Dear Friend

Dear Friend,

Yesterday, your brother texted me. I had never met him before. He had called friends and family for a catch-up today. All your friends from the office were there. I turned up too.

I had a couple of mocktails—one tasted eerily similar to a favorite drink you once mentioned. The gathering was filled with conversations and laughter. Maybe everyone was talking a little more than usual, as if trying to distract themselves from the glaring absence of someone who should have been there. But I know you were. I’m certain, in the echoes of their laughter, I heard yours too.

Nice people like you are so rare that even the gods couldn't wait to meet you. Maybe that’s why they smuggled you away too soon. Your legacy lives on in the kindness you showed, the way you listened, and the optimism you carried—lessons you taught us effortlessly, without ever saying them aloud.

When everyone went back home tonight, I know they thought of you—your smiling face, your words, your presence. And I did too.

Good night, dear friend. And, just like all those Skeletor memes I used to bore you with—until we meet again.