(Part One is here.)
There were others who left without dying, of course.
My best friend in junior high was a spunky girl named Carlye. We met in 7th grade, because we were forced to feign being musical for two years and we both chose choir over band. She played basketball, as did I, and the year [...]

I barely knew the first person who left me. She was beautiful, intelligent, strong. I knew that. She was also cancer-ridden. Lymphoma tore ravenously through her body until she was a thin and fragile casing of herself. The woman I had once quietly admired from across the room at every family gathering was dying. To [...]

I see her almost everyday, walking briskly from a bustling downtown square, headed slightly west, her coffee in her left hand, a portfolio in her right. Sometimes she has an umbrella, but most of the time she is nearly running, seemingly almost to her destination, head down, eyes focused on not tripping nor slowing her [...]