My name is Maci Luis, and I can say I have experienced death, in the worst way. It was the middle of the summer. That was the day we lost our best friend. That unexpected day left everlasting scars on us forever. They tried emergency surgery. It wasn’t enough.

Every week my friends and I went to Glista Beach. It was a nice, easy thing to do because we all lived in Goose Creek Village, a little community, and all within two minutes down the road of each other. Glista Beach is about 25- 40 minutes away so it really wasn’t a long drive. These fun-filled Fridays were full of beach volleyball, beach football, swimming surfing, boating, and much more. But somehow, some way, on this day, everything went wrong.

“So,” Gary said, “what time do we need to leave tomorrow to get to Glista?”

“Uh, we always leave at the same time,” Jenelle said confusingly.

“We always leave at like 11, and stop to get lunch along the way, hun,” I told Gary being nice.
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“Jenelle, shut up.” Gary shouted, “But thank you, Maci.”
I gave him a sort of confused look, like, you’re going to be a jerk to your girlfriend, but nice to me? Okay. On the outside, Jenelle looked like; she was okay with how Gary was treating her. Her inside thoughts had to be different. On the inside, she was confused and not sure why he was angry with her. She didn’t want to lose him as a boyfriend though, so she acted like she was okay. I know deep down, he was hurting her though, she just let it go.
Jenelle and Gary have been dating for about nine years. Gary seems to have anger problems every once and while. But Jenelle doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she blows it off. Jenelle is a nice girl. She is easy to get along with, she spends her Sunday’s worshipping God, and she never says anything bad about anyone, no matter how rude or judgmental they are towards her.
She is really struggling, though. She has leukemia. Leukemia is cancer of the blood cells. It starts in the bone marrow, the soft tissue inside most bones and spreads from there. We first found she had cancer about three months ago. She was bleeding and bruising very easily. Something as small as pinching her, would make her bleed or flicking her, made her bruise. She began losing weight, and when we tried giving her food, she wanted to eat it but she was never hungry. She also had bad joint pains. After letting this go on for about one month, we took her to the hospital and explained what was going on. After running tests, they diagnosed her with acute lymphoblastic leukemia also known as (ALL). Because of this, she goes in to get chemotherapy about three to four times a week. This is to kill the infected cells. Gary knows about it, he just doesn’t know how bad it is getting. But she has her friends to help her through it.
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“How about we all meet at the end of Bay Street by the pond at a quarter to 11 tomorrow morning,” Kyle yelled.

“Alright,” Leah and Ryan said simultaneously.

“Oh, Ok…” Jenelle began to say,” well, wait..”

“What now, Jenelle?” Gary asked sarcastically.
“I have treatment tomorrow. ”Jenelle told him.
She looked as if she were afraid to tell him, like she knew he would become furious with her. She was right. With all his anger. He looked at her and rolled his eyes and then he began to talk.
“What time?” he asked, trying to stay calm.
“Ten.” She said nervously, “But it is a two hour drive and will take at least 45 minutes for the treatment.”
“JENELLE!” Gary yelled, “You know we go to Glista every Tuesday, why would you schedule treatment for tomorrow?”
After saying this, I thought Jenelle was going to cry. She had tears in her eyes, her face even got red, and she began to shake.

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“You act like I have a choice Gary, I’m getting worse.” She said, trying not to burst into tears.
“Fine, we are leaving at one though.” Gary shouted, “Be there.”
“Stop yelling at her, Gary,” Kyle said.
Kyle is my boyfriend, and has been for almost three years. He is super sweet, and easy to get along with. He is really nice and cute too. He is upfront and honest with everybody. If you do something wrong, he will be the first to tell you.
“Fine,” Gary said, “I am sorry.
“Well, I have to get up early, I should walk home,” Jenelle said.
“Do you want me to walk you home?” Gary asked.
“No, I want to be alone, thank you though.” She told him.
“Alright.”Gary said beginning to get angry again.
“Bye Jenn. We love you,” I told her.
“Good luck tomorrow JJ!” Tyler said.
Tyler is in a relationship with Farrah. They are so different though. Farrah is a calm, sweet person. Where Tyler is upper outgoing and very loud, but his personality is great. There is never a dull moment in his life. That’s why they make a good couple.
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“Thank you best friends,” Jenelle told us.
As Jenelle walked out the door, Gary ran after her.
I don’t exactly know what he said to her but he came back in the house smiling. I think he just got very angry early. He was stressed and did not realize how much pain Jenelle was in. we knew he didn’t mean what he said. He told her some very harsh things that day. He was always angry like that though.
Not long after that Ryan and Leah walked outside to talked. That conversation I did overhear.

“Ryan, I am worried.” Leah told him.

