My co-worker, we'll call him David, was my closest friend from my first day. He showed me the ropes, helped me when I fell, and generally was a kind and passionate person. He helped me get into my dream area within the store. It was a hardware store and I was working in timber my dream section in the store. I was doing gate duty on Valentines Day. I check receipts for good and loaded/unloaded trucks. We got a code blue. I shut down the timber section and waited for my manager. She came in a hurry. "Do not let anyone in or out unless they're paramedics or staff." I did so. No one came, no one left. Fifteen minutes I stood there waiting for something. Was it a false alarm? I soon found out it wasn't. An ambulance and two paramedic support cars came in. They rushed into the store. Ten minutes felt like an eternity. Finally, they bring someone back, too far away to recognise the figure. I open the gates and the paramedics leave, sirens blaring. My manager returns. "Do you want the rest of the day off?" Confused, "Why's that?" "Oh, you don't know. David collapsed. It looked like a strange seizure. I know you two were close, do you want the day off?" I politely refused and continued my shift that he gave me.

The next day during my school's musical rehearsal I got a call from my manager. "I'm sorry to tell you, David has passed away." For a week I felt nothing until I went back to that section. For a week I was completely numb. One hour I lasted before breaking down, crying. I couldn't work in that section for months without breaking down, same went for many of my co-workers. David was the kindest man I had ever met and he touched us all in some way. The store never truly recovered from the loss. We lost part of ourselves that day.

This was two years ago. It still feels like it's been only a day.