I remember walking into first period on March 3 and sitting in my desk. Smiling. Talking with my friends. Then across the room I hear talk about Jon. My ears perk up. Was something wrong? I hear the word “dead”. What? I raise my voice and ask Olivia to repeat herself. “John May and Michael Lynton were in a car accident last night. Jon May died.” Those words pierced my heart. I went through a period of denial. Someone must be mistaken. Jon can’t be dead. Then I saw it in the halls. Papers on his locker. Flowers around it. People weeping on each other. How could this be? I’ve never had to deal with anything like this. I go through second and third period with Jon on my mind. I hear Michael is being hospitalized, and my heart goes out to him in prayer. Fourth period comes and Tara walks in in tears. Seeing her upset just makes me upset. I walk into the locker room to call my mom. I start sobbing and I can’t control myself. This all seems so unreal. So I drag through the rest of the day and get home. I collapse on the floor and begin to question why this has happened.

more on handling grief?