drowned

HAZARD on Aug. 20, 2006

there is a reason and a meaning behind this picture i drew, i hope it gets front page not for bieng pretty or whatever, but for the fact it's a memorial of someone and something that happened tonight.

tonight while i was working on the haunted house one of the workers and a friend of mine got a call from a friend of his saying that the park over on parkview and amarillo blvd. was flooded and that a kid had disapeared in a drain pipe. well we went out there to investigate the situation and there were people standing out in the rain watching from a distance…some close some very far…for us we got really close. there were police vehicles and firetrucks surrounding the area searching for this kid. we talked to alot of the on lookers, the ones closest to what was going on. from what we heard it was raining, we had already gotten a flash flood warning, and the water was up to the sidewalk in the park. at the end where the kid was at he was skateboarding, tripped and fell into the water getting sucked into the drain pipe, by the current, he was pushed out the other end of it on the other side of the park, across the football field. the drain pipe empty's out into a creek and then ends at a large drainage to where the water runs out into a creek which goes into a lake. me and my workers watched as the firefighters in a raft, bieng held in place by two other firefighters on opposite sides of the raging water with ropes. they had poles with hooks on them and they poked around in the water searching for the boy if he was a alive, and a body if he wasn't. it had been an hour when we got there that the boy was missing, he was 17 and highschools along with other schools had just started last week and judging by his age he would have started his senior year. anyway they went quiet a ways down searching for him as they did the water levels went down and the rain slowed almost like it was allowing them to find him. they finally got to the large drain and i watched as the firefighter held onto the other as he went up into the drain pipe. it was almost 5 min. before he pulled a limp body into the raft. in my mind i was hoping he was still alive, i was happy they found him, but it had been almost two hours of searching and odds were he wasn't alive. i watched in anticipation and worry as the firefighters gathered around the raft with the body in it. an ambulance drove up and i had a bit of hope that he was alive. every now and then i would look around and watch as his family members held eachother some talking on cell phones. when i looked back i watch the ambulance unit working slowly which i thought was very odd until i saw a white cloth and my hear sank. i watched as they covered the body, the large group surrounding now breaking apart, two police men walking up to the family and talking to them, a girl trying to deny the death and keeping her brother or boyfriend at bay as she tries to hold back the tears, a girl gripping her cell phone tightly as she tries to press out words, but soon puts it away and goes across the street to cry. i watched as the family was walked down to the raft and one of the firefighters removing the cloth over the face so they could identify him. after a long moment the raft was moved higher up and under a tree and the firefighters moved away, the crowd surrounding near us and across the river now leaving. i watched as the mother was kneeled infront of the raft with her arms outstretched over it reaching for the covered figure and crying. she made me feel so helpless…i wanted to cry but i couldn't. i stood there and watched, it was an hour before we all decided to leave. i felt so helpless not bieng able to help, not bieng able to comfort, not bieng able to bring someone back to life. i watched the mother sit next to the raft with the look of sheer sadness, her husband stood near her looking to try and be strong, but his movements and face were sad. i was at least 10 ft. from the raft.
when we finally left i felt horrible as if the whole thing was a show, a thing of amusement, our enteraintment for the night and we just left them…

…like someone would if it was a drowned cat near the water's edge.