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MidReal Story
Eternal Echoes: A Journey of Loss and Redemption
Anonymous
Jul 9
Scenario:Bradon looses his childhood best friend, Bradley, and he has to overcome this new void in his life and find someway to find closure. At the time, Bradon was cross country studying film while Bradley stayed in town attempting to pursue his dream of singing.
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Rae
Bradon's girlfriend and later wife, lives with Bradon's family after his passing, blonde with a fair complexion and blue eyes, nurturing and supportive.
Bradley Oakes
aspiring singer and Bradon's best friend, deceased before the story begins, close relationship with Bradon and admired by others for his talent, described through others as handsome with a contagious smile, passionate and supportive.
Bradon Hart
aspiring filmmaker, best friend of Bradley, close relationship with his family and his girlfriend Rae, tall and athletic with a strong frame and dark hair, introspective and determined.
Chapter 1
I was twenty-one when my best friend died.It was the summer after my junior year of college, and I’d just come home from film school for the break.I remember walking through the front door of my parents’ house, a duffel bag slung over my shoulder, and hearing my mom’s voice coming from the kitchen."Bradon’s home," she called out to my dad.I smiled as I walked into the room and saw them both sitting at the table, eating breakfast together like they always did.My parents had been married for more than twenty-five years, and they were still as in love as they’d been on their wedding day.
I was twenty-one when I returned home from film school, only to be greeted by the devastating news of my best friend, Bradley Oakes' death.
My parents informed me that Bradley had died from an overdose during the night of his graduation party, leaving me in shock and disbelief.
The news hit me hard, as Bradley and I had been close since childhood, dreaming together about our futures in music and film.
His death made my own personal aspirations feel hollow.
Throughout our lives, Bradley and I were inseparable companions, sharing everything from interests to the same college major in film.
He was someone who always knew how to make me laugh and shared my passion for our joint creative projects.
His support was unwavering, whether it was cheering for my basketball games or helping with my filmmaking assignments.
The loss of Bradley felt like losing a part of myself, a sentiment echoed by his parents who regarded me as a son as well.
Despite the heaviness of the news, my girlfriend Rae supported me, even though we hadn't seen each other for months due to our busy schedules.
"Bradley’s dead," she told me.
"He overdosed last night, some time after his graduation party."
I froze, my stomach lurching and my chest tightening with sudden panic.
"No," I said, shaking my head and trying to wrap my mind around what she’d just told me.
"That can’t be right."
But even as I said it, I knew that it was.
I could feel it in the pit of my stomach, how much it hurt to think about Bradley being gone.
We’d been best friends for as long as I could remember.
We did everything together—played basketball, wrote music, made films—and we’d always had each other’s backs no matter what.
When we were kids, we used to talk all the time about what we were going to do with our lives when we grew up: how we were going to start a band and make an album, and then maybe write a screenplay and turn it into a movie one day.
It had been two hours since I'd learned that he was dead, and the news still hadn’t sunk in.
I couldn’t believe that he was really gone—that I was never going to see him again, or talk to him on the phone, or spend another late night in his college dorm room writing songs together like we used to do when we were kids.
As much as Bradley’s death hurt me personally, I knew that it was so much more than just a loss for me.
He was one of those people who seemed to know everyone in town and get along with them too.
He was smart and funny, with a kind word for everyone he met—and he could play guitar like no one else I’d ever heard before.
There were so many people in our small town who loved him and looked up to him; they would all be devastated by his death, just like I was right now.
Bradley was one of those people who seemed like he was destined for great things.
He had so much talent, both as a musician and a filmmaker, and everyone who knew him—his parents, his teachers, his friends—was sure that he was going to go on to do something amazing with his life.
But now he was gone, and all those dreams that everyone had for him had died with him.
"Bradley Oakes is gone," I said, my voice cracking as I spoke.
"I can’t believe it. I mean, I just can’t believe it."
It felt like someone had punched me in the gut.
I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t think.
Everything seemed off-kilter and wrong.
This wasn’t how things were supposed to go for Bradley.
We’d both sworn that we weren’t going to end up like our fathers—addicted to drugs and alcohol, with no hope for a better life.
We’d made a pact when we were kids never to use heroin or any other hard drugs, no matter what kind of trouble we got into.
