April 11th, 1997, my 18th birthday was only 3 days away. The adult age, a time when many celebrate and go partying at the bars for the first time. For me it was a week of sadness, loss and a funeral for my best friend. I went to school this day as normal as always, nothing out of the ordinary. I had a first period spare, so I was in the cafeteria with 2 of my friends,laughing and joking like always. Then I called my mom to make sure that I was being picked up at lunch by my grandparents (my dad was working that day). Little did I know that she had gotten a call about Jen that morning. I even asked her what was new, not for any reason, just for conversation,and she asked why I asked. But she didn't say anything about it. I later was told that Jen's mom didn't want them to tell me on the phone. And after she had got that call she called my dad at work, crying, and told him and said she didn't know how to tell me. So he came home from work right away. At lunch he was there to pick me up,the first sign of unusual the whole day. I asked why he was there, and he just said they needed to talk to me. I thought maybe it was about my birthday or something, lol. I never gave it a thought that it was serious. I bugged him about it the whole way home, so finally,as we were closer to home he said, and I'll never forget this, "Jenny was killed last night". At first I didn't believe it but i saw the look on his face and knew he was serious, and I immediatly broke down. I called her mom when I got home, and we cried and she told me what had happened.

Her friend was driving her home from work on a quad, and a truck went after them, and hit them. They flew way out and died instantly. I don't remember the extent of her injuries, but she had many abrasions. At the time she was living up in Northern Alberta, her mom was living in Vermillion, which is closer to Calgary. I live in the area of Edmonton, and they used to live here and moved in 1993. In 1996, Jen came to live with us for a couple months, but didn't work out so she moved back with her mom. Then she and a friend decided to move up north and she got a job at a gas station there, which she loved. I last saw her in August 96, shortly after she left here. I talked to her in early March 97, a few short weeks before she died. I didn't even tell her I loved her. The week she died I wanted to call her, but I thought I'd wait and see if she would remember my birthday. Stupid I know, but over the past few years I'd almost felt like she didn't care as much about me as she used to, and for that I've felt guilty for feeling ever since. Because I could've called her only a couple days before it was too late. And I wanted to, but I was stupid. So I never got to say hi, have a good conversation, maybe even say I love ya. I hate myself for that.

We'd been best friends since kindergarden. The first day of school I was playing with the doll house and barbies, and she came in with her mom and was hiding behind her moms leg. I went to her and asked her to play. She eventually did, and the rest was history. 5 years old, that's 13 years before she died. A wonderful 13 years, full of great memories. And we had plans to live together and she finished high school. I wonder if we would've. She died only one month, to the day even, before she was to be 18. What is freaky is that she once told me that a psychic told her she wouldn't live to be 18. I don't really believe that stuff, so I never truly believed it, and I forgot about it until she did die. She also told another of our friends, and at the same moment I was thinking about that, she told me she remembered that Jen told her that. It's a little freaky.

She was killed by a drunk driver, a man who apparently was angry about something, and his granddaughter told him not to drive but he didn't care (that must've been who was in the truck with him). And he was never charged. That's a long and twisted story, but from what her mom told me, this guy had a twin brother who got him to cover for him.

Losing my best friend was the hardest thing I ever went through. I never want to experience that again. I didn't even want to go to the funeral but her mom, sister, and stepfather wanted me to sit up front with them because I am like family. That was so hard. I bawled through the whole thing. One of the songs played was The Dance, a song I can't bear to listen to anymore because of it.

Her mom and I remain very very close, I still call her mom, and she is living in Florida right now. She is an amazing woman, with great courage and strength. God Bless her.

Recently when we saw each other, I got the courage to look at the picture of the accident. There was only one picture she had, a pic of Jen. Oh God, there was no denying it happened. It was her alright. I then regretted seeing it, thinking it would haunt me forever. Her eyes were even open,and there was blood on her face around her nose. We see only one side of her face, which thankfully wasn't bad. That was real hard. But at least I saw for myself that this happened, it was something I had to do.

I do hope Jen knows that I love her, but I do feel badly for some of my feelings I had.

A couple months after the accident, I wrote a poem for her:

Two people were killed Thursday when a half-ton truck and a quad collided on a rural road in northern Alberta.

RCMP said the accident happened on a range road about 10:30 p.m. five km southeast of the hamlet of Red Earth Creek.

Police said both passengers on the quad were killed instantly.

They were identified as Dale Burgoyne, 16, of Red Earth Creek and Jennifer Daniels, 17, of Vermilion. The occupants of the truck were taken to Slave Lake Hospital, where they were treated and released. Police said a man and a teenaged girl were in the truck.

Weather conditions were clear at the time of the crash. Red Earth Creek is about 400 km north of Edmonton.

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