D is for Desmond

When we were seventeen, Alphabeta and I had a friend called Des. We had seen him briefly in person but we talked to him mostly over the internet. This was put down to what we assumed was extreme shyness.

One day Alphabeta sat me down and said that he wasn’t shy but he was traumatized. Des was in the city one night with a friend when they encountered some youths who demanded his wallet. His friend handed over his straight away. But Des refused and was put into hospital as a result.

He never talked to his friend again, he regarded it as a betrayal. And from that he slowly slipped inwards, he never really left the house unless he had to.

From my seventeen year old mind, I didn’t really understand [well of course I’d also never been beaten to a pulp] and I was frustrated with what I perceived to be his stubbornness in getting back out and living his life. Rainbows, butterflies and trips to the beach. How could he be so blind and not see these things??

So I thought I would take the hard tack and I told him that what he was doing was an utter waste of life. That he was a coward for hiding out and living his life from his bedroom.

Des never talked to me again after that

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/balcony-fall-teens-parents-travelling-to-sydney/2008/10/28/1224956014962.html

I read this in the papers today. It broke my heart. I think of her just trying to get through the experience. I think of him who has to live with so many scars physically and emotionally, and I wonder if he will become like Des. I wonder what Des is doing now.