“About what sweetie?”
Before I tell you too much, Leah and Ryan are such a cute couple. They have been together for over five years. Leah has blonde hair with gorgeous blue eyes. Ryan has dark hair and green eyes. Ryan also works on his dad’s farm in the summer most of the time and completely spoils Leah. He truly is a sweet guy and Leah deserves him.
“Jenelle,” she replied.
“Oh, we all are honey.” Ryan said, getting tears in his eyes.
“She is my best friend,” Leah told him.
“I know, but we have to be strong for her and for ourselves.” He told her.
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“This is so hard.” Leah said, beginning to get worked up.
“Look, I know you are worried. But you and I both know, God would not put us through this situation if he didn’t think we could handle it. Jenelle is staying strong for herself, her friends and her family. We need to do the same.” Ryan told her.
Ryan has always been good with words. He is one of those people that can change someone’s mood from terrible to amazing. Everything that he says, has meaning. He says stuff that comes from his heart, and that makes him, himself. He is also very honest. He doesn’t like people who lie, nor does he like lying to people. He is just that type of person.
“That’s true, I supposed. Thanks for sort of making me less stressed. But I am tired” Leah told him thankfully.
“Do you want me to drive you home?” Ryan asked being nice.
“Yes, I would love that.” Leah told him nicely.
They both stood up and hugged. As soon as they began to kiss, lightning struck and hail began to fall. You could hear the thunder roll. They took off sprinting to Ryan’s truck. Not too long after they began driving home, did Ryan pull off to the side of the rode. The rain was just too bad to drive in. After about ten minutes, they began driving again. As they pulled into Leah’s
driveway you could hear the crunching of the hail as the truck tires ran it over. Leah opened the car door, and stepped out. As soon as she did that, she slipped off the wet, not melted hail. Ryan hurried up and jumped out of the truck to run over to her, but she was alright. “Just a scrape,” she told him. They both began to laugh.











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“I love you Ryan,” Leah told him smiling.

“I love you too!” He told her while pulling her in for a hug.

After they hugged, and finally kissed without lightning breaking them apart, Leah walked in and Ryan drove back.
That night, we were all fighting and bickering except Leah and Ryan. Kyle was even fighting with me about which bathing suit I should wear tomorrow. Kyle usually isn’t like that, but I think he was just stressed out, and I know he didn’t mean to fight with me over stupid stuff. I just kept telling myself in my head, tomorrow is another day.
The following morning we were all a Kyle’s house waiting for the time to come, to meet Jenelle by the pond and head to the beach. We were having fun talking about random stuff, keeping our heads up about the night before until Gary had to bring up the fight between him and Jenelle.
“I still feel bad about yesterday,” He said.
“You need to let it go,” Bentley told him, “It is over and don’t with.”
“Yeah, Gary, She isn’t mad anymore, she is okay about everything.” Sophia said.
Sophia and Bentley were really close friends that turned into the perfect couple. They started dating when us friends went to see, “Diamonds of the Dark Fire” two years ago. They are both equally quiet and so kind to each other. They spend every second of every day together. They are such a cute couple. They barely even fight. Sophia is a sweet, dreamy girl. She has her hopes and her doubts and Bentley loves her for her flaws.
“Jenelle just texted me.” Gary said.
“I am by the pond. Are you guys ready?” Gary read aloud.
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“We are on our way sweetie,” Gary replied.

We all drove down to the pond and Jenelle was there. She was crying though. She told us that it hurt more than it usually does. We felt bad.
“Group hug!” Kyle shouted.
Jenelle began to laugh, and then smile. She felt better in no time. This is why we need Kyle, he makes everyone day much, much better.
With that, we were off to Glista Beach. It took us longer than anticipated, because we hit traffic. The traffic was so bad, you couldn’t even move 10 feet in 30 minutes. There were horns honking at people, and cars trying to get out of the lineup but failed. I think we made it
there at about 3:00 and we should have gotten there around 2:00. But it is what it is. We began with playing beach volleyball, beach football, took pictures and even went boating. It was such a blast. We were swimming for at least three to four hours and eventually got tired of it so, we all got out of the water and dried off. Not too long after that Bentley realized he lost his goggles while we were boating.
“Bentley, you won’t find them sweetie,” Sophia told him, laughing.
“My grandpa bought me those five years ago just before he passed away, I need to find them,” He told her very seriously.
With that he ran off back into the water. We all laughed at him like there’s was no tomorrow. After watching him for 10 minutes, Kyle started to build a fire, to roast smores. Not
long after, we heard Bentley scream. Not a scream like, he found his glasses. A scream that we never wanted to hear.
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“HELP ME!” Bentley screamed, “THE TIDE TOOK ME OUT AND I CAN’T TOUCH!”
My heart sunk. All we saw was waves continuously crashing on him and his hands staying strong in the air. I didn’t know what to think, say or do. Was he really drowning? Could we almost be losing our best friend? It was a total nightmare, and it was true. I wish someone could just pinch me and I could wake up, but it was reality. This was something you couldn’t get away from.
“Girls, call 911,” Kyle yelled to us.
We did just that. By the time the boys got Bentley out of the water, we were’t sure if he would make it.
“911 is on its way!” I shouted.
“I’m fine,” Bentley finally perked up to say.
“YOU ARE OKAY!” We yelled.

