January 2002, my family and I made a trip down to California for a wedding that was long anticipated. During that trip I made new friends. Yovani, Jacob, Some chick, and Dawlat. Yovani was an awkwardly tall, thin and cute boy that had a massive crush on Some chick. But Some chick was massively in love with Jacob. Some chick was skinny, pretty, and her hair was a perfect color of honey, mixed with the sun rays of California. I didn't like her because she was perfect and because Jacob was madly in love with her, while chubby ol' me was in love with him. (In my defense, he was REALLY REALLY REALLY cute)
As we kept getting to know each other, they would complain about a girl who was weird. She wore overalls (which in my time were super lame) old fashion clothing, her hair was nappy and her glasses did not work in her favor. Apparently she did not have friends, because she was not good enough to have any. At least not good enough for them. After hearing so many negative things about this "creep" I wanted to witness what this horrendous thing was all made of.
The day finally came for me to meet this so called "Dawlat". Truthfully, all I saw was a girl, with curly hair wearing glasses and overalls, and she was smiling. So I began talking to her and to my surprise, she was AWESOME!! Nothing like the things Ive heard. She was so funny, sweet, and cheerful. She would admit her awkwardness. It's because of her, that I know how to embrace your flaws and flaunt them. They were a part of her and that was who she was. Her name? Dawlet. My new best friend from far away. I was so excited to have made her my friend, of course the rest of the kids didn't like me after that. I couldn't understand why she was picked on by them so much. Dawlat was just like me, all that was different was the outside. She was tall and skinny while I was short and stubby. Leaving California was really hard for us. We grew to love each other in such a short amount of time. We even wished we lived close to each other so we could be friends forever! But that couldn't happen, so we stuck to the next best thing which was. ADDRESSES.
That's right, not phone numbers, not emails, there was no texting.. All we had where... HANDWRITTEN LETTERS! I was extremely excited to finally have a friend live far away. My sister had friends from all over the world so, me having a friend a couple of states away made me feel close enough to be like my sister. As we began writing to each other we would mention how much we would miss one another and how the next time we see each other we will do so many fun things! I would write about school and how hard it was getting and she would reply "don't worry, you will be fine, you are smart!" She would explain how she would be bullied by her friends or classmates. That would make her so sad, and me being far away made me feel unhelpful, but I would do my best to console her through my writing.
One day, she wrote me a letter, and I couldn't believe what I read. This time the bullying had gone too far. I wanted to hurt all the people making her feel bad, because she was my friend and I knew that if they gave her a chance, they would grow to love her as much as I did. It was now my turn to write, but as time went on, I would leave my letter to the side, promising myself that I would get to it. When my letter was finally written, I would take forever to send it. After 2 or 3 weeks I finally sent that stupid letter.
I wouldn't hear from her.
One day, I got home from school, and I went to my sister's room asking "Has anything come in the mail for me?" She replied "Abby... Please sit down" So I did. She then said "Your friend is dead.." To me that was the worst joke anyone could have ever said to me. Of course she is lying! Of course I didn't believe her!!! Next I ran to my mom's room and told her the cruel joke I just heard. My mom's words were "Mija, your sister is not lying to you"
She was on a road trip with her uncle, aunt and baby cousin. It was a severe accident, and only the uncle survived.
Dawlet's mom received my letter, and for the privacy of her daughter did not want to read it. But in the end she did. Her mom felt glad to know that, despite the distance, Dawlet had a friend who she could count on. My letter was to apologize on how long it had taken me to write to her. I consoled her for all the bullying she went through, and told her how much I cared and loved her. Her mom was very thankful to know that a friend so far away cared so much for her daughter.
Her name? Her name was Dawlat. She was 12
She never read my stupid letter.
I was 11, I am now 21, and I could never have the courage to respond to the mothers thank you.
For some reason. When I think of Dawlat, I picture her in the back seat. Looking out her window towards the sun. Very peaceful. The rich sun rays beaming on her skin. More beautiful than any perfect color of honey mixed with the sun rays of California hair.
Her name was Dawlat, and I lost my first far away best friend. We were suppose to be best friends forever. But now, she is stuck being 12, and I am jealous of her because of that.
I'm sorry.
