Saturday, March 13, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
March 5th 1997
Murdered?
I heard the news from Sam first. Charlie had been missing for 2 days and counting. His parents must have been distraught and they promised the world all they had if anyone could give information that would lead to the recovery of their son.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t really worried when I heard. I don’t know why I just felt that Charlie had absconded with a couple of mates and was going to return in a few days, slightly drunk but reliving the experience of fun and booze in their heads for a long time. I was confident that he would return and make everyone look really stupid for worrying. I was wrong.
Charlie was declared dead on the 13th of February 1997. His battered body had been found in an uncompleted building not far from his home. He had only been found because the stench of his decaying body had drawn attention. The police were called in and Charlie was identified. He had been stabbed repeatedly all over his body. The coroner’s report painted a very grim incident that involved at least two assailants. One grabbed him from behind with a wire, strangling him, while another stabbed him at really vital locations. It was a gory picture and the whole city stood still at the level of violence inflicted on the kid.
I heard the news soon enough. Firstly, Sam whispered it to me at school, then my brother who was still a student of my former high school brought the news home with a note from nick. It was true. Charlie was dead. I ran into the room and didn’t come out till in the evening. I cried for hours and couldn’t eat anything. It was my first loss and it felt even more bitter than repeating the 5th grade. It was painful and I couldn’t bring myself to understand why anyone would want to do this to Charlie. It just didn’t make much sense. It just didn’t fit. He had so much to look forward to. All of a sudden, things changed. My posse was broken. One of our crew had been deleted. For a 17 year old, the pain was just too much.
My parents and siblings did what they could to cheer me up. With each condolence whisper I received, a fresh well of tears would build up in my eyes and I would run back into the room. I wasn’t sure I could go to school for a while. It would take a long time, a very long time to heal. Even right now, as I write this book, I can almost feel the same piercing pain that tore through my stomach that day. It’s a feeling that sticks with a teenager for a long time. Death is inevitable yes, but I think for children who have gotten old enough to understand what death meant, it was important that a failsafe system be set in motion to make the realities easier. The effects that the passing away of a loved one has on a child are numerous. Depression, mental and physical exhaustion are but a few of the challenges a kid must cope with when a loved one is lost. I took it hard. Very hard. My mom reacted when the weight loss came in. she made me eat! Of course she would know how to do that. She was a nurse. Dad did his thing by making me understand my loss and re-building my confidence. My siblings did their best in encouraging me. Everyone tried hard. It worked. A few days later I was back on my feet. I was even more committed to life, after all, it could be taken from you at any instant. So why not give it your best shot! I did. Soon the incident was behind me. I was going to make it through. I was going to see Charlie someday in heaven, and I would tell him how much I missed him. For now, I was on earth and I had to go on living. My mind was made up I was sure I would still shine. The dark cloud of Charlie’s death could only slow me down. It couldn’t stop me. Nothing could stop me….or so I thought.
