Samantha and Me - June 6, 2010

    I looked at Samantha, sitting next to me in my BMW, while we waited at the red light. She was tall, with olive skin and dark brown hair that was almost black. She had been my best friend ever since kindergarten.
    "What ya lookin' at Matt?" she asked me.
    "I was just thinkin' about how great friends we are," I replied.
    "Yep, nothing could ever separate us," she said.
    I smiled at what she had said and drove on as the light turned green.
    We sat in silence for a while. Her presence always warmed me, making me much happier than I was whenever without her.
    This is how life was supposed to be. Samantha and me, driving on the long dirt roads together enjoying each others company even when we didn't have anything to say.
    After a few minutes Samantha said, "You know what, Matt?"
    "What?"
    "I think I love you," she said.
    I sat there, dumb founded for a few seconds.
    "I really love you," she repeated.
    "I think I love you, too, " I said.
    "Do you want to be with me? You know, forever?" Samantha asked.
    I felt a joy rush through me as I replied to my very best friend, "Yes, Sam. Forever."
    Then she said, "Nothing will ever separate us."
    We sat in silence again for a few minutes.
    Suddenly, a deer jumped into the road. Surprised, I yanked the wheel to the right. I avoided the deer but ran off the road; the right side of the car crashing into a pole. I felt my face crash into an airbag; my head throbbing. I just sat there with my head in the big white pillow. Then I got my thoughts together and quickly sat up to check on Samantha. I stared at her body in sheer horror, mangled and bloody.
    "Samantha? Sam? Are you there? Can you hear me?" I asked as I lightly shook her.
    She didn't answer.
    I felt an endless stream of tears go down my cheeks. Sam was dead... and it was all my fault.
    After that everything was a blur. I just remember the ambulance carrying me and Sam away.
    I woke up to hear the nurse say, "Sorry, kid. Your friend didn't make it."

   After a funeral and weeks of mourning, I remembered what Sam had said, "Nothing could ever separate us." And on that day I decided that even death could not separate us. Sam would always be in my heart. 
 

-Mar