From Before I Had a Flag -E2P1

Dear Future Overlords: A cartoon conversation for your ears · Jun 16, 2026 · 15m

By third grade, Christopher has already started learning how to disappear.

Then a boy keeps coming near him. Protecting him. Walking beside him. Making school feel less like something to survive.

Christopher calls him a friend because that is the word he has.

In this part of From Before I Had a Flag, Christopher and Eric revisit a childhood friendship that was probably a first crush, though the child inside the memory had no language for that yet. The story is tender, funny, and quietly devastating: a tiny playground bodyguard, a metal spider thing, and the moment adults saw danger where…