I was about 10 when I met L. You can say we grew up together. We were in the same class all our lives. He was in the student government with me. We were in the band together, me playing the keyboards, him the lead guitar. He even gave me this book on how to play the instrument. We would play for the mass in our school as well. We both grew up with glasses and had to contend with being called “four eyes” all the time. It was one of our bonding things. Another was that we were born on the same month of the same year, me Sept. 6 and him Sept. 9. We never forget each other’s birthday.
L was a quiet kind of guy. Brooding, you may call it. He was an only child and you know what that entails. He had a good soul, drifted a little bit and was the smartest guy in our class. He never really believed in himself though.
What started out as like became friendship with time. We would talk on the phone for hours. When I cried one time, he was there to give me a big hug. I’ll never forget that. He courted my best friend soon and I was there to help him out. He sucked at the whole courting thing. He was like a brother to me as all the guys in the band are.
While we were close during high school, we drifted apart when we were in college. He took Engineering in another university and I took Psychology in another. What news I have of him I’d get from classmates I saw in school. When he shifted to the same university I did, it was during my graduation year. By then it was too late to stay in contact. I had my own life and I guessed he had his We still talked like old friends did, but we never really made plans.
When he heard that I was graduating with honors, he went out of his way to shake my hand and tell me how proud he was of me.. He was never showy with how he felt and that gesture, I knew meant something. Thinking about that moment now is enough to make me bawl.
The last time I saw him was graduation day, March last year. We had our picture taken together with smiles on our faces right after the ceremony. He wasn’t graduating but supported his friends who were. That picture has now become priceless.
I received a text message yesterday that L had committed suicide. His best friend found him hanging in their terrace with an electrical cord around his neck. He died at the age of 21 and nobody knows why he did it.