I met Chrystal when were both 16 years old and students at Charlottetown Rural High School. We met in the library at the school at the beginning of her first year there. One day at lunch one of my friends invited her to join us in the back room of the library. After spending most of the hour talking to her, I decided her and I were going to be good friends, plus at the time all my friends were guys. I figured it was time to have a girl friend for a change. I figured out where her classes were and met her between classes, making it look like it was accidental. I figured that she’d either think I was weird and stick around with me for laughs, or think I was a nutcase and tell me to go away. As it turned out, it was the first one. It didn’t take long for us to become very close friends.We stayed close to each other through high school. She helped me through my first relationship and breakup and I helped her get through her fights with her step father. We helped each other pass the classes we were in together and some that we weren’t in together. We got together for study nights and ended up leaving the books uncracked, playing music and talking about boyfriends and other teenage problems. I graduated from high school before she did and when I left Charlottetown Rural, she transferred to Colonel Gray High School, which is also in Charlottetown. I remember that summer well. I had just turned 19, and Chrystal was still 18. I remember her taking me for a walk. She wanted me to meet someone, her new boyfriend. He was 16, and I remember scolding her for going with someone so young. He was so happy to see her, and as I got to know him as well, I saw that he treated her like gold. What is strange about all this is that by the end of the summer, he was my boyfriend. The three of us had so much fun that summer. Going to Victoria Park to swim in the pool, or just hang around. We went to a teen dance that I was too old to go to. Five years later, I’m still with that same boyfriend. If it wasn’t for her, I’d never know him. In October of that year, we found out that Chrystal was pregnant. I was in college at this point, taking a call centre course. She had a doctor’s appointment one day and I called her, using the equipment that I was being trained on, to see how she was doing. She was nervous, as this was her first appointment with the obstetrician. I asked her if she wanted me to go with her. When she said yes, I didn’t think twice. I told my instructor that I had to go, and I probably wouldn’t be back that afternoon. We went to the doctor’s office, and I’m not sure who was more nervous, her or I. The nurse at the office asked me if I was Chrystal’s mother. She laughed at this, saying I was a bit too young to be a grandmother and from that point on, neither of us were nervous anymore, however my impending grandmotherhood was the joke for the rest of her pregnancy. Meghan was born in June. I spent almost every day that summer at Chrystal’s house, being the good “Aunt Riki” to her. Meghan was everything to me, it was almost like she was my own. That September, I went into the hospital in Halifax for a week. When I returned, I called, wanting to go in and see Chrystal and Meghan. Chrystal’s mother answered the phone. She told me that Chrystal had taken Meghan babysitting with her, and while they slept, the two year old child that Chrystal was babysitting had bitten Meghan several times, so severely that she had drawn blood. Child Protective Services came and took Meghan from the hospital. Chrystal fought for six months and was successful in getting Meghan back, but after only two weeks with her, Chrystal decided that she didn’t have the means to give Meghan a good home, so she gave Meghan up for adoption. Al was well into the picture at this point. He had been a friend of Meghan’s father, and when he disappeared, Al took his place. It didn’t take long for Al to love her and he had stood by her through her pregnancy and was there for Meghan’s birth. Al had been there for Chrystal when I wasn’t able to be and between the two of us, we took good care of her. Al encourage Chrystal to be an adult, and got her out into the world for the first time in her life. About a year after Chrystal had given Meghan up for adoption, she gave birth to her son, Danny. Because she had given Meghan up, I had been so angry at Chrystal that I refused to see him when he was born. Al and Chrystal gave Danny up for adoption, and he was adopted immediately by Al’s mother. Not long after, Chrystal discovered that Meghan had been adopted by her foster parents. Chrystal was happy to know that her children were being cared for by such great people. Around this time, Chrystal and I started drifting apart, not by choice, well, not really. Our lives were going in different directions. I had started dialysis, then received a kidney transplant. I also moved away from Prince Edward Island with my then boyfriend. I was gone for three months, but we did our best to keep up over the phone. It also felt great when I moved back home. Chrystal had gone back to school. She was finally getting her grade 12, and boy was I proud of her. In June, 2002, my mom and I went to her graduation. She hadn't quite gotten her grade 12 yet, there were a couple of courses she needed to get in the fall, but they gave her a certificate anyway. She was doing so well for herself. She even had a job lined up. The last time I saw her alive was on July 1, Canada Day. Chrystal, Al, their roomate Christa, and I went to the free concert they were having at Confederation Landing Park. The fireworks and the night concert were televised that year. We went to see the fireworks that night too. We were all standing together when Jimmy Rankin walked by. and I was the only one out of all of us that had seen him. At 11pm, after the fireworks Chrystal and Christa walked to work at the Guardian and Al and Christa's boyfriend drove me home. I'll remember this part for the rest of my life. I called Chrystal on Friday, July 26th. I wanted to have a girls night, just her and I, and I hadn't seen her in a while. She told me that she had a lot planned for the next day, Saturday, but she'd call me when she got home. I thought nothing of it when she didn't call. In the morning, Sunday, July 28th, Mom woke me up. She told me that Al and Leisa were at the door. They wanted to know if I'd heard from Chrystal. As soon as she told me that she didn't come home the night before, I was up and dressed. I went into town and helped them look all over the city for her. We looked all day, but never found her. Her mother called me around 11pm that night and told me that Chrystal's body had been found. It took a few days for it to all sink in, and probably didn't really sink in completely until the day of her wake. I was one of a select few who were allowed to view her body before the casket was closed. I stood back with my boyfriend and let her family go in first. When I did get to see her, I stared at her for the longest time, I held her hand for a minute, and stroked her hair. It was at this point that my boyfriend had to sit me down. I didn't go back up to see her again. She was buried August 1, in the Sherwood Cemetery. Her family has made a garden out of her gravesite, with both real and artificial flowers. There are windchimes, and two little statues; one of a horse, and one of a squrrel, I think. I've been back a few times, the last time being on the first anniversary of her death, for a memorial. It has since been two years since her death, and there are still no leads on who killed her or why.
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