(Picture of the characters in this story from left to right: Soccergage101, Sonica aka Me)
(If you want to join the team, just ask in the comment section below. I will then send you a private message of the server link and my Minecraft username.)

NEVER take things for granted. It might only come once, and it will your only opportunity to affect it. When you have a deadline, work towards it. Even if you don't have one, make one. ... I took something for granted, and no matter how hard I try... It will never be the same.

This is the story of a friend that I lost, just because I took something for granted.

Practically a couple of months ago, I lost a friend. Not because they died, or the friendship didn't work out, but it's the fact I took things for granted. Everything in the past, everything in the present, even in the future... I took it all for granted. I missed all my deadlines. My work is still not even half way finished. I ruined my grades in school and my reputation. Now, I lost a friend.

His name was SoccerGage101. I met him what felt like a year before I lost him. He was an amazing builder. He would build towers that reached 100 blocks and detailed houses based off of real life. Everyone on the server use to know him. He had tons of friends. All of a sudden, it all changed. Everyone he knew left the server. His friends were starting to become bored of the small server, due to the fact that their building space was limited. Other players he knew became bored the same way. They migrated to other servers to satisfy their hunger of entertainment... But they left one member: SoccerGage101. Gage was all alone. No one knew him. Even if he does meet someone new, they suddenly don't come back to visit. Then, while being bored, he asked anyone to do /tpa to him. I did.

When my teleportation request was accepted, I came to his plot. I was stunned. How could someone with this talent and skill have no friends? It was like another server in a server. I explored EVERYTHING. Every corner of a house, the top of the towers, everything and anything. Then, I was offered to join his team. I, just a plain Minecraft player with barely any building talent, to be offered to a life-changing experience? Of course I accepted! That, however, is where many negative moments started to happen.

There was only one area of his plot I didn't go into. It was blocked. I wondered what was behind their. My curiosity was starting to take over. Now, he gave me a job: The job of finding new members for the build team. Now, I said I could make an animation, and ask my friends to join. I set the deadline at the ending of May 2016. What a fool I was. It was only 2 weeks before May 2016 ended. I was still in school at the same time. Once May 2016 ended and went towards June, I never saw him ever again.

No matter what time I came onto the server, no matter how many signs I placed on his plot asking where he was, no matter how many times I messaged him on social media, he never replied. I told someone about this, and they said he could probably be on vacation. I assumed that could be true, because summer vacation just started. Now, summer vacation passed and it's already the middle of the school year, and he still hasn't replied. I regretted so much.

I regretted and regretted of what I did. I lost a huge opportunity of a strong friendship and adventure. I could have help this poor person as becoming their true friend, and I took it all for granted. Then, I remember that room. It was 2 rooms that felt like one as Gage would call it. I went back to his plot. It felt so empty. No one except I was their. No mobs, no machines working, no noteblock songs looping, just the sounds of blocks being walked upon by my character.

I entered one of the rooms. It was filled with paintings. I flipped a lever and a door opened. There it was, all the members of the build team. There were so many. They were all on armour stands, some with leather, iron, gold and diamond armour. I saw heads of each of the players also. I even saw mine and his. Then, there was the other room... And I felt the tears swell on the inside of me, for yet I don't truly shed tears on my face.

"Builders are greatness. Builders are steel. Builders are respectful. Builders are kind. Builders are gifted. Builders are creative. Builders are what they are."

He wrote all of that. Every single word on those signs on that plot was written by him. Then, I saw all the signs of usernames of the builders of his team. Every sign, except the sign with my username and his, had a fence over it. Those fences represented that those people left the team. All those people left him. I even see some of those users on the server, and they NEVER visited his plot. ... I thought my sign would have a fence. I didn't help him at all. But then I realized, rubbing a spot off of my screen: His sign has a fence over it.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. I looked down at the palms of my hands, and heard the word "fool" ring in my head over and over. What an idiot I was. I should have done that deadline, and many positive moments would have followed after it. Yet, only another major negative moment happened: The server restarted.

Every single thing on the server was redone. Every build by the players and mods were gone. Every single bit of progress was back at 0. Every inventory only had dust. His plot was gone. My plot was gone. I felt like shedding tears while looking at the plains of grass blocks that stretched farther and farther. One of my friends was truly crying, and she asked my why the server did this. I told her while facing the vast plains:

"Nothing lasts forever. Everything will soon fade. Sometimes it occurs naturally, or sometimes by human cause. For their hunger of satisfaction and greed, they did this to obtain more players. The server isn't free, the mods have to pay money in order to keep it. Since all the previous players left, they had no space for the new ones."

Then I turned towards her and said:

"When you are given something, don't take it for granted."

Now, I have the job of being the leader of the build team. I am working hard on the animation, and taking care of the other team I am a member of. I am doing better in school at the same time by completing my work even before the deadline and polishing it up to be turned in when the deadline is reached. I will soon upload the animation on Christmas, as a gift of thanks for joining this amazing build team. I will almost reach the amount of members to finally build a huge project in memory of the orignal leader. The moral of the story:

Never take things for granted.