"Hello, it's me Mable. Yes, Daniel's mother... I have something very important to tell you. What? Where's Daniel? Well, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, Daniel commited suicide early this morning... You were his best friend Tarquin. I hope you aren't mad at poor Daniel the same way we are." She hung up the phone.

I went over later that afternoon, and I slipped on a patch of ice on the way there, falling down and hitting my head, which bled all over their carpet after I arrived.

"Here Tarquin, this is the note he left."

"Dear world of faded dreams, life has become tougher and tougher. I can no longer take the pain of every day living coupled with dramatic sorrow and tear drop. Now is the time of my sad, sad death. I hope my funeral box is cherrywood please. It's a great pity!"

They couldn't get a cherrywood coffin, so they had him buried under a cherrywood tree. They also put a series of cherries on his gravestone, and people keep stopping by it and looking for slots winnings.

R.I.P. Daniel Lips.

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I don't really remember what I said, because I'm not very smart, but I remember exactly what she said, so I guess the phone call went something like this...
"Hello, it's me Mable." Her voice was low, kind of cracking." Yes, this is Daniel's mother... No, I have something very important to tell you. What? Where's Daniel? Well, Tarquin, I uhh... I can't... I just wanted... Daniel is no longer with us, Tarquin. He killed himself. I hope you understand how that is, and what that is. I hope you aren't mad at him like we are, Tarquin." She hung up the phone. Click.

I went over later that afternoon, the fall weather was starting to get to me. My hands were rolled up inside of my sleeves, I remember, and I stomped the ground, forcing cracks to bust forth in the pavement. I felt myself starting to cry, and I sat down by a lamp post. It's not that I really knew Daniel, but I didn't know why he'd kill himself. I got up again, and I slipped on an ice patch, falling over and cracking my head. An ice patch in fall? What are the odds? I felt the pain seer into my skull, and I just laid there until Denny came by nearly an hour later, and the clouds from when I first fell weren't anywhere to be seen.

"Tarquin, what the fuck?" He towered over me, blocking out my view.
"Denny, Daniel went and killed himself. It's making me awful sad."
"Who?"
"Daniel Lips."
"Oh... Fuck." Denny knew what I meant. It wasn't very cool. He took me to his house, a nice two story white home with a picket fence washed the way it was meant to be.

"You boys want some tea? I can take you up to his room and then make some tea. How about it?" Her eyebrows told me she had just suffered a great loss. Or maybe that was her mouth.
"I uhh, we're okay Mrs. Lips."
"I want iced tea. Put ice in it." Denny was an asshole.

His room was colourful and bright, but it didn't feel that way. There were drawings all over the desk of superheroes, one of them was me. I guess he never found out. There was also an iguana resting on his window inside a fish tank, and I wondered who was going to take care of it, or if it knew Daniel was gone. I went to open his desk drawer, but his mom interrupted me with a hand on my shoulder, and said
"Here you boys, you might not be old enough to see this, but somebody has to. You were his friends, weren't you?"
"Yeah, I guess we were..."

"Hi mom; hi my friends. Are you really my friends? If so, I'm sorry. I don't feel good any more. I'm always sick, and the doctors always look at me with that worried face. I just don't want to ever get to the point where I can't make the decision I'm about to make. I'm sorry mom; I'm sorry my friends. Please, can I be buried in a cherrywood coffin? That's what I want. I wish I could not be sick, so then I could see you again. Don't be sad, because now I can feel good maybe. Daniel."

I put it down on the desk and went to sit on his bed, but noticed a spot of blood on the sheets. Never did find out how he killed himself, but I wasn't about to sit on his blood. I stood for the moment, and I didn't speak. Denny was fiddling with drawers and compartments until we left.

Less than a week later he was buried in an Oak coffin under a cherrywood tree in Bluesberry Pastures Resting Place For The Young Child: Serving. It wasn't exactly as he'd wanted, and his mom cried the whole way through. Nobody expected anything else. After the burial, we went over to her house, and Denny offered his help.
"Mrs. Lips... It might be a bit soon and all, but if you need any company, Tarquin and I are always around." Mrs. Lips smiled.
"Thank you boys. You were good friends to Daniel, and you're good friends to me." She gave us a huge hug. I felt my cheeks turn red, but it wasn't visible to anybody watching. Denny was nice for once, and I felt happy about it.

Poor Daniel. Nobody's gonna remember him the way we will. Thanks Daniel, how'd you do it? How'd you live that long?