“I still can’t believe the last thing I said to her before she left, was that she was an annoying, pain-in-the-butt, bratty orphan,” Nick spoke just above a whisper. “If I hadn’t have ticked her off, maybe she’d still be here…”

The other guys looked at their young friend, and suddenly realized he blamed himself for what had happened to her a few months earlier.

“Nick, what happened is not your fault,” Brian stated. “You do know that, don’t you?”

Nick ignored him as he continued. “All she’d wanted was for someone to talk to and play with, and I told her to buzz off and go screw a tree.”

“Nick…” Kevin tried, only to be cut off.

“I knew I should’ve stopped her from going out the door, but I was mad that she wouldn’t let me play my Nintendo in peace.”

“Nicky…” Howie began. “Listen to us, please.”

“She’s gone and all because I wanted to play my damn Nintendo,” Nick blubbered. “I’m to blame, not the guy in the car.”

Brian stood up then and hugged his best friend.

“Frack,” he said. “No one could’ve known that that would be the last time she ever went out that door. If we had have known that, we all would’ve stopped her from leaving. And that driver was to blame, as he was as plastered as a drunken sailor. We know for a fact she always watched where she was going, no matter what mood she was in or what she was doing.”

Nick continued to cry into Brian’s shoulder as he thought about their last argument.