Dan Ritcher

I used to be in love with this boy, Dan, he was such a sweetheart. He always waited for me at my locker at school, such a sweetheart. Every day he would wait for me after the bus and walk me to my locker, then give me a hug right before the bell. Sometimes his bus would come late so he would catch up during the next bell. Sometimes we didn't even talk, it was just us, being with each other, and that's all we needed that morning.  For my birthday he gave me a smooch, on my cheek, and said that was that. He was so sweet.
One year, when he actually mastered his cursive, he wrote me a few letters, saying how bored he was waiting for the bus, or a poem or two about odd people that he met in the street or at work. They were so funny, actually here is one, I actually memorized it.

♥ Owed to an 80's Hairstyle ♥
Oh my, your mullet is nicely trimmed,
the salon lights must have quickly dimmed...
or maybe the stylist has a mean sense of humor??
or maybe an undiagnosed malignant brain cancer??

Perhaps an acid trip gone terribly wrong,
or a few too many hits from the bong?
Maybe "Sweet Home Alabama" is her favorite song?
or it could be all the rage in Hong Kong?

Either way, in the back there is hair.
But then again the top is bare.
I'm confused, I'm angry, I've had quite a scare.
1982 called, they want you back there!!

He signed it <3 Dan, but he only put the heart because he believed that the <3 didn't mean anything. If he wrote I love you than it meant something, but he never wrote that to me. I didn't mind, I never did love him, he was too much of a dear friend of mine, to ever love him.

But then one day, he wasn't there. He wasn't at the door, he wasn't at my locker, he just wasn't... there. So he was put down absent. Then again the next day. And the day after that. After a week people said that he came down with something. A week after that, it was the flu. After that it was mono, then a bad case of the chicken pox. But after a month, we were told that he was officially missing. Missing.
His truck was gone, apparently he left school, after giving me a hug before I got on the bus, was driving home then disappeared. They think it was around Devil's Forest. I was scared, I didn't know where he went, or anything. It's been six months, I think.
I don't know how long I've been in here with Courtney, but since I've been here sometimes I think I hear his voice. I think he says my name, but I don't know. Sometimes I think he's saying our phrase, "Estoy en la Gloria", we took Spanish together.  But this is not heaven...