At the tender age of seventeen, my cousin's life was ended. The uncanny similarities between my cousin's death and the death of Al Sicherman's son in "A Father's Plea: Be Scared for Your Kids" brought back the horrifying pain I hoped never to experience again. I was overtaken with the all too familiar sorrow and pain Al Sicherman expressed over the death of his son. While using the dangerous drug LSD, Al Sicherman's son fell out of his dorm window and died on impact. It is with the death of my cousin that I may relate to Al Sicherman. I found that this was the first time Eric had experienced heroin, and the last. Life is full of experiences, both positive and negative. Sharing these experiences is how we may teach others the devastating power of this mind-altering drug. .
The darkest day of my life had begun. It was Saturday morning, and as usual my mom came into my room to wake me up. Immediately I knew something was seriously wrong from looking at her face, so pale it sent shivers down my spine. She said nothing, and hugged me so hard I was on the verge of suffocation. It was then she explained to me, in-between bursts of heart piercing crying, that my cousin was found dead on the floor of his garage. Immediately my chest tightened, and I too started to cry. I was speechless, my throat feeling as though I just swallowed glass. Worst of all, my mom did not know how he died, but she did know that heroin was involved. With so many questions, and so few answers, my sister and I left for Eric's house.
I remember pulling up to Eric's house, and seeing the garage was covered in police tape. I kept asking myself: Why was there police tape? What happened? My sister and I walked up to the house with painful curiosity, and found our aunt and uncle both sitting on the deck behind the garage. After just loosing their only child, we found them both visibly distraught and unable to stop crying.