Growing up as a kid Ricky and I were always close.
He was more than just my cousin; he was my very best friend.
Every summer my parents and I would meet him at the lake with his folks.
He would always try to teach me how to swim under water, but I never could.
I still remember his voice when he would call out my name in his amusing voice.

But ever since last summer he would stop coming up to the lake with me.
I’d called his house, but his mom would always say the same thing, “He’s asleep”.
I was confused, was Ricky mad at me? What did I do to make him upset?

A week later when I got home from school my parents told me to take a seat.
I looked into my mother’s eyes, full of tears, and I knew something was wrong.
My father took a deep breath and looked straight into my eyes with a sad look in his.
He said, “Baby girl, Ricky has Leukemia, and we don’t know how long he has.”
I couldn’t believe it. Tears started to roll down my face. I ran upstairs to my room and locked the door trying to keep out all of the bad things that were happening.

I stayed there all night till I heard the phone ring. It was grandma.
I picked up the other phone and stayed quiet as my mother talked to her about Ricky.
My grandmother told my mom that Ricky called her and told her that he wanted to see her as his time was running short. I quickly hung up the phone, in disbelief.
Why would Ricky ask for grandma? Why not me? We were always so close.

Two weeks had passed. And I wasn’t in Oklahoma with Ricky as his time grew short.
My parents said that they just couldn’t afford to send me right now.
The next day I was awakened with screams and weeping from my mother.
I ran downstairs and saw my mother on the couch crying, holding a picture of Ricky.
I didn’t even have to ask I already knew that my cousin, who was my best friend, was gone

Ricky was gone and so were all the memories of he and I. Things would never be the same without my best friend there with me by my side.