Katie (873 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 2 on 20 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Goose <goosehkr at hotmail dot com> (View user info) at 2005-08-12 09:46:20 EDT
Katie was my best friend in the whole world back when I was in high school. I had met her when I was living with my aunt and uncle in Philadelphia, at one of my cousin's parties, and we hit it off immediately. As soon as we sat down together, we started talking, and became almost inseparable for the next couple of years. I had never felt a connection like this with another person - she was the kind of kid I could spend my entire day with, and I frequently did. She was one of those special people that you could share hours-long silences with without it ever becoming uncomfortable.
We had tossed the idea of dating around a few times, but it never seemed to quite line up correctly. Whenever I was single, she was seeing someone, and vice-versa. Also, I think it was an idea that was a little scary to both of us, since we had connected so powerfully as friends - it wasn't worth the risk of destroying what we already had. To be fair, I think I was more interested in dating her than she was in dating me, although I'm not sure; maybe she just didn't feel "that way" for me. Regardless, I loved her more than life itself, and she told me she felt the same way.
I grew up in a very large family (being Irish Catholic will do that to you) and so I've noticed that I very often take on the role of big brother for many of my female friends, since it's a role I've grown accustomed during my life, and Katie was no exception. The one thing that we never saw eye-to-eye on was the people that she did choose to date - I would have been hard-pressed to find a collection of people I liked less than the string of guys she saw during our teenage years. Perhaps it was jealousy, but I think a large part of it was that they were actually assholes.
One day she came to me and told me she was in love - she had been dating this guy Troy for a few months, and she told me that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She was only 17, and this guy was a complete prick, so I tried to talk her out of it, to make her consider what she was doing, do go and sleep on it for a few days before she told him that. She never got the chance.
Two days after we had talked about how much she loved this guy, she came bursting into my cousin's living room while I was sitting on the couch - we were high and yelling answers at Jeopardy. She burst into tears, and I was caught completely unawares, but she started to freak me out with her hysteria. It turns out that Troy had taken her out, and she was going to open up to him about how she felt, and...well, I don't know if it would technically be counted as rape, but she definitely said no, and he definitely didn't listen.
I listened to her and consoled her as much as I could, and then I dropped her off at another cousin's apartment up the block - she was attending Villa Nova as a student pf psychology, and she worked as a counselor in the women's center, so I figured it was a pretty safe move. As soon as I had ensured that Katie was safe and surrounded by people who cared for her, I recruited a few friends and went to find Troy. We finally tracked him down at a diner across town.
We took him outside, and explained to him very forcefully that his actions were not becoming of a decent human being, that he should be ashamed, and that he should, under no circumstances, try to have any contact with Katie every again, for any reason. Without going into too much detail, after a two-week stay in the hospital, Troy moved to the West Coast, and my friends and I spend six months in juu vee. It was worth it.
Well, it would have been worth it, except for one thing - somehow, Katie was still in love with the guy, and when she found out what had happened, she visited in lockup and through the plate glass, told me where to go, how to get there, and that she never wanted to speak to me again. She didn't, either, for about three months. Halfway through my sentence, I got a postcard from her - Troy had gotten her pregnant, she was keeping the baby, and she was going to name it after him.
And that was the last that I heard of her for three years. She moved to stay with some of her family in Ohio, and cut all of her ties with me, my friends, and my family. My best friend walked off, with barely even a goodbye. I was devastated. I can't even think of how to describe how I felt - my entire world had collapsed. I know now how my uncle had felt when his wife died, and why he didn't get out of bed for three weeks. It's fucking awful.
Three years after she moved away, and I'm in between my sophomore and junior year of college, I get another letter from her, this time with a picture of her son and her son, one of the portraits they do at Sears or Kmart. It talks about how she's forgiven me, what she's been up to for the last couple of years, and asking me if I would be willing to be the godfather to her child. How could I do anything but say yes? She had included her phone number, and I called her and we talked for six or seven hours before she finally had to call it a night, since she was due at work in a few hours. I couldn't get away from school for long enough to make the trip worth it, but I was going to head up there for Thanksgiving. I couldn't wait.
Three or four weeks later, I get another call, this time from her aunt. She told me that Katie had left to check something in the kitchen while she was giving Troy a bath, and apparently he had hit his head on something while he was splashing around. She called me from her car, driving at breakneck speed behind an ambulance. When Katie came back in, and she had only been out of the room for a couple of minutes, Troy was laying face down in the water. He wasn't breathing, and he pulse was very week. He died after two hours in ICU.
Katie was devastated. She was admitted into the hospital as well, into the Psyche Ward, in order to keep a suicide watch on her. I stayed in constant contact with her family while I was making plans to take time off of school to go up there and be support for Katie. She was released from the hospital two days later, the day before I was going to start driving up there. On the ride up, I got another call from her family, this time from her uncle, who was on the verge of tears. He said I should bring a suit up, because he had found Katie in the bathroom earlier that day - she had hanged herself from the shower curtain pole above the same tub her son and drowned in.
