The Death of a Friend
He was smart, funny, and overall a great person to hang around. It seemed as though he was just down to earth, and liked by many people. He was also good-natured. Over the course of his life he did many great things for his community.
Every time I was with him, he would always give money to those who really needed it without the slightest hint of hesitation. He was always doing things to make his community a better place such as community service hours, food drives, and other acts of good that went unnoticed.
He also did bad things to accomplish an even greater task. He saw a kid steal a man’s phone one day and beat up the kid so he would give the man his phone back. Now, normally I would not have agreed with the way he handled that situation, but I must say that the kid really had it coming to him. He was so alive and lived his life to the fullest. But now he is gone. For all the good things he did, you’d think he’d be the last of us to leave.
He and his brother were driving to Houston to visit his mother that he was taken away from at the tender age of four. Sadly, they never made it there, and he never made it back. His older brother was driving and started to fall asleep, so they pulled over for a while. Then, they were off again. Not too long later he began to fall asleep again. They ran a light at the intersection and got smashed by a semi-truck. My friend died instantly.
I’m not completely sure on how people found out about the death, but I went to school the next day and it just seemed dreary and different. I asked a friend if something was a little weird about the day; she looked me in the eyes and I felt depressed for some reason. Her eyes were like deep dark holes of infinite nothingness. She said everything to me without ever saying anything.
I carried on through my original day of school. Then I arrived to my second period class. I walked in and three of my friends were crying. I looked around questionably but only received sobs and moans. I sat down next to a friend and asked what was wrong. The next sentence I heard was by far the worst thing I had ever heard in my life. She looked me in the eyes and murmured out some words: “y-you don’t know?”
I responded “No.”
She then said, “C-Christian died last night.”
I stood there, discombobulated. It seemed as though time itself had come to an all ending pause. Before I could get myself back together, tears had already fallen down my face. Inside I felt anger, sadness, dark, and just horrible. I darted out of the room. I could not believe what I had just heard. He left behind so much: friends, family, a community. Oh, how the community loved that kid. It seemed as though it was in his essence to be loved. Two suicides, a broken home, an empty school, numerous broken hearts, and a legacy: That’s what he left for the community. They held a memorial in his old apartment block. Again, the community showed just how much that kid was loved. Over 400 people showed up that night at his porch. I unfortunately was not one of them.
Not only did he affect his community, he affected me. He changed the way I lived my life. Every single aspect of everything I ever did before he died had been changed. My hope and soul had temporarily died. I carried on my life ruthlessly and with no regrets, for I thought that if he can be taken out so easily, who is to say I’m not next? So I felt there was no purpose in doing significant things because I was just going to die anyway. He changed the way we all thought about life and the way we took it for granted. I’m sure that during the memorial night everyone was thinking of living a different life, but in truth, I’m sure everyone will all stay the same. The only thing that would have changed was their state of mind.
Goodbye, dear friend.