Trash of the Gods

Prelude

The obituary didn't mention that he was drunk, riding his bike down the wrong side of the street, when the SUV knocked him to the concrete. Robert was killed instantly and pronounced dead on the scene.

Robert had issues, to say the least. I think he wasn't even 17 when he tried heroin for the first time. I always forget when his birthday actually was. All I know is he went from being my best friend, to a distant memory, to now, just gone, nothing. That's what you are when your dead, you're just nothing for the rest of eternity.

I learned about his death from Facebook. I found my newsfeed bombarded by my old high school friends and acquaintances, all of them mourning the tragic and sudden end to Robert's life. When you think about it, it's not fun to live in an age where you can get that kind of the news when your just trying to kill a few minutes on the toilet.

I hadn't seen Robert for 2 years when I had heard the news. Last time I had seen him was at a chance meeting at a party when I was visiting home from college. I had cut off contact with him a year earlier after his addiction had taken hold of him to the point he was a different person. The Robert who was my friend was a kind, intelligent, yet disturbed individual. The Robert who I left behind after high school was so out of his mind that one night he drank a whole bottle of whiskey to his dome then apparently gave his girlfriend the worst black eye possible.

Now he was a thief to. A junky, a thief, an abuser, and I hated him for all those reasons.

I wish I had helped. We all think of what we could have done or said when someone's gone, I don't know why we are so afraid to tell each other what we really think when we know we are right.

This is the story of Robert McKenna, my friend. My name is Will Martin, this is not my story. It was never my story, no matter how much I wanted it to be.

This story is about Robert, just like everything else, it's always been about Robert.