The gift of friendship.

We just moved to a new state; I don't know anybody, and I was nervous about starting school. I was thinking about how I would start making new friends all over again, and I really did not have the zeal to go to school, but I was forced to. It was time for general assembly; everyone was standing and listening to the announcement, and I was busy looking around and realizing I was not the only one on Mufti, and then I felt at peace. After the announcement, I rushed to meet my fellow new student.

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"Hey, I am Kachi. I see you are new too." I said to the new guy

"Yeah, I am new; my dad has just been posted from the northern part of the country. I am Emmanuel." Emmanuel, the new guy, responded

"We have just been posted from the northern part of the country too. I sure do miss the North." I responded, and the fact that they moved from the north too made it easy for us to clique and vibe since we both understand Hausa language.

I like to stay on my own most of the time because I am a very shy person, but I need a few friends that understand me most of the time. Emmanuel did, and we became best of friends. Due to the fact we started school the same day, we behave in almost the same way people who do not know us think we are twins and are from the same family, since anywhere you see him, you will definitely see me around. Our friendship blossomed so much that even our mothers became friends because of us. Both our dads were deployed back to the northern part of the country because of the insurgency, and we were both sad but prayed and hoped for their safe return. A month later, we got sad news about his dad.

"Kachi." Emmanuel called out to me and kept quiet, with tears rolling down his eyes. He came to the house, and my mom asked him to meet me in my room.

"What happened? What's wrong? What's going on?" I, who hadn't heard the news, kept asking as I jumped down from my bed.

"My dad, bro, my dad, my dad." He said this as he continued crying.

"What happened to your dad? Calm down and explain things to me." I pleaded

"My dad has been declared missing in action after an attack, and you know what happens afterwards." Emmanuel said as he cried even more, making me feel so sad.

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As of then, every soldier declared missing in action is afterwards declared dead after a few months if their remains are not found or they are found alive. This news broke my friend so much that everything we did for fun was no longer fun anymore; we just sit down and talk, no more fun. Most times he wants to talk about his dad, but I try to change the topic, as we felt really sad talking about him and thinking about what would happen if he were later declared dead. It was now like my own dad was missing too; we were all worried, and both families had no reason to be happy.

"Kachi, I am the happiest person on earth, bro. My joy knows no bounds. Kachi, my mom, and I are on our way to your place now." Emmanuel said to me over the phone

"Mom, Emmanuel and his mom are on their way here." I rushed to inform my mom, and a few minutes later we heard a knock on the door.

It was Emmanuel and his mom, but for the first time in a month and a few weeks, they were smiling again, and as always, smiling is contagious, so my mom and I started smiling too, but with a look on our faces like what was really going on.

"He called us at around 1 a.m. today." Emmanuel's mom said as both she and my mom knelt down and started singing, I and Emmanuel left for my room.

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"He said their vehicle was the last in the convoy after they were overpowered, and they had no means of communicating with the other vehicles, so they were stranded and decided to find shelter in a nearby village since six men plying the road is not advisable but hoping that a rescue team is sent, and luckily they found an army convoy one month later that transported them to a nearby base." Emmanuel said, smiling.

"Thank God, we did not give up on hoping that he was alive and would come back to us someday." I responded

Our friendship became even more solid; Emmanuel later joined the army too, but till date we spend hours talking over the phone, and despite the distance between us, our friendship is as good as new. Lately, it is very difficult to come across loyal friends, which is why whenever you find one genuine friend, you have to do everything possible to keep them and make sure it works. These days, many people just want to use people until they no longer have a need for them in the name of friendships. People no longer value the gift of friendship; instead, they make it parasitic, and once the benefits stop, then it is over.