In late 2002, I found out my brother was going to marry his long time love (and I mean long time. 17+ years) Nikki.
I was to be his Best Man. Dan was THE MAN. He was my best friend, as brothers should be. We had our differences, but we were brothers.
Dan and Nikki announced pans for a wedding on
July 12th, 2003. Held outside because there wasn't a Church that could hold the people.
On June 26th 2003 this happened:
My brother smoked weed since he was 14, and started dealing when he was 16. At about 16.5 I found out and beat the everloving crap out of him, and to the ebst of my knoledge he stopped doing drugs until he was 20. Then he started doing weed recreationaly (every month or so from what I understand. I bitched about ti and tried to get him to stop because he is better than that.) this turned into every day. About 6 months ago he started doing wierd things like seeing things that weren't there and roaming the house with a knife late at night.
I (and my parents) thought it was just the pressure catching up to him. He is supposed to be getting married on the 12th of next month.
Well, last night he really freaked out and ran after 2 imaginary people when he was over for a visit. (I was not there, but my parents said there wasn't anyone there. ) My parents watched him for a few hours then drove him home and left him with his fianc in their new house. (he seemed fine after his 'run')
I come home to a message on my answering machine. He is in a local hospital. Apparently he smoked some cocane and called 911 saying that 20 mexicans were in his house trying to rob him. The cops show up (all of them in the town I think. from what I understand it was 12 squads. ) And find my brother and no one else, and my brother is acting like nothing happened. The cops all leave after a bunch of harsh words. (duh)
About 2 hours later a squad goes back and an officer knocks on the door to make sure there are no more rougue mexicans breaking into the homes. My brother freaks, runs out the back of the house, around to the front, and confronts the cop with 2 butcher knives.
The cop tells my brother to drop the knives, but my brother does not respond fast enough and the cop attempts to disarm him. (IMHO this is a bonehead move by the cop) in the ensuing scuffle my brother cuts the cop across the wrist (thank god it was not deep). The cops (expecialy the one who was cut) now have my utmost respect for not shooting him.
Thankfully, the cop is not pressing charges, at least not yet. The entire family is going to the hospital tommorow to get him some help. He tested positive for cocane and weed.
Anyone else been through something like this and can give me some advice? We will get all the medical information tommorow, so I don't need that info.
Dan and Nikki have some thinking to do, and come to the decision that the wedding will go ahead as long as Dan gets help. Which he does.
On July 12th, 2003 well over 500 people from all over the country come to Dan and Nikki's wedding. It was a wonderous event, and the culmination of 17 years of love. I have never been more proud of Dan on that day.
The week after his Honeymoon, he lands a job in downtown Chicago making 3x what his older brother makes. Again, I am proud of my little brother, who isn't so little any more.
On August 8th, Dan shows up at his parents house at 2:00 AM screaming about people chasing him, and freaking out. We call the PD and FD, who come and take Dan to the hospital. I find his car in front of
David Kiley's house, and let the cops know. The cops are more worried about "bad" cocane being on the street than the fact that David Kiley was selling it, and do nothing besides noting that when David Kiley answered the door he was f'ed up.
Dan is released fromt he Hospital on August 10th after my family
begging the doctor and staff to force him through rehab. Unfortunately, in Illinois, only Dan could admit himself. Not even a court could force him to go to rehab. What a f'ed up law. We are currently attempting to change that.
My parents basicly place Dan under house arrest. His wallet and money are taken from him and given to Nikki. My parents will drive him to work and back, and that's it. 5 minutes after getting home (really, it was about 5 minutes) he takes off, jumps in his car, and disapears.
He has $0, and only the gas in his car. Sometime in the early hours of the 12th, He gets come cocane from an as of yet unknown source on credit (we have it down to 4 people). and freaks out again. He apparently just drove around until he ran out of gas, and continued freaking out. (when he freaked out, he saw people chasing him, so he tried to get away) He ripped a downspout off a house, and used it do defend himself against the nonexistant attackers. In the middle of this, he fell down an embankment into a lake, where he drown.
So,
Exactly one month since his wedding, the funeral notices go out. Again, people from all over the country come to see Dan. The only problem is, he isn't smiling. He is in a God Damned Urn on a table. The funeral home's parking fills, the parking lot next door fills, everything is full. 2 other funeral homes are cleared of chairs for the great masses that come to pay their Last Respects. A few
thousand people come. All bring their own story of Dan. For hours and hours people take turns attempting to explain what dan was to them. Stories of Dan are told well into the night. Dan will never truely die.
I am going to go cry now.