19. Tears

I have had a blessed life, and it's always been that way for me. I had two older siblings and a younger sibling, and, for the most part I got along with them. My mom and dad were happily married, they rarely ever fought, which made everything that much more peaceful. But as for my best friend Jason, life was tough. His mom died when he was 6 or 7, and his dad had trouble supporting them, he worked all the time and sent the kids to school, (Jason also had two older siblings and a younger one), but being Adventist in a public school wasn't easy for Jason, but we become friends and we were best friends for a good decade. But, after awhile they moved away and I rarely got to see him anymore. It made me sad but I quickly got over it. Not long after that I finally got myself a Playstation and some games and found myself lost in another world, a world filled with dragons and other fictitious creatures. Jason and I would talk on the phone for hours at a time, or, at least we used to, soon we only talked for maybe an hour before one of us would have to go, but we still considered each other as brothers. But, since my life was so easy going I at times found it hard to understand what he was going through. But one day it all changed.
"Mark! Someone is here to see you", I heard my mom yell from down stairs. "Coming, I just have to finish off this one last dragon,". I quickly finished him off and ran down stairs. There at the front door was Jason. "Jason! What are you doing here!?", I asked. I quickly gave him a hug. He smiled, let's go outside and talk for a bit and I'll tell ya". I wandered what could possibly be wrong, but came up with no feasible answer, so I quickly slipped on my boots and headed out. "So how have you been?", I asked cheerfully. He sighed. "Mark.... you know I've been sick lately?". "Yes? Didn't you go see a doctor or something a couple weeks ago?". "Yes, and, after a lot of checking he diagnosed me with acute lymphocytic leukemia, and he said that it's gone to far.... there's no cure......" "What are you saying?.... your going to have some surgeries or something?......." He put his hand on my shoulder. "He said I'm probably not gonna make it out of this year......
"I'm going to die......"
"No-no he's wrong.... your - your fine..... your gonna be fine...." Tears filled my eyes and blurred my vision. Jason hugged me and let me cry on his shoulder, I couldn't believe he was going to die.
Jason was staying with his sister in town, about 20 miles away, my mom agreed to let me go stay with them for a week or more. But I wasn't sure I could handle it, so I asked if it was alright if I stayed a couple nights at my house so I could pack up some stuff. That night I didn't sleep at all, and to try and get my mind off Jason I played more video games. "Die you stupid dragon!". I quickly switched from my sword to my bow and with one final shot I killed him. I looked over at the clock on my desk. It showed 5:23. Just above the clock was a picture of Jason and I. I realized that soon he would be gone and I would never see him again on this earth...
"Jesus, he's been through so much in his life... why are you making him suffer like this?.... please Savior don't let him die! People still need him....." I fell on my knees and started crying. After that night I went and spent the next 17 days with him, he's family all came to see him before he….died.... even one of his uncles he hadn't seen in 2 years came to see him, it all became a blur to me. I went home and stayed a week there, then when Jason got worse I went and stayed with him. His dad wasn't taking it as hard as his siblings.... his sister especially was distraught. A few days later Jason and I stayed up half a night talking. "You know Mark, I am at perfect peace with God and with my end, I have trust and faith that I will spend eternity with my Lord and Savior, and hey, at least I'm doing it the easy way, you're gonna have to live through the end of the world." "Why do you say that? I might day tomorrow for all we know". "Jason half smiled, but you won't. Well, I'm getting tired, how bout we get some sleep”.  “okay, goodnight bro, sleep well”. “Night”, He smiled and lay down on his bed. I had trouble falling asleep that night, I had a bad feeling about tomorrow.
Surprisingly I was the first one up that morning. “Hey Jason, you wanna get something to eat?”. I walked over to his bed….. he lay there pale, and cold. The tears didn’t come right away, I stood there for a good 15 minutes before I fell down on my knees and stared crying….
His dad walked in the room. “Is he?....” his voice trailed off. “Yes, he’s sleeping in Jesus’ arms….”

That was the saddest most difficult day of my life, the day one of God’s amazing people died at only 17…