Tim was out walking one beautiful spring day. He just needed the alone time to clear his thoughts. Sort of a spring cleaning, one might say.

He walks through a meadow full of beautiful spring flowers, enjoying the fragrance that filled the air.

He continues to walk until he comes to the woods that outlined the meadow.

He chuckles as he watches some squirrels playing amongst the leaves and some old fallen branches. He names them Chip and Dale from the Disney cartoon. Even though the cartoon characters was actually chipmunks.

Even as a boy, Tim had always enjoyed going for long walks with nature. It always gave him a peaceful feeling.

As he walks he notices something that looked quite interesting. It was the mouth of a cave. Being the adventurous one, he decides to go and check it out.

He peeks into the cave, making sure there were no signs that a bear lived here.

He walks slowly inside. After he was sure that the cave was safe, he decided to have a little fun.

"HELLO?" He yells.

"Hello!" The echo answers back.

"WHAT'S YOUR NAME?" Tim shouts with a smile.

"What's your name?" The echo asks back.

"MY NAME IS TIM!" Tim chuckles.

There was silence.

His smile fades from his face and is replaced by confusion. Why didn't the echoing answer back?

"I'm just a nobody." The echo answers.

Tim's jaw drops and his eyes widen. That was not supposed to happen.

"Uh, w..why do y..you say that?" Tim asks as he begins to walk further into the cave. 

"I have no one. No one who really cares. No one sees me or hears me. I'm just a nobody." The echo says.

"I'm hearing you." Tim says with a shrug.

Tim strains to listen for any sound. He was sure he had heard a sob echo through the cave.

"You can talk to me." Tim continues.

"Everything I do is ignored. I'm invisible. Constantly being pushed back into the shadows." The echo says.

"Maybe they ignore you because your idea was better than theirs. Could be that they are jealous of you." Tim answers.

"They're always making fun of things that I believe in or things that I like." The echo continues.

"Some people have a lack of imagination. They single you out because you like different things. That doesn't make you weird or different. You are you." Tim replies.

Tim waits for a reply but when nothing comes he continues.

"Everybody is somebody. We are all different that's what makes us all special." Tim says. "It would be a pretty boring world if we all were made to think the same things or like the same things."

More silence.

"Be proud of who you are. Don't let anyone degrade you. You're as good as they are. You are who you are and that makes you special." Tim says. He has never been in the position to have to speak words of encouragement to anyone before. The words came pretty easily, he just hopes that was what Echo was needing to hear.

He suddenly hears the shuffle of footsteps behind him.

Turning quickly on his heels, he finds himself staring into the green eyes of an old friend.

"Avi?" Tim whispers.

"It's been awhile, Tim." Avi says. His cheeks wet with tears.

"What? I..I don't understand." Tim says, shaking his head.

Avi runs forward and grabs Tim into a hug. He breaks down and begins to sob heavily onto Tim's shoulder.

Tim wraps his arms around the smaller man to comfort him. Avi hangs on to Tim as if his life depended on it.

They stood in silence in the middle of the cave. Tim held Avi until the heavy sobs turned into sniffles.

"You care to tell me what's going?" Tim asks as he pulls Avi back enough to look at his face.

Avi wipes his eyes and looks up into Tim's soft brown eyes.

"I came here today, Tim, for one reason and one reason only." Avi says in a shaky voice.

"And that reason was?" Tim asks.

"To kill myself." Avi answers quietly, hanging his head.

"What!? Are you freaking kidding me? Why?" Tim asks.

"Cause no one cares, Tim." Avi says, quickly wiping a tear that was rolling down his cheek. "I've been gone for days. No one has called or texted to check on me or just to say 'Hi'. No one."

"What about Kevin?" Tim asks, not wanting to believe that Kevin would turn his back on his best friend.

"He's overseas with his family." Avi says.

"Don't say that no one cares cause they all do." Tim says.

"I used to think so but not anymore." Avi says, shaking his head. "But low and behold, the last person I thought would ever show up was you." Avi chuckles as he wipes his nose.

"Well, I'm glad I did." Tim smiles.

"Me too." Avi smiles as he hugs Tim again. "Thank you so much for being here for me."

"Anytime you need someone to talk to, Avi. I'm just a phone call away." Tim says softly.

"I'll remember that." Avi nods.

"And if anyone else says that dragons aren't real, you just let me know. I'll kick their ass." Tim smiles.

"You got it." Avi laughs hugging Tim tightly around the neck.

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