This one made me think

Two 25 year old's. D and O. They grew up blocks apart in Toronto and met in primary school. Best friends , since then.

D was just starting out as a photographer. O had just landed a job in the financial district with a reputed investment firm.

Here they are, in the picture, in D's car. D is on the left , in the driver's seat. O is beside him. It is te Thursday night and they are returning home from having watched an NBA game in a friend's house. D is driving O and O's girlfriend back home. O's girilfriend is sitting at the back and she is the one who took this picture.

Two young boys, with their whole life in front of them. Starting off in their careers. Best friends since primary school and still going strong. Happy, dating, going for games, living their twenties. Sounds just right, doesn't it?

What doesn't sound right , then , is that three minutes after this picture was taken, both of them were dead. Shot dead.

So, then , here's the story.

After they left the game, and were driving back home, they got a call from one of their friends from the friend's condo that they had just left from. They had mistakenly taken someone's keys with them. So they turned around the car and headed back to return the keys.

It was a warm night , so they had the car windows rolled down. When they got to the friend's condo, they parked under the building and waited for their friend to come down.

Out of nowehere, a man walked up to the car, at the D's driver's side. D' barley said something like "how's it going" , before the man fired. One bullet hit D in the chest, the second hit the car and the third hit O. By the time, the ambulance got them to the hospital, they were already dead.

It's been a year since this incident. The killer was never caught. There have been no suspects. The police is baffled. It could have been a car jacking gone wrong. A junkie on the street. A planned murder with a motive.

And although it matters that justice must be served, D and O are gone. At 25 years of age. And they will not be back. Ever.

I was fairly overwhelmed after I read this story. I felt a lot of things. I thought a lot of thoughts. More than I can even pen down.

I felt sad. I felt angry. I felt scared. Threatened.

I missed my best friend. I wished we lived closer. I wish we had more time to get together and talk and laugh, like we do when we are together.

I felt protective of my kids who I think are growing up in an unsafe world.

I felt thankful for what I have. And fearful of what could be lost. And how easily and quickly it could be lost.

D and O, rest in peace.

Kudos to your friendship.

My heart goes out to your families.

And to make some sense of all this, I tell myself you are in a better place. Hanging out. Like best friends do.