I once knew a girl, let's call her K. She had hair the color of sand and eyes the color of the ocean. Her laugh was soft and her stride was vivacious. Her smile was much like the sun in the way that it made the darkest night bright as day. My town was a dark place, but I never noticed, because K was always there to light it up for me. We would spend our afternoons on the front porch with our koolaid stained lips and tell each other jokes. With her their I never noticed my parents screaming at each other or the druken men's hollers. It was just me and her in our own world where kindness and honesty always overcame. Little did I know, however, that there was more to K's life than met the eye. By the time I found out the true reason she always made in effort to brighten my days and shield me from the evils of our street it was too late. Flipping through a notebook I had found hidden away in her room the night after her life was mercilessly stolen I read "If I cannot brighten my life, than I shall do everything in my power to brighten someone else's" and then again "The days are getting darker, but I must be strong, somewhere out there I am needed". Yes! Yes you were so needed, K! You were the sunshine that chased away the shadows of the night! The shield that gaurded my eyes from the realities of my life. Things were hard after that, but I held on, because K would have wanted me to be strong. I worked hard in school and a scholarship to an university ended up being my ticket out of that town. I am one of the lucky few who ever made it out of that place, and I will never take that for granted. Because K died so that I could be shielded long enough to become strong enough to escape.