I sat alone in the second pew from where the minister had his pulpit, letting my gaze shift from the pulpit to the various stained glass windows while wishing with all my heart that my friend was still with me today. I've been coming here once a day in the four months since his untimely passing from my life after I witnessed him being struck by a car.
As I continue to sit there, the sound of the heavy church doors creaking as they were opened alerted me to the fact that I no longer had the church to myself. The sound of footsteps from behind me told me without looking that my two friends, parents and even my occasional girlfriend were standing a few feet behind me.
I begged them to give me some more time alone while still facing forward. My sometimes girlfriend took a seat next to me in the pew and reached for my hand to hold in hers which caused me to look over at her. The moment I did, I felt the salty tears spring to my eyes and stream down the sides of my face as I broke down into sobs.
As I sat there, sobbing while she held me, I watched through blurry eyes as my two friends and parents turned and left the church in order to give the two of us some time alone. Once my sobs had dried up, both my occasional girlfriend and I spent some time talking about the too soon passing of our good friend.
It had been a warm summer day, the type that generally didn't require the wearing of warm winter hats or jackets. The sound of both laughter and the occasional splash mingled with the sound of brief conversations, which came from two boys, one with ink black hair, the second with flame red hair as they took turns in playfully pulling pranks on each other in the town swimming pool.
Presently, both boys got tired of spending time in the pool, so they left it and headed towards one of the boys' houses, which was across the street and down two blocks from the swimming pool. The first of the two boys crossed the street and turned to face the redhead, who was halfway across the street, when a car came barreling around the corner and sent the redhead up into the air before he came crashing back down onto the road.
Screaming out the redhead's name, the brunette was immediately by his friend's side while the car's driver called 911. Looking down at his friend's bruised and slightly bloodied face, he felt a rush of fear that his friend wouldn't be able to hold on long enough for the ambulance to arrive and get him to the hospital, so he encouraged his friend to hold on as long as he could.
The redhead kept trying to speak, but Stan couldn't quite hear what he was attempting to say. Finally, the ambulance arrived and two ambulance workers quickly placed the injured auburn boy onto a stretcher and loaded him into the back of the ambulance. The brunette boy quickly spoke to one of the ambulance workers, who nodded and he climbed into the back of the ambulance.
During the ride to the hospital, the redhead kept going in and out of consciousness while his friend held onto his hand as the two ambulance workers attempted to keep the redhead alive until they reached the hospital. Once there, the brunette watched as his friend was quickly wheeled away on the stretcher, leaving him in the waiting room. During his wait, he was joined by his friend's frantic parents, who came rushing up to him.
They demanded to know what had happened, so he told them that a car had struck his friend. They spent the next few hours anxiously waiting for any good news that the injured red haired male would pull through. Finally, after tense waiting with his friend's family, the brunette looked up as the doctor approached the group of four people. Seeing the downcast look on the doctor's face, he knew his friend was no longer with him.
He turned and fled the hospital, tears streaming from his eyes as he ran. He ran until he couldn't run anymore and fell to his knees as the sobs wracked his body. He didn't know how long he'd been on his hands and knees, sobbing, when a pair of legs appeared in front of his line of vision. He lifted his head and found himself looking into his blonde haired friend's eyes. The blonde haired boy helped him to his feet and took him home.
Still seated on the church pew beside my occasional girlfriend, I knew I'd always grieve for the loss of my red haired friend, but I also knew I'd have the strength of both family and friends to get through it.