Dead. That’s all I could think of. Dead. Upon hearing the bad news of my Aunt passing away devastated me. I was in the second grade when all of this happened. It was a cold winter day, sometime in the month of December. I was coming home from school and my dad usually says something to me like “hi hunny how was your day at school”, or even “what did you do at school today”. When I didn't hear anything I immediately thought something was wrong. Couple weeks ago my aunt was admitted into the hospital, but I didn't think anything was wrong with her. When he called me to the table and sat me down, dad broke the news to me that she had passed away that morning. My immediate thoughts were “no she can’t be dead, it’s impossible she was just fine yesterday when I saw her”, i started to get choked up. But it was true, she was gone for good. Her liver had given out and she couldn’t go through the pain anymore. I balled my eyes out with my dad holding me in his arms. Let me remind you my dad rarely cries. It was something I've never seen before. I remember telling him “daddy she’s in a great place with great people, she’ll be fine”, and he told me “you're right hunny, she is in a good place, god will take good care of her”. I kept thinking about how much pain she must have been in, her aching sore legs which were bruised from the ankle up, and her liver just shutting down because she was too overweight. It was a long night ahead of me, we barely talked at the dinner table, everyone was just lost for words, it was just a depressing night. No one spoke at the dinner table.

The next day came, I missed school because it was her funeral. I couldn't stand going to school facing all my peers. It just wasn't something that I was up for. I was still shook up from the bad news and just in a terrible mood. She was my best friend, my rock, the closest relative I had, and now she’s gone. She used to tell me all the time that “if I ever went to heaven Chelsea, I would always be with you in spirits you can not see me, but I will always see you”. I entered the funeral home, and immediately I felt all the emotions people were having, it just hit me like a boulder on my head. I started to ball my eyes out again. It was a bad experience. I walked over to where my aunt was lying in the coffin, pale, and so mannequin like. She looked so real, but I knew she was gone. I looked around and everyone was here, my aunts, uncles and cousins who I haven’t seen in years. My grandma and grandpa and other relatives were also here too. I spotted my cousin in the back row, she was a mess just like the rest of us. Balling her eyes out, I ran to give her a hug, we hugged for a while squeezing each other until we couldn't breath. The room felt like a curse was upon us , anyone who entered immediately felt each others emotions and just started to cry.

I starting thinking back to all the good memories we had. One time we took a long car ride to Florida, the long car ride brought us closer together, we would play hangman, and I remember that she would always let me win because to be honest I was a sore loser, I hated to lose. I would never take it well, I would usually pout and cry. It’s making me choke up and crying again just thinking about her. The tears flowed down my face one by one, I’m devastated. Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and any other holiday we were over to her house celebrating it. Everyone was over, eating and talking amongst themselves. I remember when I would go over there we would always make holiday cookies, and then decorate them with either pumpkins or Christmas trees, or even Easter bunnies. All the thoughts are running through my head like a gerbil on a running wheel, and its making me sad, alone without my best friend. At that moment, my mom always told me that everyone leaves this earth for a reason, I guess it was my aunts’ turn to leave. I realized at that moment that everyone loses someone, rather it would be a car accident, cancer, or a maybe even an illness. My aunt was trying to beat cancer and she couldn't fight it. It was her time to go.