Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards

Friends

DAVID SZANITTER Actor, Hungary

I remember a big disappointment in my life, at that time I was 14 years old. We were 4 friends, we spent each afternoon after school together, and hung around together on the weekends too. Almost like brothers, there was a real friendship between us. When one of us had a problem, the other three were there to help him.
After a certain time, they began to drink alkohol more often, and do things, that I didn’t really like. I didn’t go with them. I felt that they had changed, but they were still my best friends.
After finishing elementary school, during the vacation I did not have a chance to meet them every day, actually I didn’t see them almost the whole summer.
In September I met them in the pub, the place we used to go together earlier.
I was very happy to meet them. We began to talk. And then, after a while, they asked me if I had any money, because they needed money for junk. I told them that I did not have any money. But they insisted that I did, and began to ask for money in an increasingly violent tone. They pushed me around, began to beat me, and kicked me in the stomach. I was beaten very much, and fairly badly injured.