I just heard that a friend of mine from high school died tragically. We were good friends freshman year. I even went with his family on their family vacation to Florida over spring break. We started to drift apart somewhat around sophomore year. We remained friendly throughout high school, but didn't hang out too that often. I still always enjoyed his company and considered him a friend. We just became different people.
I drank my first bottle of wine with him on New Year's 1996. He had two younger sisters, twins. They must be about 16 or 17 years old now. He had an older sister as well, and two very good parents. He was very into computers and knew a lot about hacking and the online "underground" scene. He never did anything malicious though to my knowledge. He just had a gift for computers and he liked utilizing it.
He was a very smart person, though I don't think he got very good grades. You could tell though that he had intelligence. And he knew a lot of things, just not your normal things you learn in school.
He taught me how to shave for the first time.
Unfortunately, he got into drugs a little later in high school. I think it started with pot, but I think I also remember him also getting into "schrooms" and other drugs. This is about when we started drifting apart. It's not that I despised him for using drugs. I just didn't run too deeply in that crowd because I didn't use any drugs.
His cause of death was not published in the papers or anything. I haven't confirmed this, but another friend told me it was a heroine overdose.
I wonder if I should have taken a harder stance against friends I knew that did drugs--really let them know that I didn't support it at all. That I support them always, but not their drug use. I wonder if I had stayed closer to him as a friend, maybe I could have been somehow, in some way, a positive influence on him to not use drugs. I, of course, didn't have any idea that it would ever end like this, but I just wonder if I could have done something differently. I know that his tragedy will change how I think about drugs, and I hope that his example, sad beyond grief that it happened, can be a message to people who use drugs. I know that when I encounter drug users from now on, I'm going to say, "Hey, I have a friend who is dead because of that stuff. Please don't make the same mistake."
It's weird to think about people my age who are now dead. My friend was 23 years old when he died. You're not supposed to die at 23.
It's so weird to think about someone I knew, I had seen nearly every day for four years, can no longer be seen smiling with his mischievous smile. He was a good man, and he is no longer with us.
I'm not going to say his name here, to protect his family's privacy. But, my good friend, if you can somehow see these words or hear my prayers, please know that you are still a good friend, a part of my heart, and I will remember you always.