The Last Day of My Life

It was a cold day in early September. The weather was just starting to turn more towards fall, it was about fifty degrees and the sun was shining, even though the sun was shining there was a cold breeze that made the day just seemed cold and dark. Tom, Mathias, and I pulled into the driveway of Steve Ward’s house, I knew Steve through Mike Gokee. Steve was about six foot tall he had short curly blonde hair that always seemed unkempt but still clean. He had a slightly unhealthy look to him, you could just tell that he partied a lot and the effects were definitely starting to show. We practically ran up the stairs, smiling and excited for the fun events we knew would take place in this garage. This place had always seemed like a home away from home, or more like a home away from reality. It just seemed like a safe-haven, a welcome all, no expectations and no worries. It was as if time stopped and anything bad that was happening outside of this garage was no longer a reason to frown. You just had this feeling that Bob Marley would describe as “every little things gonna be alright.”

                I sat down in the folding lawn chair next to Steve, Tom sat to my right, and Mathias sat across from us on the other side of the little table that was in the middle of the circle. I realized that Mike wasn’t there yet, but I didn’t think too much of It. I figured he was on his way and he’d be here whenever. I put my bag down on the floor and looked around the circle again. I noticed that Mathias, Tom and I were the only ones smiling. Well what’s going on here, I was honestly confused at what was happening. I never for one second thought that I was about to hear any bad news. Tom is the brighter of the three of us and he was the first one to start to suspect something bad had happened. He asked where Mike was. I’ll never forget the way Steve just lifted up his head for a second looked me straight in the eyes and casually said, “Mike went to the hospital about four hours ago.” The look on his face will haunt me for the rest of my life. He didn’t look sad, but for some reason I could still tell he was, I guess you could say the atmosphere surrounding him seemed sad. His eyes were almost as if he wasn’t even looking at me, more looking through me than anything. He was just zoned out, numb, emotionless, completely out of it no longer aware of the actual reality that is out there. He no longer cared about the real world that waited outside. Blissfully and oblivious he sat there only caring about one thing, his next fix.