When I was a child, I considered Emily my best friend. We lived next door to each other, played together, and saw each other almost every day. Although we went to different schools, it never bothered us. When our parents were at work, wed visit each others homes and pretend we were in a rock band, drumming on plates with pencils. As we grew older, our interests changed a bit, and we started going to parties together and meeting boys.
Emily was less careful than me, and as luck would have it, she got married at eighteen. She and her husband moved in with her parents, and soon they had a daughter, making me an aunt. Even though our paths divergedEmily had a family, while I focused on universitywe kept in touch.
A few years later, when I was in my twenties, Emily confided in me about troubles at homeher parents were arguing over money. Her mother would bring home her wages, stash them away, only for the money to go missing. The woman suspected both her husband and son-in-law, but Emily admitted to me that she was the one whod taken it. She found it lying on the floor, picked it up without thinking, and spent it on clothes for herself and her daughternot even pausing to ask whose it was.
I judged her, but couldnt say anything. Emily had a strong personality, and shed have argued with me if I spoke up. So I kept it to myself for years, until Emily and her husband finally had a major falling out. Her daughter, Anna, was thirteen nowa teenager. Her husband decided it was time to leave, telling Emily hed file for divorce.
The assetsincluding the flat and its contentswere meant to be split equally. Thats when my friend rushed to me late one night with two requests: to hide her familys jewellery, which she refused to share with her husband, and to take her daughter in for a while.
I couldnt say no to the second requestAnna deserved peace in all that chaos. But I declined to keep the jewellery. Even though Emily was my friend, you never truly know what someone might do. She could later accuse me of misplacing something, wed argue, and she might even demand compensation. If she could take what wasnt hers, shed likely think others might do the same.
I cared for Anna for just over a week, until Emilys husband moved out, and Im glad I wasnt involved with the valuables. As I suspected, Emily later complained to me about the elderly lady with whom shed left some jewellery.
There were two earrings, and now theres only one. Theyre solid gold and heavy. The old woman mustve hoped I wouldnt notice, she said.
I simply breathed a sigh of relief that it wasnt me she was referring to.
They say you should keep your friends close, but not closer than your enemies. People can surprise you in many ways, and you never truly know what theyre capable ofeven those youre closest to. Being falsely accused by a childhood friend is something I would never want to experience. Its important to stay both loyal and cautious, and to remember that trust, once shaken, is hard to restore.