Today, August 12th, would have been Troy's fifth birthday. He would have been starting kindergarten in a few weeks. Instead, he and his mother, my godson and the person I loved more than anyone else in the world, have side-by-side plots in a small cemetery outside of St. Paul's, a little bit outside of Canton, Ohio.
User Reviews
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2005-08-15 01:53:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
The weird thing is, as horrible as this story is, i almost felt like "Oh it's another of these".
I don't mean to be uncaring, dude, and i really feel for you, but it blows my mind how many young, beautiful people have their lives destroyed.
It's incredible, and horrible.
Sorry.
Submitted by dirtycyberdawg (user info) at 2005-08-12 21:18:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sad to hear dude
I believe when someone close to you dies they leave a part of then in your heart
So continue to live and enjoy your life to the fullest, and they too will continue to live and enjoy their lives through you.
Good luck with the future
Submitted by WellFedEthiopian (user info) at 2005-08-12 20:46:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That's rough. Sorry to hear that.
Submitted by Shifty (user info) at 2005-08-12 16:28:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Shit, man I'm so sorry for your loss.
There ain't much I can say really.
Sorry guy.
Submitted by goose (user info) at 2005-08-12 16:11:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks. I appreciate the support, and Deidre, if it makes you feel any better, after I wrote it I had to go and walk around for awhile. My boss looked at me funny when I came back in.
Its odd, though, because going back through and rereading it doesn't really affect me. Writing it, though - writing it was tough.
Submitted by Whiplash (user info) at 2005-08-12 15:59:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
They're both in better places now.
I'm more than sorry for your loss. +10 if I could, or if it meant anything.
Submitted by Deidra (user info) at 2005-08-12 15:29:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
goddamnit! I can't cry at work!
Submitted by miss_tila (user info) at 2005-08-12 14:30:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm very sorry for your loss. They say that writing or talking about such things can help. I hope n your case it does.
Submitted by goose (user info) at 2005-08-12 14:21:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Thats the part I could never understand. Sure, if you have a bad home life, or are severly depressed, or have powerful self-esteem issues, sure, you would be attracted to asshole - I can see how that works. Katie came from a good, supportive (albeit poor) family, she was never abused, and she fucking exuded confidence. <shrug> She didn't have a drug problem, didn't abuse alcohol, smart, pretty, funny... I don't understand, and I doubt I ever will.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-08-12 14:06:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2005-08-12 09:59:23 (#)
Ranking: 2
I hope to fuck that none of this is true. In any case, +2 for excellent writing...
Submitted by The_Yellow_Dart (user info) at 2005-08-12 13:18:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
some tough drama
Submitted by sideshow (user info) at 2005-08-12 13:10:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow. Events like this one really make you think. I used to date a girl named Katie, and she ended up with a few assholes before marrying this one guy. I don't know how she is doing, but it pains me to think of some of the shit that she's been through, and the worst part is, it was her crappy decisions that got her into it. A good friend can only do so much for the people they love, and you did all you could. Congratulations for the solid effort, even though the end results of everything was very dismal.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-08-12 12:24:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by PokeyPecker (user info) at 2005-08-12 12:10:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
One of the great mysteries of life is why women will stay with a guy like Troy, and ditch a guy like the author AFTER she went to him in the first place. And then come back after (presumably) the Troy character is gone.
I suppose it endears us to them even more. Who knows?
Anyway, sorry to hear it, especially for the poor little kid.
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2005-08-12 12:07:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What an awful tale. A lot of girls seem to go out with pricks, I guess it has something to do with self-loathing. Shocking quite how much seems to have something to do with self-loathing when you think about it.
Love is such a precious gift, it hurts like a bastard when it's turned away. You know the value of it though, so as long as you don't drown in your anger and pain you're going to be a very happy man, assuming you're not already.
Submitted by Vulva (user info) at 2005-08-12 10:50:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sometimes we have to lose everything to appriciate anything.
Submitted by goose (user info) at 2005-08-12 10:24:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Jeanee, kaos, nitty - thanks. It is true, and I wondered about the shower curtain rod thing too, at first - its wierd the random stuff you'll think of during a funeral mass. Apparently, it was a combination of her being very small (she didn't weight much more than 100 lbs) and she living in an old apartment building. From what her uncle Greg told me later on, the shower curtain rod was brass or something, and bolted into the wall.
Submitted by nitty34 (user info) at 2005-08-12 10:13:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Hmmmm...
I've never seen a shower curtain rod strong enough to support a human body.
But if this IS true, my condolances.
Pretty decent writing.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2005-08-12 09:59:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I hope to fuck that none of this is true. In any case, +2 for excellent writing...
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-08-12 09:56:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
My heart aches after reading this. Losing a friend to death is one of the shittiest things in the world, especially when it involves circumstances like Katie's. I'm so sorry.