Life's A Wonderful Chorus

If there's news I don't ever want to wake up to, it's the news about somebody dying. Especially if that person is somebody I know.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing one morning last week and this frantic batchmate informed me about another batchmate’s passing away because of a heart ailment. Her heart gave up on her. I was stunned I couldn’t speak right away and all I remember saying was “Ok”. Text messages confirming the news followed after.

I wouldn’t normally react towards news like this but this time it’s different. It’s as if death itself was so close it may just have missed me by an inch. All I could do was pray for this friend.

I kept telling myself “She’s too young to die. We’re too young to die. Death isn't welcome yet.”
“What an untimely death” I told my friends and one person quipped, “there’s nothing untimely about dying”. I just stared at him.

Is there nothing really?