DOSE:

Heroin

BODY WEIGHT:

130 lb

Today is December 12, 2003. Yesterday evening was one of the worst nights of my life. It was my best and one of my oldest friend's funeral. On December 7, 2003, my best friend, (I'll just call him ZG), died of a heroin overdose. I hadn't seen ZG for about a month or two prior to his OD. The first time I met him was in 1991, in first grade. He stayed at my school for half of a year, and left in the middle of the school year. However, he ended up coming back in second grade. That was his last year there. Time went on and I didn't see him for a long time. In 2000, I got kicked out of my high school and ended up going to an alternative school. ZG was at the new student orientation on the very first day. On the bus ride on the way home, I asked him if he used to go to this school, and I asked if his name was ZG. He was caucasian and had the lightest blue eyes you could possibly imagine, except his skin was darker than most white people, so it was very easy to recognize him.

The first time I went to his house, I met his Grandma and Grandpa. His mother passed away when he was a young boy, about 6 years old. His father lived in New York for a while until, I belive, the spring of 2003. Shortly after meeting his grandparents his Grandpa passed away. I felt very bad for his Grandma, whom I was sort of close to. She is a very sweet lady.

Well, me and ZG used to always smoke blunts together before we would go to school. It was our tradition. We used to wander around downtown, and smoke in the federal building, (this was pre 9/11, so security wasn't very tight at all.) in federal parking structures, the downtown mall, and all other sorts of nooks and crannies around the Eastside and Downtown. If it hadn't been for ZG I probably wouldnt have done some of the things that I have experienced. We used to go to raves, concerts, hotel parties, house parties. Everywhere. We were like brothers. When ZG would introduce me he used to tell people I was his brother. Now, honestly, it didn't just stop at weed with us. We would later go on to do Shrooms, drink mushroom tea, ecstacy, and even Ketamine. We never over did it though.

Of course we would drink occasionaly together on special occasions like the Super Bowl, or birthdays or New Years. We spent many a wild night together. ZG's dad moved to Milwaukee and ZG moved in with him. The funny thing is it was in the exact same building as his Grandma's. His dad is a great guy. He was always would try to set ZG straight, whether it be to get a job, or a new job that would lead him somewhere in life. No matter how loud some of the arguments got you could always tell ZG loved his dad and his dad loved him just as much. They had a great relationship through my eyes. They seemed to always be messing around with each other. ZG always promised to me and all of our closest friends we would never try anything too dangerous like crack or heroin. We never did either of those things, unfourtunatly except for ZG.

About early October 2003, ZG moved from living with his dad to a pretty bad part of the city, with a guy that me, nor my cousin, (who was also ZG's best friend), liked from the beginning. They did roofing jobs together, but when I found out they moved in together then the gap between us started to open. ZG would stop by my house occasionaly afterwards just to talk about whatever. He told me he had a car, which just ended up being the car of the loser he moved in with. The last time I talked to ZG, he gave me a cell phone number where I could reach him at. Sadly, which I sort of blame on having a bad habit of losing things, never got a chance to call him on that cell phone. If only I had done that, maybe, just possibly, I wouldn't have to be writing this.

I was sleeping on December 8, 2003, when the phone rang. it was my mom. She got word from my friend who works next door to ZG's dad's house that ZG passed away the night before. This, needless to say was a very rude awakening. I never knew anybody who died before. I'm only 19 years old. I'm not supposed to know anything like this yet. Especially a best friend who was the same age as me. His twentieth birthday would have been next month: January 6.

I was looking at pictures of ZG at the funeral. There was a picture of him taken in front of our old school in first grade. I saw that picture and a lot of the memories flashed right into my head. Then I saw pictures of him in his high school days and that's pretty much when I finally lost it. I haven't cried about anything for the longest time, but I'll tell you, it sure felt good shedding some tears finally. ZG was my best friend, and I'll never forget him. ZG was all about having fun. As I was looking at those pictures, I noticed he always had the biggest smile on his face and the goofiest, pose or look. He took pretty much any moment and made it a time to remember. All I can hope and pray for now is that ZG is in a better place away from any problems he may have had. And I am definetley looking forward to hanging out with him when my time comes.

Exp Year: 2003	ExpID: 29159
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jun 28, 2007	Views: 1,714
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Heroin (27) : Not Applicable (38), Relationships (44), Second Hand Report (42), Overdose (29), Retrospective / Summary (11)