He sat there, 3 tiles away from me; we were eating cold beefaroni on a decently warm summer day. I had slept over my aunt’s house the night before, her name is Amanda. My two best friends, her sons, my cousins, are named Anthony and Mathew. Mathew, Mat for short, is three. He has orange hair, with eyes of sky and pale awkward skin. Anthony, Ant for short, is six. He has dirty blonde hair, with a lighter shade of blue eyes and large dimples when he smiles. I’m four.



I wasn’t hungry anymore; I had enough of those noodles. I placed my bowl on the counter and stepped over by the fridge. It was black, with silver handles; I had always loved my aunt’s fridge. It was always plastered with good memories and cute pictures. There was Mat, Ant and I on swings, another of Mathew coming down a slide at Deer Forest. Aunt Amanda also had magnets, all different random words; they were white with black lettering and a glossy look to them. I slid one of the words out, “Love.” Then “I” and “you” last. It made me smile; I put them in a straight line feeling smart. “Mathew, look!” I said. He turned his little face up and smiled; his dimples were never as big as Anthony’s. “You don’t love me?” asked Ant. “I do.” Then he smiled his real big smile, his dimples always made me smile; even if I was crying.



My aunt Amanda walked into the olive kitchen then, “More, pwease?” Mathew begged. Amanda opened another orange and red can and dumped some more into his Spider Man bowl. I played with the magnets again; “Can” “We” “Go” “Feed” “The” “Ducks?” “Can-we-go-feed-the-ducks?” Anthony read. “Ducks?” Mathew squeaked as he cocked his head up. “After he’s done eating the rest of those noodles Cay” Aunt Amanda answered my question. “Ducks! Ducks! Ducks!” Mathew screamed, He got up and started to head for the door to out side; the door was cute, but plain, it was like one you saw in a doll house. “Mathew Wade Kiser! Eat your noodles first.” Amanda demanded. “Then we’ll go feed them some bead.”



Mathew sat down and began to eat the rest of his noodles. I sat in the corner and leaned against the cabinets. Ant got up and put his bowl in the skin as Amanda walked out into the fire truck covered living room. Her husband was a fire fighter and she was an ambulance personal, they saved lives daily; I thought it was extremely cool. Anthony walked out too, “Come get me when were leaving Cay” he stated as he passed me. “Okay Ant” I said. I still sat there; Mathew was still eating his noodles. “Cay, can I have a dink?” he asked. “A drink?” he nodded. I poured him some grape juice, and put it on the floor next to him and walked out of the room. I walked into Ant’s room. “Whatcha doing Ant?” I asked. “Playing with trucks.” I walked out I wasn’t in the mood for trucks.



I grabbed my bag off the floor, it was Barbie. My grandma Kat got it for me. I took my Barbie coloring book out and flipped to the sixth page. It was Barbie with her dog; she had a pretty dress on and nice high heels. I couldn’t find my crayons in my bag after searching for them. “Mathew.” I whispered. Getting up, I had to find the brat; I wonder why his crayons looked so nice and neat last night. When it was because they weren’t his. “Mathew?!” I was mad. I looked in the kitchen, his drink and noodles laid on the floor still. The bathrooms next, then Ant’s room, soon I looked everywhere.



Then I remembered he liked to go hide in the garage with the puppies. So I ran and to my surprise when I got there, all that was there were puppies. Where was he? Where could he be? “Amanda, I can’t find Mathew.” I screamed. She got up, and walked in the kitchen, and rolled her eyes. “Funny Mathew, you can come out now” she laughed. While she began to trace every step I had just taken, I sat on the floor. I was a bit sleepy, I looked at the fridge. It hit me; ducks. The bread was gone too. “Ducks!” I screamed.



I ran, out the door and threw the over grown path, got to the street and for got to look both ways. It didn’t mater there were not cars. I ran more, and finally came to the dock. I stood 3 boards away from the edge, the wood was old but strong. He was there floating in the lake, it was like liquid mirror. I could see my self, I could see the trees, I could see the bread, I could see Mathew. Then I saw Amanda, she must have been right behind me, she jumped in the water. “Go get the phone! Run!” I blinked, was she talking to me? I ran back across the road, back to the over grown path, jumping over a hose. “Phone” was all I could think, I grabbed it and ran back out to her.



I stood there; with the phone in my hand she was giving Mathew CPR over and over again. The phone was soon in here hand, it all happened so fast. Not one tear came out of my eyes, or worlds out of my mouth. I stood there, not moving; just staring. He was so wet, so little too. The bread still floated in the water, but there were no ducks, like Mathew wanted. I still stood in the middle of the road, breathing; in and out. I didn’t hear anything but my breathing, then I saw an Ambulance. It flashed, people were talking but I couldn’t hear them. Just me breathing.. They were grabbing Mathew; they were doing what Amanda was doing.



“He’s dead” was all I heard. I looked at my Aunt, she started crying and screaming. That was her baby, her baby boy. The men looked at me; and then said “I’m sorry mam.” Sorry? For what. Mathew’s fine he’s fine. He’s okay. I looked at Mathew once more; his head was head from where he hit the rock. I blinked and opened my eyes, I started to cry and fell to the ground. “Mathew?” He didn’t move one inch. I felt someone’s hands on me. It was Anthony; he had so much fear in his eyes. He started to cry too. Mathew was gone. My best friend was dead, and he didn’t even get to feed the ducks.



My aunt clasped to her dead son, saying no over and over again. Anthony clasped to me, and we cried. My aunt went in the ambulance with my Mathew and drove off. I never saw him again, never got a choice to say good bye. I didn’t go to the funeral; I didn’t go to anything that involved him. My cousin Ant came attached to me as a result and Amanda was never the same after that. My mom said it was because god needed him for something. I don’t believe it.