Kyle DuClos

In 6th grade I met a little ginger kid named Kyle. He was a dirty little fucker, but a good kid nonetheless. A rowdy little fucker too. That kid didn't fear anything. He was always the first one to jump off the bridge--so to speak. I was never far behind.

I had just moved here from California following my parents divorce, which was probably the most difficult period of my life. I was in need of some good friends. Kyle quickly became one of them. He was like a brother really. I spent almost as much time at his house as at my own. The DuClos' became like a second family to me.

Throughout middle school me, Kyle, and our other homeboy Jon became a constant. Thick as thieves boy. We became infamous around school. One of our teachers dubbed our squad the "Flea Patrol" because we were always runnin' around and bouncing off the walls.

We were always quite a handful, but didn't really start getting too bad until the wanning months of 8th grade year when we realized that we could pretty much get away with anything. We started skipping class daily and catching the bus downtown to buy weed, cigs, and skate. The next couple of years played out like that movie Kids, minus all the AIDS of course. Lots of drinkin', lots of smokin', lots of trouble.

It was in these years that Kyle started getting extra bonkers. He always talked about how he was going to die young. I always brushed it off because it just seemed so stupid at the time. Still does. About a year out of high school Kyle killed himself. He dressed up in a suit and blasted himself in the chest with one of his pop's rifles. When I first got the news I was not that surprised actually. I'm still not. That was about 9 years ago now. I still think about that little fucker constantly. I really wish I could have helped that kid. I still can't get over how fucking senseless this act was. I'm not sure that anybody could have done anthing to intervene, but you can't help but wonder.

Just about every Sunday morning I wake up and check out PostSecret. This Sunday I was greeted with this video:

Seems like a pretty good organization. If you can help, do.

You know I'm still tippin' 40s for ya on a regular bro. Rest in peace.

Comments

[Kelly Joe]

I miss Kyle a lot. I agree about not being able to do anything because he just went off on his own and started hanging out with a different group of friends and you already know what happened next. I still to this day do not know what drove him to do what he did. I have a feeling that it had something to do with his female relationships. He was a smart kid and he could have had a bright future.