“No, but I love all of yo-“He began to say with his last breath.
That indeed was his last breath. As soon as his eyes closed, the ambulance pulled in. I could see the ambulance lights going off, through my very teary eyes. It was blurry, and the sirens were loud. The paramedics hurried and put Bentley on a stretcher and put him in the ambulance. We hurried, and drove to the hospital as fast as we could. After meeting the paramedics at the hospital we found out terrible news. None of us knew, he had a stroke from the stress of drowning. His heart stopped.
They tried emergency surgery which failed. After that we heard words come out of the nurses’ mouth, that we never wanted to hear.
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“Are you Bentley’s Friends” She asked.
“Yes,” We all told her anxiously.
“I have bad news.” She replied.
“What is it?” Gary asked.
“Your friend, Bentley Hoguis...” She began to say.
Right there, I knew what news she was approaching us with. We all looked at each other and then watched as water droplets fell from our eyes. The bad thing is, it was reality. You never know what is going to happen next. In a dream, you can kind of control what happens next. You chose your plot. But in real life, it is different. You never know what’s around the next corner.
“Well.” We asked.
“Bentley is gone.” She said beginning to tear up.
At that time, we couldn’t hold it in anymore. We all let out, crying till we could no more. We will never, ever, ever be the same. From that moment on, we cherished our lives much more.




Something terrible like that, happened in the blink of an eye and heaven indeed gain an angel. Bentley was a sweet, loving, caring and amazing guy. He didn’t deserve that.
Now, it was harder for Jenelle to battle her cancer. She was trying to balance the losing of Bentley and keep up with her treatments, and medication and such. It wasn’t over. About two weeks after the funeral of Bentley’s, Jenelle found she had only until Christmas to live, made before. It was fall now, and we all began college. Jenelle, in bed rest, we went to visit her as much as possible. All of us were attending Princeton University in New Jersey. It was tough battling our classes and spending time with each other, especially Jenelle. I was taking classes to
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become a journalist. I have always wanted that dream. Kyle attended cooking school, to become a professional cook. Gary and Sophia went to school to be a teacher. The others still weren’t sure of what they wanted to proceed on learning.

Thanksgiving rolled around and all of our families, even Bentley’s, got together to celebrate this great day. Lots of yummy food was cooked, and dessert was baked. We had a successful turn out. Jenelle and Gary were falling apart. He couldn’t help the fact that she was dying right in front of him. She couldn’t help that, though. He just didn’t want to watch that anymore. It was Christmas Eve and we took Jenelle to the hospital for her next treatment. She was so weak, she couldn’t even walk. Her skin was wrinkled, and she lost so much weight we couldn’t bare to watch her suffer. They kept her in the hospital. That night I got a phone call.

“Is this Jenelle?” The nurse asked me when I answered the phone.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Your friend, Jenelle passed away.” The nurse told me, nervously.

All I could think to do was throw down the phone, and run up to my room. I locked my door, closed the blinds, turned off the lights, and hid under my blankets on my bed. I just lay there, and cried for so many hours. Uncountable hours, and when my mother banged on the door to tell her what’s wrong, I pretended to sleep. It was too much stress.
I was heartbroken. Unfortunately, we lost her too. Although, I guess it was for the best. Now she doesn’t have to suffer, but it was difficult getting through. That was the worst Christmas I have ever had. We lost two of our best friends that year. It was devastating. Gary cried for months. But it only made us stronger.
What happened? We lost the very best of friends. They didn’t deserve that.











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Through the tears and the pain, we grew up to become adults. Even as adults, we are still as close as we were as teenagers. Seven years ago, when I was 25 years of age, after Kyle and I graduated from Princeton, we became engaged. One year later, I became Mrs. Kyle Shaffer. We have two children, Riley, and Amanda. Both 3 years old and twins. Tyler and Farrah ended up not staying together and had a huge heartbreak, split up. They are still good friends though. Farrah ended up meeting a college boy, one year older than her. His name is Tommy. We have all met him and he is very nice and treats her well. They aren’t engaged or married, but taking things slowly. Tyler is also dating a college friend, Jamie, and are planning are marrying this summer on Glista Beach. Leah and Ryan were so in love, they got married the day after graduating from college. In fact they have 2 little girls, Katelyn, 2 and Torilyn, 3 and a boy on the way. Gary is loving the single life, still praying to meet another girl. Jenelle got married to Brad, 37 and they have one little boy, Terry whose 2, and a girl who should be arriving in a month or so. Brad and Jenelle met at work. Brad has been working at Cabella’s for over 10 years. Jenelle started working there 3 years ago, and they have been in love ever since. They aren’t married, but are engaged.

Three hours away in a town, Lisbon, is where Bentley and Jenelle are buried. Bentley wanted to be buried there because he was born there and we decided to put Jenelle right next to him.

Even to this day, I think about them both. We miss and love them both so much. God gained two angels that year. One day, when it is time for me to go, I’ll be glad to meet up with
them. Until then, we need to live our lives. We need to live our lives not only for ourselves, but for Bentley and Jenelle, because they couldn’t pursue their dreams. There is like a little cage in my heart. That’s where they are. They won’t leave unless I unlock the cage with a key. A key that doesn’t exist. Until we meet up, I will never forget that nightmare that is in my heart and soul forever.