Tribute

Courtney

"Courtney was the girl who was perfect. She was beautiful and athletic. She was the one everyone loved and she loved everyone. I Love and miss her every day." - Hailey Burr

I wonder if it's just me or if it's like that for everybody; that every time someone dies you start counting how much time has passed since they've been gone. First you count it in minutes, then in hours. You count in days, then weeks, then months. Then one day you realize you aren't counting anymore, and you don't even know when you stopped. That's the moment they're gone

Im going to start from the beginning. To where it all began. All of the hurt, all of the heartache. But also the memories, laughs and smiles. The good times, back where everything made sense. Well, almost everything. So there was this girl. I had known her almost my whole life. She was very pretty, beautiful brown hair, somewhat hazel eyes, gorgeous smile, and a very contagious laugh. She was always so bubbly. And i was jealous of all those things. She would hang out with what we call, "the cool popular group". And by "we", i mean the school. This girls name was Courtney Osborn. It didn't matter who you were or what group you would hang out with, everyone loved Courtney. She was just a joy to be around.

Let's start from the events I can remember.

It was a Friday morning on April 26th, 2013. Like most people my age would be in school. And that's where I was. In school. I went on with my first two classes, Musical Theatre and then Learning Strategies. After that I went to CTE, this term I had Mrs. Huff, a computer teacher.

Anyways, I walked into the classroom and took my assigned seat in the very first row, 2 computers from the isle. I logged into my computer and waited for the tardy bell to ring. We still had 3 minutes before it did.

Moments before the bell rang, Courtney walked in and the whole room lit up. She took her seat one row behind me, two computers from the isle.

"Hi Brandee!" Courtney said with a bright smile. I was surprised because we had never been the best of friends in elementary school. All we did was tease each other, but whenever she'd tease me, I'd think she was serious and I'd start to cry.

"Hi!" I said back, joyfully. The day went on as usual, going to class and after, riding the bus home while listening to music.

But Saturday felt so different. Something just didn't feel right. I felt uncomfortable the entire day.

As 9pm came around, I became more uncomfortable. It began to annoy me. I decided to log into Instagram and tried to not be so irritated.

Around 9:30pm I felt like i was literally hit by a truck. I couldn't seem so catch breath for a good long minute. I told myself it was nothing and went to bed.

The next morning didn't feel right either. I just felt so bothered for some unknown reason. I got ready for church.

I got to church and walked through the doors and saw my worst enemy, Nathan, approaching me. I tried to avoid him.

"Brandee.." He said, stopping me. I had noticed he had been crying. I've never seen Nathan cry.

"What?" I importuned. He took a deep breath.

"Did you hear about Courtney.?"

"No why?" I asked, I became worried.

"Did you hear what happened..?"

"Uhm, she moved?" I asked him. He shook his head no. "She switched schools?" I guessed again.

"No.." He repeated.

I took one more guess, "She died?"

He nodded his head. What?! How? When!?

"What?!" I said, tears threatening to spill. "How? When?"

"She got hit by a car last night.." He answered slowly.

"You're lying, aren't you?" How could I believe him? No one can, he's Nathan.

"No, I'm not." He said.

"Whatever," I said, and walked past to go to the sacrament meeting room. I took a seat next to my mom on a pew.

"Mom?" I said, trying to get her attention.

"What?" she said turning around.

"Nathan told me that Courtney died last night and I don't know if it's true or not." I told her.

"Courtney Osborn?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered.

"What!" She said, her expression turned from happy, to concerned. She looked past me.

"Brother Ewell!" She motioned him over to where we were sitting.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Brandee just told me Courtney Osborn died, did this really happen?" she said quickly.

In brother Ewell's hesitation, I found my answer. I began to shake uncontrollably and also began to cry.