I never did get to stop in
and give her a paper an
visit with her. When I arrived
at work, there was a message waiting
for me, my daughter
was running a fever, and
the school nurse thought
that she needed to see
the doctor. While I was
at the doctors office, with my daughter
my cousin was being robbed and
was shot once in the head.
I didn't hear about this till later.
When I received the phone call
that she had been
shot, I was in total shock.
How could this be,
my mind screamed?
I was told of
how she was the one who called
the police and gave a description
of the killer. My mind was
spinning, I reasoned with myself
that at least she was alive.
And that I would be there
for her, to help her recover.
But when I arrived at the
hospital, I was told that after
hours of surgery, they didn't
think that she was going to
make it. My Aunt and Uncle
were like zombies, the pain
showed deeply. My Uncle
asked me if I thought that
I could see her,
and warned me how bad
it was, and told me
that he didn't know if
I should. My heart was
pounding, I wanted to
be with her, I needed
to be with her. So we
took that long walk
to the Intensive Care Unit.
I was not prepared for
what I saw, I was
getting very weak, and
my legs were like jelly.
My Uncle was holding on
to me to brace his
own grief, and to help
with mine. While we were
standing around her bed,
the doctor came in. He
slowly informed us that the
only thing keeping her alive
was the Life Support, and
that all tests indicated that
she was brain dead.
My knees were buckling, the room
was turning, and I
wanted to scream. My Aunt
and Uncle were horrified with
grief. And I was looking
at her, and trying to
figure out how we could
go on without her. As we
told her Good Bye
the words were choking in
our throats, the sobs were
uncontrollable, the pain was unbearable.
Words cannot describe the
pain and sadness in that
room. I told her
how much I loved her,
and held her hand and
kissed her cheek. I begged
her not to leave,
we had so many plans.
The Life Support was shut
off on December 18th,
my wedding anniversary.
Her killer was apprehended about
7 hours after the
shooting, thanks to her description.
When the police broke
down the door, he tried
to swallow her wedding ring,
which they were able to
retrieve. He confessed to the murder,
and showed no remorse,
infact he was arrogant, and
even laughed about it.
I now knew hate, hate
for a man that robbed
my cousin of her life.
He not only killed her,
he injured and devasated so many.
He was found guilty of First
degree murder and sentenced
to life in prison.
The injured were left to
deal with her loss,
her funeral, and a murder
trial. An trying to
deal with a life without
her, and we were broken,
nothing about this made sense.
It was front page
news to the world, to
us it was horror and
pain.
Gayle left a 7 year
old son, her parents
that loved her with all
their hearts, a brother,
her fiance, and a grandmother,
her life had touched
so many, that its impossible
to list them all.
I lost my cousin, who
was as close as a sister
and my Best Friend. That
one bullet destroyed so many lives!!!!
In Loving Memory of Gayle Taylor
I will always love you,
and hold you in my heart,
words cannot describe how
much you are missed!!
Hope D.B.
Copyright © 1999, Hope
