A young man sat by the riverside with companion he'd held dear for years on end. "What's wrong? Lose someone important?," He heard a jovial voice call from somewhere nearby that he just couldn't seem to locate.

"I'm sorry, old pal, but the spark that kept us together for all of these long years is gone." He thought to himself, blinking back tears as he pulled absentmindedly at the long blades of sawgrass near his sneakers.

"Whaddaya mean?" the voice asked, but unlike all those previous times there was no pounce or playful quip that followed. Just a blunt slug of inquiry, as cold and rational as a high-school textbook.

He tossed the last blade of grass aside and pulled the small plush tiger out of his backpack, smoothing the slightly matted fur as he held it. Only sunlight glinted in the black marble eyes that had so frequently held a glimmer of real life just months before.

"What happened?" The boy wondered, as he lowered the toy to sit propped upright against the denim of his right calf. "Why did this have to happen? What will I do now?"

A fresh surge of tears welled in his eyes as he tried to blink them away, thumbing at the wet corners of his eyes as he tried to quiet the ache in his heart. "I'm scared, Hobbes." He muttered quietly.

"Nothing in this world lasts forever," the voice responded, faint but unmistakably clear. "Let's both go on our own adventures from now on. Maybe someday we'll meet again when we least expect it!"

The last words were so faint that he couldn't make them out for sure, but somehow he knew what they had been. "Until we meet again," he agreed.

As he stood and shouldered his backpack and dried the last of the tears from his eyes he set off back home to the first day of the rest of his life, and Hobbes sat besides a quietly flowing stream in the failing daylight.

"Take care, old friend." He called after his sole companion, but his words were lost amidst the rustle of leaves.