My best friend.

When i was a kid, my best friend lived next door. It was incredible, just like you see in the movies. His name was Blake and we were in the same year at school. Every morning i'd go to his house and his dad would drive me, him and his little brother Kyle to school.

Me and Blake played together almost everyday, usually with a doll house type thing he had of the teenage mutant ninja turtles sewer. Our parents were friends too and one summer when we were eight or nine they built a gate between our gardens so we didn't have to go out into the street. The street we lived on had lots of little alley ways and such and at least two or three kids got hit by cars every year. It was usually the kids fault but still, our parents thought it would be safer for us to just be able to go through our gardens. All our friends were jealous and we were forever showing it off.

We both adored Lord of the Rings and used to pretend that my garden was the Shire and his was Mordor. There was a huge pile of dirt at the bottom of his garden that we pretended was mount doom and we'd climb to the top of it to 'throw the ring in'. His parents would always shout at us to not climb up it but we did it anyway.

I remember the morning everything went wrong really well. It was a few days before school finished for the christmas break. Blake's mum had found out she was pregnant a few weeks before and everything seemed perfect. I had been running a little late that morning when i got to Blake's house ready to go to school.

"Are you two ready to go?" His dad asked me when i walked in the back door. He didn't even look at me, too busy trying to wrestle Kyle into his coat.

"I am. Is Blake up stairs?" I was already edging towards the stairs when his dad snapped up to look at me.

"Isn't he at yours?" He asked, looking panicked. I shook my head. Blake sometimes came to mine in the morning if he was ready before me but i hadn't seen him that day. I hadn't seen him since the afternoon before.

"Vicky" He shouted, darting into the living room where his wife was sat and leaving Kyle sat on the table top in the kitchen. It happened almost in slow motion, but it also seemed sped up. Kyle wiggled a little, and then fell straight down. His head hit the tiled floor with a crunch. I still feel sick thinking about it. I think i screamed. It was a blur as Blake's dad David ran in and picked Kyle up off the floor. There was a lot of blood. The top of his head was completely flat and he was gurgling. Kyle had only been four at the time.

That was the first time i saw a grown up cry and it scared me enough that i ran home through the front door and into the street instead of through the back gate.

My mum turned in shock, expecting me to be on the way to school. I must have looked a mess because she immediately asked what was wrong and sat me down at the kitchen table. I was nine, so i vaguely knew what was going on but i didn't realise how serious it all was.

"Blake's dad thought he was with me but he wasn't and he went to tell Vicky but he left Kyle on the table and he fell off." I told her wide eyed and all in one breath, beginning to realise that Kyle wouldn't be okay.

My mum paled but she had always been a bit of a mother hen so she immediately went over to their house. We went straight in like we always did to find David and Vicky on the floor holding Kyle, who was still sort of gurgling, it sounded a bit like when you drink a bottle of coke really quickly and it make noises in your stomach.

Looking at Kyle made me feel sick. His pale blonde hair was slicked back with blood and his eyes were pointing in different directions. My mum grabbed their landline phone and phoned an ambulance.

"Where is Blake?" My mum asked them softly, kneeling down to be eye level with the devastated parents.

"We don't know. Last night he said he was sleeping over at yours and we haven't seen him since." David stuttered, obviously going into shock. I think my mum phoned the police too then.

The ambulance arrived and everything sped up again as they took Kyle away in an ambulance, his parents following. I felt like they had forgotten about Blake. The police arrived not long after the ambulance and my mum told me they would go to the hospital to speak to Blake's parents.

My mum kept me off school and the police spoke to me in my room later that day.

"Were you and Blake good friends?" One of them asked me in a condescending tone.

"We are."

"And when was the last time you saw him?"

"Yesterday afternoon. We played Lord of the Rings for a bit and then my mum called me in for tea. I haven't seen him since then."

"Have you ever seen Blake's parents do anything bad to him or Kyle?"

"Sometimes they shout at Blake really loud."

"Have they ever maybe hit Blake or Kyle?"

"No, they're nice."

The police asked a bunch of other questions that seemed to accuse Blake's parents of being abusive or neglectful, which wasn't true at all.

The police searched the area for the next few days, looked through Blake's room and asked me questions like if Blake would ever run away or anything like that. I told them no.

It was three weeks after all of this that i saw David and Vicky again, they were getting out of a Taxi and going into their house. I ran outside to talk to them but they closed the door in my face. I noticed they came home without Kyle and Vicky didn't look pregnant anymore. Looking back i think she probably miscarried from the stress but at the time i thought she had just given the baby to someone else or something.

That night i was sitting on my bed reading when i noticed movement out the window. Blake was stood by the gate, waving to get my attention. I lit up, my mum had kept me off school for the last week before christmas break so i hadn't spoken to anyone outside of my family. I ran down stairs and out into the garden still in my purple Hermione Granger PJ's and Star Wars slippers.

"Where have you been?" I asked him in a whisper, not wanting my parents to hear. They were sat in the living room watching TV, they would only have to glance out the window to spot me.

"I was helping Kyle."

"Helping him to do what?"

Blake shrugged and looked up at his house. It was completely dark. I hadn't seen his parents since they first came home and there were no signs they were even in the house.

"I'm glad you're back." I told him with a grin.

"So am I." He grinned back. We stood grinning for a few seconds before i heard a knocking on the living room window. I turned and saw my dad standing in the window looking annoyed.

"See you tomorrow" I told Blake, hurrying into my house.

"What are you doing out there?" My dad asked, not sounding too angry.

