Most people have been to a funeral in their life time. Most people have seen a cold lifeless body in a casket. In caskets they look so peaceful. Most people have not seen a cold, lifeless body right next to them, with a look of panic on their face. Nothing looked peaceful about Cameron the day he died. He was eighteen. I was seventeen. He had just graduated high school and was planning on going to IU in the fall. I had one more year of high school left, but we had planned on making things work. He once told me nothing could break us up. I if had read this line in a book I would have seen the foreshadowing, but in real life I never expected it. I never saw something bad happening coming.
We had decided to spend the day at the dunes in Northern Indiana. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it was warm. I remembered he had picked me up at eight in the morning with a picnic basket in his hands. Our day at the dunes was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for anything more lovely. It was around six when we had decided to pack up and go home. I had never in my life seen myself spending the rest of my life with someone, but when I looked at Cameron I could see myself getting married to him. We were almost home when it happened.
One stop sign, that’s all it was. One simple stop sign, one stop sign that he missed. It happed quicker than the blink of an eye. The car driving across the intersection hit us. It hit the driver’s side dead on. The paramedics said Cameron was dead in seconds. I remember being able to turn my head ever so slightly to look at him. I could see the life draining out of him. He was motionless, but not peaceful. There was blood everywhere. All the sudden I started to hurt, everywhere. I was bleeding too. I thought at that moment that I must have died too. I don’t remember much after that. Days later I wake up in the hospital, hoping it was all a dream, but it wasn’t the love of my life was dead, gone forever.
All I could think for weeks was why am I not dead? Why am I not with Cameron? Why did this happen? Every night I relive the crash. I relive that last day I spent with my love. When I try to think back on what Cameron looked like I can only see his lifeless face, crushed in the car. His true face only lives in the pictures we took. Now I am alone without my love. His best friend Nat and I get together and visit Cameron. We get together and cry. I’ve learned to live and love every second of life to the fullest, for you don’t know when your life could end. As soon I turn eighteen I am going to get the same panda tattoo Cameron once had, to remind me of the love we once shared.