Written by: beeki
Ok ok so this isn't really about aardvarks, I just wanted to be top of the list :)
No, this is a story about this August, when my best friend was killed in a car accident.
It was a week after our church youth group had got back from Zambia, having been out there building a clinic in co-operation with the church in Kafue, Zambia. We were all pretty knackered, having been literally making bricks for 18 days solid in hot weather.
Tuesday evening I got a random call from James saying "Hey! You wanna come round tonight and watch movies?" Unusually for me on a college night, mid-week, I agreed, so we zoomed off in his car to his house and watched the Talented Mr. Ripley. His sister popped her head in the door to show me her photos of Zambia, and I got dropped off home around 2am.
Sunday evening was exactly a week after we had returned from our trip. The whole group piled round Mike Jones' house to play computer games and just generally hang out for a couple of hours. It ended up that me, Jo, and Eirene all sat next to each other on the couch, a rarity seeing as we were all exes of James (we are all friendly, it's just rare that's all). We sat there teasing James about his dancing and basically having a laugh, as you do.
James and Jo dashed off early, at about 9:15pm; James had organised to play a game of chess with one of his best friends Nicki, so we said "tarah" and off they went.
I woke up the next morning with a text message on my phone from his sister. It said "Becky call me it's urgent". There was a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, but there always is when people send me messages like that, and they always end up being guy trouble. So I texted her back. She replied saying it wasn't girly talk, it was urgent, call her. So I texted James and said "What's happened?". Immediately Loz (his sister) rang and said "Becky there's no easy way to tell you this but my brother is dead."
You ever had that feeling when you've forgotten to do your homework for the 3rd time, you make up some excuse, and then the teacher finds out? Where you go all quakey and silent, can't swallow without it being a huge gulp, and your hands quiver slightly?
So I sat on the side of my bed listening to her recount how it happened, then hung up and sat there for about 5 minutes, not doing anything.
I went into the sitting room after that, walked right up to my mum and just burst into tears. Great heartwrenching, hideous sobbing which just wouldn't stop.
It's been just under 2 months since James was killed in that accident on Sunday evening. Andrew and Gareth, who were in the car behind, still have to live with the images of watching him burn in the car but not being able to reach it because of the immense heat of the flames. But there is a difference to this story than most others.
I can rejoice in James' death. I miss him like you couldn't miss anyone more. His silly quirks, his stupid phrases. His aftershave. His damn fettish for Ford Fiestas. The time we both dyed our hair blue and pink. The way he ran.
But he's in heaven, you know? Maybe you don't.
He believed in Jesus as his personal saviour. I can rejoice that he's having a bloomin' better time than we're having here. And I can rejoice that through his untimely death (he was 18) his boss at work came to faith.
I still cry. But I still smile too :)