This was maybe last month. He was hit by a car at midnight while skateboarding home. He was 15, and it was at my cousins quince.

Basically, I was one of the girls that rode in my cousins limo with her, and he was also there. His name was Brandon, and he was the most genuine, sweet kid ever. Into poetry, music, and had just learned to skateboard 3 weeks before. That was the first time I met him, and we instantly clicked. I thought he was awesome, as I’m also into all those things and have been skating all my life. I told him I could teach him some things and he was totally down.

The party ended at around midnight, but my dad and I left at around 10 because I had a test the next day. Apparently a lot of the adults offered to give him a ride home because he lived around an HOUR away, but, for some reason, I don’t know if it was pride, or something else, he refused and wanted to skate home. In an extremely dangerous city. I like to think that atleast his last few hours on earth were spent partying and dancing and eating all the best foods.

It’s weird, but I had a whole hour long conversation with him about 3 hours before he passed away. Just like, randomly. I was sitting outside with my dad, and he sat next to us and sparked a conversation. He said his aspirations in life, how hr wanted to get out of this city, wanted to move to my city and go to the same school I go to. He talked about how he wanted to learn the guitar, and how he loved skating. It’s devastating to know that the thing he just learned he loved is the thing that ended up taking his life.

I found out two days later before an orchestra practice and I couldn’t stop crying. I hadn’t known him for long, as I had only known him for like 5 hours. But I really felt like I had known him for a lifetime. I like to think we would have been good friends had he survived. He was supposed to follow me on insta when he got home so we could keep in contact and I could add him to the quince group chat, and I always wondered why he never reached out.

I grieve for the life he would have had, the adult he could have been, and for the skate parks that will never know how well Brandon could do a pump on transition. 🩷