"You don't truly realize how important someone is to you until they are gone." That's what people always say about taking others for granted, or in order to make you realize someone's true worth.

Nobody needed to tell me that. And they didn't need to be gone in order for me to realize how precious they were to me.

I knew that they were the most important people in my life ever since the day we first met.

The eight of us met through an event that could have evoked tragedy in all of our lives, but instead it blossomed into something better. The opposite of a tragedy, at least for the time being.

As I sit here on this bridge I can't help but think about everything. This is the place where it all started. This is where my life stopped dying, and yet it's where it killed me. My life changed forever because of one chance meeting, one short moment that took place.

Meeting the seven of them was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I never even truly realized it until now.

When each one of them committed suicide, a piece of me died. Once they were all gone, I didn't have feelings. The only thing I felt was numb.

I couldn't save them. And that alone has already killed me.

Now here I am. Without them. Remembering. Thinking. Regretting.

Things change so quickly. Unexpectedly.

But isn't that how life keeps you on your toes?