Today is one of those days.
Danielle has been gone for almost 11 years, but we were friends for 10. Little things trigger a memory. Seeing a trophy will remind me of the time we were blitzed, play fighting, and rolled into some guy's (KJ, I think) book shelf, causing his assorted awards to bop us on the head. It really hurt, but we continued to laugh as the whole case fell upon us.
Nothing makes me remember her more than being in my parent's home. I remember how we used to walk around the lake, sometimes twice in a row. Man, that's like, 7 miles! We used to sing at the top of our lungs, laughing, gossiping... we never ran out of things to say.
I remember the time we jumped into the dam. It was after a particularly heavy rain, and the water was rushing. We would creep out a little, sit down, and let the current scoot us away. I, in my bravery (read stupidity), went out a little too far. The current was so fast I was pushed quickly towards a bunch of jagged, threatening rocks. I was scared, and turned to my belly to try to claw at the ground to save myself. Danielle had to rescue me, but my knees and hands were still a bloody mess.
When she moved in with us, we always had so much to discuss. We would wake up together, catch the bus, skip classes together, go home, get dressed, go out with boys, and always talk ourselves to sleep. We used to streak. We would strip, climb out my bedroom window, creep off the porch (so as not to awaken George, the family Sheepdog), run down the driveway to the street. We always imagined headlights, and would hightail it back; laughing, feeling exhilerated.
One morning after returning home (we had sneaked out) we decided that it would be a great idea to lay out on the roof. We grabbed our towels, climbed the ladder, and soaked up the rays. I don't know if it was her or me (probably me) that got paranoid about getting back down. One of us went to check on the ladder, decided it was too steep, and whadyaknow... we dropped it. We had to jump up and down over my brothers' room to wake them up. They had to have our neighbor come rescue us.
The man that took her away from us tries to appeal his case. Part of me wants to go to his parole hearings or appeals just to look him in the eye. I want him to know how much he hurt us all when he took her away. There is another part of me that just doesn't like to think about it. Just push it away to the far corners of my mind.
I don't know how a person can take a human life. I don't know why a stranger would strangle somebody. I don't think a loss like this is something you ever get over. I know I can't.
I knew Danielle for a third of my life. When she passed, I had known her for half. I miss her every day, as I'm sure her family and other friends do. I know that she lives on. She had such a BIG personality, that nobody could or would ever forget her.
LYLAS
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