to tell someone; I had to do something and quick. I immediately pulled my mom aside and told her everything. She reassured me that everything would be all right and that she would take care of things.

The next week went by so slow. I didn’t see Aaron at all. I got really scared. Monday morning came and there he was sitting in his desk next to the window in first hour. I tried to make eye contact but he wouldn’t look at me. After class was over he walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me engulfing me in a tight embrace. He kissed my forehead gently and said thank you. He told me he would explain everything later and with that he walked off to his next class.

Later I found out that Aaron had been taken away from his parents and put in the custody of his grandparents. He also had a restraining order on his dad. I was so relieved. My best friend was now safe and not to mention happy. It was all I could ask for; all I ever wanted.