Imagine going home, realizing that you’re never going to get to see someone or something that you’ve been with for your whole life again. Imagine going home, and not opening the door to a happy dog barking because he is so excited to see you. Imagine watching your best friend suffer, almost to the point of death. Imagine your best friend dying.

I can’t really remember the exact day, but it was sometime around the end of January. It was one of the worst weeks of my life. Every day, that week, I came home to the dog that I have known for so long. He was laying on the floor with foam coming out of his mouth. He was shaking, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I sat and watched as he suffered through what he was going through. I remember looking down at him, as I was slowly rubbing back and forth across his body. I said a prayer. I can’t remember what it exactly was, but it was something along the lines of helping to cure whatever was happening with him. A day went by, and I woke up in the morning to go to school. I remember my mom calling for me from my room, that it was time to leave. I hurried and got my stuff from the table, packed my lunch, and was getting ready to walk out the door. I saw my dog, in the corner of my eye, laying on the ground beside me. I looked at him and luckily he was still okay. I stared into his eyes, as he was staring back at me. I said to him, “I love you A.J.” I kissed him on the head and slowly walked out the door. I went to school, everything was fine that day. I was a little upset because I got to thinking about what A.J had been going through. I made it through the school day with a smile on my face, feeling that A.J would be fine. I had basketball practice after school until 4:30. Not much happened that day at practice, we just did the usual drills we always do. My mind was no longer on A.J because I am really into sports and like to focus. When the clock hit 4:30, my mind immediately went back to my dog. I asked myself “how is he doing?” and thought to myself “Will he be okay?” I got dressed after practice, and put my school clothes back on. I knew my Mom was waiting on me outside, so I had to hurry up and go out there. I walked out the door trying to find my Mom. I glanced over and saw our car. I looked inside it, and there was my Mom, sitting in the car with a weird look on her face. As soon as I saw that look, I knew something was wrong.

I slowly walked to the car. I opened the door, and my Mom didn’t really speak to me, but when she did, the news wasn’t good. She told me that A.J had died. I didn’t know what to think, and I really couldn’t at the time. I was shocked. “Why did this have to happen?” I couldn’t believe that the morning I left for school, would be the last time I got to see my best friend. I couldn’t believe that those words that I spoke to him before I left for school that morning, would be the last words I would ever get to say to him. I couldn’t believe, that the deep look I gave, into his eyes, before I left that day, would be the last time I could actually stare into his eyes with him staring back. I couldn’t believe that he was gone.

There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my best friend. Throwing him a ball, and making him chase it. Hearing him chomp on his bone when I’m trying to go to sleep. The late nights that I’d stay up with him, as he was laying beside me. All those are only memories now. Everything happens so fast. You don’t realize how much someone or something means to you, until that someone or something is gone. He will forever be in my heart, and even though he is gone, he will never be forgotten.