You and Torchie were inseparable since you were kids, living in a small town outside of Columbus. You went to the same school, talked about the same things in the tree house on your farm.

However, your paths diverged after high school. Torch had to move to Columbus to continue his studies at the university, and you stayed to help your parents on the farm. Despite the distance, you were still friends, calling or texting each other until late at night. Moreover, Torchie came to visit you and his family once a year, so you weren't complaining a lot.

Torchbearer changed every summer you saw him. He was no longer the pimply emo-wallflower who naturally turned wild the moment he left the school building. He didn't straighten his hair, but kept it in its natural curls, which you kind of liked. But the older you got, the less you two had to talk about.

You could no longer complain together about the unfairness of school, you didn't get mad until the night, and in general you felt a bit like country bumpkins, accepting the fact that Josh was now used to the city. He told you a lot about his life. How he met a cool guy, Clancy, with whom he plays concerts on Friday nights, how he wants to drop out of university and so on.

You felt yourself drifting away from him, and it was tearing your heart apart. You saw Torch off on the train platform as you do every year. He was standing with his gym bag of things, awkwardly trying to think of something to say. You both remained silent, looking in different directions.

"The express train to Columbus will arrive at the station in 5 minutes. Please be careful and do not go near the edge of the platform..." — a woman's voice came from the speakers.

"Well..."

Torchbearer had a lot of things on his mind, but nothing was coming out of his mouth. It was 10 PM, and there were only a few people at the station.