REST IN PEACE

a story by Andrey German, age 15

The phone rang. I picked up: Hello, what's up? I dropped the phone. My friend had died. It was really cold, sometime in December.

The next day I woke up in my room on the floor. I was frozen and I got a cold. I was so not myself. I felt like I was on fire just looking in the mirror. Tears started hitting the ground. I never thought he would die at the age of twenty.

I brushed my teeth, took a shower, I took some medicine because my throat felt like it was squeaking. My head was on fire and I felt weak.

I walked to school. While I was thinking about him, it brought me a sad face. Alex died on a Sunday after he went to a friend's house. His friend had a dirt bike. Alex saw it. He was really into bikes and he asked to ride the dirt bike. His friend said he wouldn't let him, but Alex kept on asking until his friend finally decided to let him. So Alex took the bike. He was speeding and there was a sharp corner. He was going about 100 miles an hour. The bike slipped, he flew off, fell and broke his neck and died.

At school, the teacher with the black hair was mean to everybody. No one liked her. The room was full of students and they were all reading a book named The Million Dollar Shot. The teacher was such a jerk to me, because I was late and because she was just trying to annoy me. She saw my sad face. I thought she would ask why or what happened. She just didn't think about that. Instead, she asked me about what happened in the book that we had to read. I told her I didn't know because I didn't have a chance to read it, so she asked me to come to the front of the class. I did. She asked me about the book again and I got really embarrassed. My legs started to move to the door I didn't want to say anything. I had a lot of bad stuff to say to her, but decided not to, and just walked out of the class.

I walked out and went in the hall for a little bit. I thought she would come ask me why I did that or to say sorry. It didn't happen and I went to the bathroom, washed my face and stared at myself in the mirror. Then I started walking home in the cold blizzard.

Every window was frozen. Many cars were stopped from going places because it was too icy. It was so cold I could barely move and I had left my coat in the class. I didn't want to go get it, because I knew if I went in the class again, I would curse at her and get in trouble. But I had too much stuff in my head.

As I was walking, I started thinking to myself about Alex. A thought came to my mind, saying: I'm in a better place. That made me feel better, but I was thinking of the places I used to go hang out with him and how he was always happy. Tears came down my cheeks. When they hit the ground, they were ice. I felt like I was going to die or faint any time.

I got home. As soon as I walked to my room, I passed out. Luckily for me, my mom was home. She heard a noise and went to see what happened. She saw me on the floor and saw that I wasn't breathing. She called the ambulance and tried to wake me up. It didn't work, so the ambulance took me and I woke up one hour later.

I woke up in a place that was unfamiliar. I didn't know where I was. I saw a lot of nurses, which told me where I was, but I didn't know what happened. My stomach was empty. I saw a doctor and asked, "What happened?"

The doctor told me that I had been in coma for one hour. He said I was so lucky to still be alive. He said it was a miracle.

I got to go home. I ate some soup, because I was very hungry, then fell asleep. I didn't go to school the next day.

Three days later, I had to go and see my friend get buried in the ground. I was trying to hold myself from crying. I knew I wouldn't see him on earth ever again.

After, I went to the place where he died. It was on a hill, on a sharp corner. There were trees all around. I put some flowers down and prayed. I was reminded of the fun stuff we did together. I remembered swimming at Kah-Nee-Ta. He would do back flips and we would barbecue and play basketball and volleyball together. After that we would eat. It was always sunny and hot when we hung out. I also remembered us working together, installing tile with the music on full blast. When we worked together, it didn't even feel like we were working because he was so funny and always smiling. I never remember him being sad. He was one of the best people I'd ever met.

I left home and went to school the next day and the teacher saw me and finally asked me what happened. I told her. She felt really sorry for me and she apologized after I told her what happened. From that moment on, she respected me and was never a jerk to anyone ever again.

My friend Alex died on December, 31, 2008. Rest in peace, Alex. I'll always remember you. You will be missed. I wish you were here now.