Mr. Pell
English 101
30 October 2014 My Guardian Angel As I entered into sixth grade, my first year of middle school, I was terrified. The school seemed enormous, and all the students appeared to be unapproachable; I was intimidated. As I walked into my first class, I saw empty spaces in the back corner of the room, and I saw my opportunity. I went and sat down with high hopes that no one would bother me. Just as the bell rang, this boy with ridiculously long hair covering his face and baggy clothes came stumbling into class and go figure he plopped down right next to me. I was kind of upset because I wanted to sit alone and hide from the world but then I thought about it and decided that it probably would not hurt to at least know one person in this entire school. I introduced myself, and he told me his name was Jacob. Little did I know at the time this weird kid with the really long hair would be my best friend, until death would we part. Jacob Shoemaker was the best friend that I could ask for. All through my middle school years, if I had any kind of problem, Jacob was there. Every single day after school, he would pop up at my house, faithfully, with the sole purpose to keep me company until my mom got home from work. I never went through anything alone whether it had to do with family issues or kids bullying me at school. Jacob was my guardian. He protected me from all the unpleasant experiences I had to go through as a child. We grew up together and had the time of our lives. However, things changed when we emerged into high school. Jacob developed some problems. He fell into the wrong crowd and drugs and alcohol became a major influence. Depression also began to play a role in his life; although, most people didn’t realize because of Jacob’s goofy nature. He was always the one to make people laugh even if he felt like crying himself. On one particular night, October 2, 2013 to be exact, everything was just about normal. Jacob was out with his guy friends by the railroad tracks behind his house. As the night went on and the boys downed beer after beer into their teenage bodies, Jacob decided to call it a night. At this point it was about three in the morning, the date now being October 3. Jacob was drunk and marijuana was flowing through his system. He told the people that he was with that he was headed home, but it was no big deal, and he thought he didn’t need anyone to walk with him. By following the tracks, Jacobs house was basically just a straight shot, so that’s what he did. About halfway through his walk he begins to hear loud honking coming from behind him and he turned around like any normal person would. To his surprise, a train was coming for him, and fast. Jacob’s next move will haunt me forever. Instead of getting off the track and walking in the grass, Jacob continues on his path and flips off the train conductor. Maybe he might have thought he had enough room for the train to pass, or maybe he just didn’t care. Either way, he did not have enough room and the train could not stop. As the first car in the train rushes by, Jacob lost his footing on the rocks surrounding the tracks because of the high speed wind that was coming off the train. He slipped on the rocks and fell in front of the train. I lost my best friend in that instant. As a result of this, my life wasn’t the same. I was angry, sad, and really confused. I did not