The day that ended my childhood...

This is my first "writing assignment" that was given by Mama Kat....So here goes =-)

"The day that ended my childhood!"

The year was 1987. I was in 7th grade. Nothing could ever happen to us...right?!?!? We lived in a world thinking that nothing could happen to us!

The day started as any other day would. I got up, ate breakfast and went on the bus to school. No one could have ever imagined what we would find out by the end of that day.

I don't remember the time it happened... Our school went on lock down. There were rumors that a man had been spotted leering around our school. We didn't really know what was happening and just carried about our day... The one thing that I knew is that my BESTEST friend in the whole world was not a school that day.

School got out and there were news cameras everywhere...and still we knew nothing!

Home with my parents, the news was on. My parents informed me that someone had been murdered and they were a student at our school. They were talking about how the murderer was seen at our school (or they thought it to be him, hiding). I do remember feeling a pain in my heart that was so deep...I just knew! My parents asked me if I knew of anyone that was not at school that day.... I told them it was Angeli...she wasn't there!!

The feeling overwhelmed us all as if we just knew that it was Angeli that was gone forever.

My parents and her parents were good friends. We always did things together. BBQ's, sleepovers, parties and more...Angeli and I were always together!!!

The next day at school, they did announce who was murdered and there were counseling available to all of us. I remember sitting in the gym with my classmates discussing what had happened. I was there in body, while my mind was far, far away.

More and more things were getting out about what happened. I was in disbelief that I would never see my best friend again. I had never had ANYONE that I remembered die and I didn't know how to deal with it.

Her funeral came and that was the first time that I saw her family. I was incapable to go to the house where the horror occurred. The funeral was beautiful, sad and depressing all in one. My mother was with me and I remember her telling me that it was okay to cry...

After the funeral, we went to her house. It was the last time that I would ever be in her house. It was so strange to be there and she was not. I was uncomfortable. I didn't know how to deal with all the sadness, anger, pain and sorrow that my 12 year old mind had been dealt.

To this day I have never ever fully been told what exactly happened to her. And I am not sure that I really want to. I know that a man broke into her house and her body was found in the woods behind her house. She had been raped and then brutally murdered.

The day that my best friend was taken from me so viciously was the day that my childhood ended. The days of feeling safe and fancy free were ripped out of me.