Personal Narrative Essay: The Kite Game

It was the beginning of the lacrosse season. All 48 of us were lined up in two straight lines dreading the moment when our our team captains began to yell at us to begin running. When we began the run around the patchy field, I noticed my friend struggling to keep up with everyone. I was further ahead of him and could hear him huffing and puffing. We all began to cheer Dan on in order to give him the motivation to increase his speed. Over time, his level of endurance improved, and was capable of keeping up with the team, reaching his dream of playing in varsity games. We lost every game that season, but we really didn’t care about it. We just wanted to have fun. As we approached the end of the season, we all said our goodbyes and hoped for

the best for next season. Little did I know, I was saying goodbye forever to a good friend of mine.

It was mid-November when one of the most tragic events in my hometown occurred.

Months past since the last time we’ve seen each other. Months since the time I saw him giving it his all during conditioning. Words cannot describe how much this person impacted the lives of many people in my hometown of Smithfield, RI. It was mid-November. My brother was heading home from college and I picked up my brother from the train station. He distressingly broke the news to me about his sudden passing, and my heart dropped to my stomach. During the whole ride home, I was too nauseated to even speak. I wanted to believe that I was simply having a bad dream. I cried myself to sleep that night. I had school the next day and wasn’t able to function properly. Walking through the crowded halls, I watched all of my classmates walking to their classes in tears. As the announcements came on through the intercom, I could hear the sorrow in my principal's voice as he was speaking about weekly events. I had continuous flashbacks of the cheesy jokes he used to tell, his lustrous smile that brought happiness to others, and his curly perm that he never wanted to cut. I just wanted to stay in my bed and let every single tear drain from my glands. I went to the candlelight vigil for him the next day. Almost everyone from the town attended with a candle. The iridescence reflecting from the candles illuminated the sky with an angelic glow. I felt like he was there next to us at that moment, smiling for what

we did for him.

The most distressing moment I experienced was at his funeral. Hundreds of his closest friends and family members attended all dressed in black. Upon arriving to the church, I sunk my head down, as did many others. I checked in and was given a laminated card with a picture of him from one of the lacrosse games. I stored the card into my wallet, and proceeded into the room. As I entered the candle-lit room with extremely high ceilings, my heart felt as if it had been punctured. All of my peers gazed deeply into my eyes and began to weep. I sat next to my friends in the second row. The procession began minutes later, and his parents were asked to deliver a few words. By examining their faces, I could clearly see signs of fatigue and depression, through their droopy eyes, the exhaustion in their voices and the makeup running down his mother’s face. I can recall his mother experience an emotionally breakdown saying, “Why my boy? Why would God take him away from me? My sweet, innocent boy.” They proceeded to speak about his irreplaceable personality and his deep passion for sports. I felt angry. Angry that this innocent person was taken away from us. Angry that his parents had to go through this experience. Angry that I will never be able to see him again. I began to hear the back of the room sobbing, and as I turned my head to the back right of the room, I saw all of the football players carrying in his casket. My heart felt as if it was pierced. Looking into the football players eyes, I couldn’t bare to feel the emotions rushing through their heads as they carried their friend into the room. I grabbed a tissue from the bundle I had bulging from my pocket, and wept. That’s all I could do to express my sorrow. It was so hard to believe that he was in the casket. The eulogist began to recite texts from the Bible, and gave a small speech about his life. I couldn’t bare to stare at his casket for more than a minute, and just stood at the ground in disbelief. He was later carried out to the cemetery where he would be buried, and the procession soon ended. I walked outside and hugged all of my friends, and expressed my deepest condolences to his parents and close relatives. I walked to my car and drove home playing the song “See You Again” by Charlie Puth, and cried all the way home.

A few months later, lacrosse season began.

It would have been his second year playing. He was so devoted to playing lacrosse, and I knew he wanted to continue playing throughout high school. Being that a majority of the team was composed of seniors, we wanted to make this year special. Just for him. The group of seniors created a phrase that we would say after we huddled up to discuss game plays. We would say “DD on three… DD on three” in the huddle. That phrase meant so much to us and gave us the motivation to perform better. We wanted to honor the season to our beloved friend and teammate. We also created stickers of his initials and his jersey number, and to this day, I have it adhered to my phone case. At every home game, we hung his jersey on the bench, and had a moment of silence for him. The adrenaline that rushed through my body, and the letters, “DD” that I drew on my face with face paint every game made me want to reach the championship and do so in his honor. We approached the last game that would determine if we would qualify to play in the championship or not. It was very hard to believe that we reached this point since we lost every game last season with the same players. It was all because of him. He gave us encouragement that we needed to win it all, and I knew that he was there with us at every game supporting us. It was a very close game, but unfortunately, we didn’t make the cut. We were all upset but none of us believed that we would get that far in the

season. Our coaches were extremely proud of us, and we couldn’t have done it without them. The sunset after the game was the most beautiful sunset I had every gazed my eyes upon. It was an indication that he was watching us. He was with us throughout the entire season, wishing he was there to play beside us. We left disheartened but felt warm on the inside knowing that he was observing us from up above. We all miss you and love you so much. Rest easy, Dan, we’ll see you soon buddy.