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**__A Strange Day in July!__**
I never believed in magical or mysterious stories until that one day at the river. I was a twelve-year-old boy, what could you expect? I was always a smart and practical boy until it really happened. Some people thought I was crazy, but I knew this was no joke. It was real. It all started one hot day in July. ..

I was nine-years-old and lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was just a farm boy with no TV or anything. I was the tiny four foot four inches little boy who everyone picked on. I went to a little school in Charlotte and loved it. It was my favorite place on the whole earth. One day at school I tripped getting off the bus and everyone laughed. This one girl, about two inches taller then me, help me up but then walked away. Not even one word she spoke. Even still, I knew that she was nice. I knew she was the friend I have been looking for. That was the start of our friendship. We were best friends forever after that. Just friends at lunch first, then school, then home, then the bus, then everywhere! By the time we were 12, we were practically brother and sister. She would come over my house everyday and we would do homework and just hang out.

It was that summer when we actually went with each other on a trip. We went with her family; her two brothers, Derrick and Mike, and her mom and dad. It was the saddest trip ever. Everyday we spent about three hours at the river and the rest either at an amusement park or the pool/spa. We had so much fun going canoeing and swimming. We even went shopping and played mini-golf a little. It only rained one day. We spent practically the whole day watching scary movies and reading.

On the fifth day, we woke up extra early and went white water rafting. It was a beautiful day and about 85 degrees and sunny. Mackenzie and I went on one raft, Derrick and Mike on the other, and Mrs. And Mr. Downer on the last raft. This was the scariest day of my life. The river we went on was rated a five for difficulty, but we didn’t realize that until we were done. There were a lot of rocks and tree limbs in the water so it was hard to not hit them. It also had fast-paced rapids. We went very slow though and had tons of fun. One time we almost made the wrong turn, if we did we would have gone down a waterfall. We finished rafting at about 12:00 pm and were ready to eat. We tried to stop at the nearest emergency exit but our raft slipped! We kept going along the side of the river. Our raft then got stuck on the edge of a stick and Mackenzie fell out! I immediately jumped out after her and pulled her to shore (I know, SUPER ME!). We called 911 and they took her away in an ambulance. Everyone forgot all about their cravings for food and jumped right into the taxi. We sped all the way to the hospital, no pit stops. Once we got into Mackenzie’s room, the nurse told us she was in a coma. We were traumatized. No one ever thought this could happen. We stayed there for an hour then went home in silence. Only Mrs. Downer sobbed all the way home. The next few days we just like that. Silence, the whole day, no pool, no spa, no river, no nothing, just silence. I must have gone to church about ten times in just six days.

On the seventh day of nothing, I just had to get out of the house and think. I went down by the river and called my mom. I told her everything that happened, and then I finally just couldn’t take it and hung up. I threw a rock in the river as hard as I could and just cried and cried and cried! As soon as I was done (in about four hours) I decided to do what I always do when I’m sad, skip rocks. In those two rocks I thought of my whole life with Mackenzie. Everything we did together -homework, sports, scouts, camps, lessons, we even played the same instrument. We were true best friends. I threw the third one as hard as I could, and turned around. I felt something hard hit my back. I turned around and saw the yellowish greenish rock I threw. I threw three more. No matter how hard I threw, the third one came skipping back. I looked through the thick fog and saw an outline of a tall teenage girl. I quickly swam through the river to the other side and saw her. It was Mackenzie. I was amazed. I finally pulled myself together and ran up to her and grabbed her face but there was nothing there. It was just a mirage. It was a spirit perhaps. I ran back to the house that night and when I was two miles from the house I could hear the crying, the sobbing. I walked the rest of the way home. When I got home Mrs. Downer grabbed me and cried, “It happened. Today at sunset. She just couldn’t take it.”

I understood that minute of that day, Mackenzie died. I didn’t really believe that Mackenzie was dead earlier. I don’t know, I just had that last hope she would wake up. No, I guess I didn’t want to believe that she was dead. That was it. But now I do. I have to. I finally took it all in and understood. Mackenzie, my best friend forever, ever since third grade, was dead. Every since that day I was never the same. I actually went to church, believed in god, and visited the Downers more often. I have never met a girl anything close to Mackenzie.