During the summer of 2013, Danny told me and my mom that he would be going on a vacation with his girlfriend in West Virginia for about three weeks. We wished him luck and told him we'd miss him and we hoped he would have a good time. Before he left, he told me that I was a beautiful young woman and that he wanted me to stay safe. That was the last time he smiled, the last time his eyes gleamed with love and happiness, the last time I ever saw him. When he left, I went along pretty fine, I missed him and wished I had someone to talk to, but I just went through waiting for him to come home. One day I was doing a ride-along and Danny had called the officer I was with and said he was having fun. I told him hey but that was it. I never talked to him again.
One day I was coming to my moms to pick up some clothes when my mom was talking to our office manager. I heard bits and pieces but I wasn't going to get involved in what they had to say. I had somewhere to go. As I walked in the house, I went to my room, grabbed my clothes, and while leaving my mom told me she needed to talk to me. She said I have something to tell you, but you can't cry. I said okay not having any idea what she was talking about. My mom looked at me and said Danny died. He had committed suicide. It was at that moment my whole world fell. I told her it wasn't true, it couldn't he would never do that. He had us, he had me to come back to. She said he had found out his girlfriend was pregnant and decided to have an abortion knowing he had wanted a child. They fought and she told him she didn't love him, and he went to the back shed, pulled out his gun, and ate a bullet. I ran outside and started yelling and crying. Everyone was looking at me, but who cares? My best friend in the entire world is gone. He died only six days after my birthday. And all I thought about was how I was going to live through it all.