"Blake is back." I told him with a smile. Him and my mum exchanged a concerned look.

"I don't want you going out there for a bit, okay? And don't bother his parents." I was confused but i agreed, going back to bed without an argument. I could see Blake sitting on top of the pile of dirt. I waved at him and he waved back before i settled down and went to sleep. The same week school started, Blake's parents sold their house and moved away. I came home from school one day to find that the gate between our gardens had been replaced with a concrete wall.

I whined and moaned at my parents but they told me there was nothing they could do. The new owners were an elderly couple who hated kids and were too old to do much other that watch TV. They had lived there for a few weeks when i saw Blake again, sitting on top of the dirt. I waved at him, confused, and he waved back. I saw him a few times a month, just sitting there. It was always right before i had to go to bed so i never got to talk to him and i never thought to mention it to my parents in the morning.

As i got older i all but forgot about Blake. I stopped seeing him when i was about twelve and just assumed it was because his parents had told him to stop coming over or something. By the time i was eighteen i wasn't a tom boy anymore. I wore short dresses and spent hours curling my hair. I barely thought about the boy i spent my entire childhood playing with.

The elderly couple died when i was nineteen and away at university. My parents told me about it on the phone, the man had died in hospital and the woman died in the house a few weeks later. The house was left to their son who rarely bothered with them and pretty much just left the house to rot.

I finished University at twenty two and travelled around Asia for six months before returning to the UK and moving in with the guy i had been on and off with through out Uni. It didn't last and a year and a half later i was back in my childhood bedroom, twenty four and my independence was gone again. I didn't mind too much, it was nice to spend the time with my parents again and reminisce about my childhood.

A few months after i moved back home i landed a job as a nurse in a home caring for mentally ill and physically disabled adults. It wasn't what i had been hoping for but it was a job. You wouldn't believe my shock when, on my first day i was looking over the files of everyone there and i found Kyle. I won't be giving last names just to protect the family. I had spent years thinking he was dead so to find him there made my heart stop.

I approached his room slowly, scared of what i might find. I know it sounds horrible but i would have much rather remembered him as a babbling, smiling baby than the way i last saw him. I opened to door and walked in. He was in a wheel chair near the window and even when i said hello he didn't show that he heard or saw me. He looked just like when i last saw him but of course bigger and without all the blood. The top of his head was still unnaturally flat and his eyes were still unfocused.

"Hi Kyle, i bet you don't remember me."

He didn't even look at me, it was like he wasn't in there, like he had left his body and wandered off. I didn't try to talk to him like that again. While i worked there i treated him exactly like everyone else. I would ramble away to him while changing, feeding or washing him and then move onto the next person like i had never known him.

When David and Vicky came to visit him for the first time since i had been there, almost three months after my first day they didn't recognise me. I had to explain to them who i was and i saw pain flash in their eyes, though they smiled politely to me and asked what i had been up to. I told them all about uni and travelling and they nodded along with it and asked a few questions. I finished telling them all about me.

"What's Blake been up to?" I asked happily, excited to hear about the adventures my childhood friend had been on. I thought Vicky was going to cry and i was immediately confused.

"Blake, Blake went missing the night before Kyle's accident. We haven't seen him since and the police couldn't find him." David told me in a pained voice. I mumbled my apologies and left Kyle's room. My mind was racing. I had definitely seen Blake in his garden all those times. I remembered him so vividly. Had he been somehow living near by and coming back to visit me? Had he actually run away like the police first thought? Nothing seemed to make sense. I finished my shift early and went home. My parents had not long retired and they had gone out for a meal together when i got home so i headed straight up to my room.

Looking out my window i was barely even surprised to see Blake sitting on top of the dirt pile. He was still a little kid, he hadn't aged at all. I went outside with a step ladder so i'd be able to peer over the wall that still stood strong to separate us.

"You're back" He smiled as my head popped up over the wall.

"I don't understand." I told him shaking my head. He looked real, solid. Nothing like the ghosts you see in films. At this point i was sure he was a ghost, how else had he stayed the same?

"Tell them to search the garden." He told me. I head a door slam in my house and glanced up at it. When i looked back, Blake was gone.

I ran back into the house and straight up stairs to grab my phone. I had just dialled 999 when i heard a giggle. I recognised it but couldn't quite place it. Turning around, Kyle was stood in the hallway. Not Kyle i saw everyday though, it was little Kyle with a round hair and focused eyes and a smile. He ran up the hall and out of site and i knew there was no point in following him.

I gave the police an anonymous tip that there was a body buried somewhere in the back garden of number 11, Britain Avenue. I watched from my window as the police and forensics showed up at the abandoned house. I watched them start from the front of the garden with little machines and sniffer dogs, trying to figure out if there was a body there or not.

There was. They pulled out the body of a little boy and they knew straight away who it was. A plastic ring painted gold was still on his hand apparently, he hadn't managed to throw it into 'mount doom' before the dirt started to slide and he was buried under it all.

The police asked who ever had given the tip to get in touch but i just got a new sim card and pretended i didn't know how they had found out about Blake.

I haven't seen him or Kyle since. Sometimes i wonder if i had told my mum i'd eat tea later or invited Blake in if any of it would have happened. He would have come in with me, eaten tea and then gone home safe. David wouldn't have left Kyle on the table, ready to fall and stop being himself.

I have two kids of my own now, little boys. They're only one and three but sometimes, in their baby talk while they're playing, i'm sure i hear the names Blake and Kyle.