Color me black.  Or blue, depending on the case.

It's me, Sage.  Sage McDermott.  I'm afraid I'm not doing very well.  You see, one of my friends died yesterday--and I saw it happen, right in front of my own eyes.

We were walking home from school, just as we always did, me and Alysa Ketch, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, this car appeared, going at a very high rate of speed.  He ran smack dab into Alysa and nearly got me; it was only by a miracle that I got out of the way in time.  When I looked back, I was horrified to see Alysa lying in the street, not moving.

She looked dead.  Blood was gushing from her face, her head; I knew immediately she'd been badly hurt.

I started screaming for someone to call 9-1-1 while I stayed by my friend's side.  When I touched her, she was still warm; however, she was unconscious:  I knew that much.  As to whether she was breathing or not, that I didn't know; I was too scared to check.

People started coming to the scene within moments.  A big, burly man shoved me out of the way (he was a policeman), told me to mind my own business while he tended to my friend.  Another person took off his coat and covered Alysa up, so she would be warm before the ambulance came.  Meanwhile, I just stood there, hands on my face, crying like a boob.  I was scared something bad had happened to my friend.

When the paramedics came in their big, white-and-orange ambulance, I was never so relieved; however, when the paramedic announced that my friend was dead, I started screaming.  That's when everything went black.

I woke up just a little while ago.  I'm still reeling over what happened yesterday.  I slept, but not well:  I kept seeing Alysa's broken, bloody, limp body in my mind, and it was all I could do to keep from throwing up yet again. 

I saw the article in the paper about the accident.  It made the front page.  "Local Teenager, 16, Run Down By Suspected Drunk Driver on Local Denver Street Yesterday", the headline screamed.  I started crying and beating the walls; my uncle had to come try to calm me down.

That was when he gave me something to calm me down; I've just woke up a second time, unnerved by what's happened to me, to my friend, Alysa.

I'd met Alysa at church when I became saved; she and I hit it off immediately.  She was like the sister I never had (but always wanted), funny, caring, compassionate, ever laughing, never sad.  She always encouraged me, and she never made fun of me or my way of dress.

Now I've awakened from a horrible dream that I wish were not true , and it's all I can do to keep from losing it yet again.  I don't know why these things happen; Alysa Ketch didn't deserve to die in the manner she did!  I pray and hope they catch the guy who did this, and I hope he rots in jail for the rest of his life!  He deserves to;  he's destroyed my life, and he took away my first real friend!!  And all because he couldn't put down that stupid brown bottle before getting behind the wheel of a car!  I mean, how idiotic could he be????

Well, I am going to go now.  Crying again; hard to see for all the tears rolling down my face, blurring my vision.  I don't know what I am going to do; my life has been ruined by some g.d. drunk who didn't deserve to do what he did!!!!

~To be continued~