To Elm

Elm/Russell was an incredibly close friend of mine. Although I never met him I saw him as a very good friend, he knew everything about me and I felt comfortable talking about anything and everything to him. Although to many he seemed rather cocky and arrogant, underneath he was just using that as a cover to hide his great insecurities and lack of confidence in himself. Underneath he was warm and caring and considerate. He’d listen to all my problems without once moaning and offer good advice. He was pretty wise beyond his years when it came to advice.
He was also very kind. I remember once when life wasn’t going that great for me, he sent me his gameboy for my birthday because he said I’d use it more than him and it’d cheer me up. He also sent my parents a hard drive of his when theirs failed and we were short of cash for a replacement.

He always said how he hoped one day he’d get out of the rut he was in and he’d have the nerve to talk to girls he liked, I always knew that whoever that girl was he’d treat her like a princess. Didn’t have one mean bone in his body, he would have given that girl the world. He wanted children because he adored children even though he was hardly out of childhood himself.

I tried to always be there for him, treated him like my little brother. I hoped to one day meet him but he was always shy about meeting up, just shy because he was scared I wouldn’t like him which was silly. There would have been no way that I couldn’t have liked him.

He had plans for his future. He was working for a local petrol station raising money so he could go to the gym regularly. He planned, once fit, to join the Navy. He was aiming to be a Communications Technician in the Royal Navy. He figured not only would it do him good, it’d boost his confidence and give him some qualifications.

He had a great love of bikes. He owned a Honda VFR750F and he always felt amazing on his bike. He said it was the ultimate adrenaline rush, the only time he really felt alive and happy. Sadly, riding his bike was the last thing he ever did.
Taken from: http://archive.thisishampshire.net/2005/8/12/93142.html

Police say the 18-year-old swerved to avoid a tractor pulling out of a track onto the westbound carriageway of A27 between the Ashfield and Luzborough roundabouts when his motorycle was in collision with an oncoming Skoda Felicia.

He died at the scene on the 5th August 2005. The night after I last spoke to him.

Elm would have been amazed by this. He honestly thought no one cared about him, that no one would notice if he was gone. If he can look down at this he’s probably laughing in disbelief at how upset people are over this. I know I can’t quite believe he’s gone and it’ll take a long time to fully accept it. I’ll never forget him. I still half expect him to log onto MSN and say ‘HA fooled you!’.

His name on MSN is still ‘Choose Life’. One of his favourite dance tracks was from the film Trainspotting with a track that had these lyrics:

RIP mate.

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