My friend's murder happened nearly 10 years ago, so the emotions aren't as raw for me as they once were, though I do still miss her. I'm sure they are for her parents though. Nobody is supposed to bury their own child.
My friend was the friend that everyone wants to be around. No matter what the circumstances were, she saw the positive side. She was tiny (I'm only 5'3", and she wasn't even my height when she wore heels. I doubt she weighed 100 lbs in heavy winter clothing) and spunky. I don't think I ever witnessed her being rude in all the years I knew her. She had long brown hair, and was incredibly lucky to have natural golden highlights. She had sparkling eyes that would light up a room. And she had a contagious laugh. Her laugh would dissolve everyone in the room into uncontrollable giggles. I am SO thankful that I can still hear her laugh when I think about her. Everyone loved her laugh almost as much as they loved her.
Guys flocked to her.
She was a very loyal person. She was loyal to her friends, and faithful to her boyfriends. She'd never even consider another guy until things were completely over with a guy she had dated. Towards the end of her life, she dated a guy everyone liked. He was a great guy. Unfortunately they had ambitions that led them in different directions. Knowing she'd consider holding back on her ambitions to help put him through law school, he decided to "end" their relationship. It was never meant to be a final end on his part, but he knew she would insist on helping him achieve his goals and put her own on the back burner. She was young, and she felt she had plenty of time to get where she wanted to go. She was just that kind of person. She had a huge heart.
Jump ahead a year...
She and I remained close and in regular contact, but we were now living in different states. In fact, she was living in a different state than any of our friends were.
Not even three months after my wedding, I was preparing for Spring Break (I was a teacher). A group of us were getting together for a girls night out. Early one morning the phone rang. Army answered it, and I could tell something was different. I could only hear his end of the conversation, but I heard him say, "I'll tell her." followed buy, "Sure. Let me hand her the phone." I glanced at caller id as he handed me the phone. It was a friend whose birthday is a week before mine. I tried calling her on her birthday, but I couldn't reach her. I figured she was just calling me back or was calling to wish me an early happy birthday.
Lan? It's Kate. (Her voice sounded really serious)
Hey Kate! Happy Birthday!
Lanny, I um, I, I...
Who's that in the background? Is that L?
Yeah, Lanny, it is. We, I, um, L's mom just spoke with T's mom. She's about to call your mom, but I told her I'd call you.
What? Why? Why are all our moms talking? What's going on? (As I said this, Army wrapped his arms around me from behind. I knew it couldn't be good, but I NEVER imagined I'd hear what came next).
Lanny, (long deep breath) T's gone.
Gone where?
Gone Lanny, she's dead.
You're kidding right? People our age don't die. Haha. That's not funny! Is she there with y'all?
(silence on the other end)
Kate! That's. NOT. Funny. Stop it.
(sniffles on the other end)
Kate, really, this isn't funny. Please stop. Really, people our age don't die. She can't be dead.
(sobbing on the other end)
No, Kate! NO! She can't be. (At this point I became numb)
Her visitation and funeral were packed. Her mom hugged each one of us with a deliberate and long embrace. When she got to me, she broke down (not because it was me, I was just at the end of our line of friends). We all sobbed. None of us could utter a comprehensible word.
My group of friends that was supposed to go out and celebrate Spring Break suddenly found ourselves at the funeral of a friend. A young friend. And because she was murdered, the casket had to be closed. Because it was closed, none of us could believe she was really gone. Glancing over at her mother, though, we knew she was. And with that, several young friends experienced the first significant loss of innocence. Before we thought that happened to other people, now it had happened to one of us.
5 comments:
Hugs.
Aw hon, that's awful. I don't even know what else to say, other than a hug and a smooch.
Leeann
niccofive.blogspot.com
PS- I used the new Blog List feature that Blogger has and put you on.
pps- I'll get to the meme later today!
Your story brought a tear to my eye. Hugs to you. You are so kind to share this with us and so brave to share it also.
Hey, Tagger...Taggee here, letting you know I did it, so you should "go see."
Sweetie, I am so sorry about your friend; that is beyond awful. (((HUG))). I hope they caught whoever did it.
I had a friend die when I was young. Not murder, just medical malpractice. Well, kinda murdered. Closed casket, zombie parents. I will never forget that funeral. You hit a chord with this one. Sorry for you, even all these years later.
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