I swallowed hard as I heard the sound of the bullet come through my ears. My heart was pounding so hard, it felt like a rock inside me. My stomach twisted in knots, and the horror of having to see my best friend getting shot in front of my eyes was unbearable. As the car screeched away, my legs buckled. No, this cant be happening. Not her. I made my legs walk over to her lifeless body. The seconds ticked by as I saw the blood ooze out of her stomach. Her breathing was short, and fast. I let out a dreadful cry, as I knelt beside her. Her eyes closed slowly. I began to panic.
“No,” I said fiercely. “Don’t do this. Not now,” I told her, with tears streaming down my cheeks like two rivers fast in action. I quickly pulled out my cell phone, and dialed 911, as I pumped her chest.
“Hello. What is your emergency?” the voice on the other telephone said.
“My friend, she just got shot. There was a drive by down my block, and the bullet hit her. Please send help,” I slurred, barely understanding myself because of how quickly I was talking.
“Is she breathing?” the voice asked.
“No!” I exploded, crying. The tears came down faster. My nose was running.
“We’ll send help right away miss,” the voice assured me. I shut my phone, and saw her chest rise up. Relief washed over me. I exhaled, joyfully.
“Stay with me Cherry. You can’t leave me. Keep your heat beating for me,” I encouraged her. Her sad, hazel eyes stared at me with tears. She choked on her own blood coming out of her mouth. I broke down and started crying harder than ever in my life. I took her body and hugged it towards me. Her arms were around me, weakly. Her right arm came down and held my hand. We stayed in that position for a while, waiting for the police. Then unexpectedly, her arm slowly slid off me. Her eyes were closed, and there was no sign of her breathing. I felt my heart stop for a second. Everything in sight didn’t seem to matter at the moment. My eyes were on her closed ones. I shook her once.
“Cherry? Cherry, wake up. No!” I panicked. I shook her again. Her eyes were kept closed. She didn’t move. Tears exploded from my eyes. I began sobbing uncontrollably.
“Cherry! No Cherry, I’m sorry. You can’t leave me right now. Not now. Please. Cherry wake up! You have to stay. What am I going to do with out you?” I sobbed. I buried my face into her chest, and bawled like a baby. I took her hand, and held it. I felt something sharp pierce through the palm of my hand. I checked it, and she had our friendship ring. It was gold, and had a rose on it. I pressed my lips together, as more tears welled up in my eyes. I took my off, put it on her finger. Then took hers, and put it on. I sniffled, as I stared at it.
“I promised I will always be with you. Now you can take this, in reminder of me. Where ever you go, I’ll go. And now, our promise is complete,” I said to her, as I held her hand. Her skin was pale, but still so beautiful. She was the only one who helped me through life. The only one who was there for me. My mom was the other person I had in my life, and she was an alcoholic. She only cared about her drinking and nothing else. The person I most loved in my life was gone now. I felt my heart breaking bit by bit. As I heard the sirens I realized I was on my own from now on. Cherry was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. Out of all the people who were in this block, Cherry, my best friend, almost my sister, was the one-and the only one-who had gotten shot.

I sat in the corner, as I saw them trying to shock cherry back to life with the paddles. “Clear,” I heard the doctor’s voice say as they shocked her again. I winced at her body jumping up. The monitor was beeping. The line was flat. finally, the doctors quit trying.
“Time of death; 4:36,” the doctor said, with a desolated voice. They all looked at me. My eyes were lost into space. My face, blank.
“She’s gone,” I whispered. Nobody said anything. They all just stared at me.
“We’re sorry. We tried the best we could,” the doctor said.
“I know,” I said. “I know.”
After a few minutes of just sitting there I stood up abruptly, and walked out. As I got outside, it began to rain. Each raindrop tickled my skin. My hair and clothes were soaked by the time I was half way home. The wind smacked the rain in my direction. I exhaled furiously as the rain slapped me. I look around. The streets were empty. It was getting dark already. My mom would probably be wondering where I was-not that she cared, but that I wasn’t obeying her rules on my curfew-and was probably already calling friends. I didn’t want to go home. I look around where I was one more time and began running. I ran and ran. The rain came my way furiously. I kept running. Although I had no idea where I was heading, I still kept going. I didn’t care at the moment. I needed to get away from it. From the problems at home, from my mother. From the empty feeling I now had. My heart pounded, and my legs ached