Life and Death

Four weeks in to his new career, Roc experienced his first situation where he saw a life become a death. They were the second car on the scene of a domestic incident; it was a young kid with stab wounds, and the girlfriend was pregnant with his child. Roc felt the young man pass from this life to the next. He died in his arms as EMT tried to revive him.
When he finally got home after that incident, I made him a tea and sat down to hear the story. It seemed like such a waste. A few days later, we found out that a friend of the family knew this kid; he was just a guy from the suburbs, involved with a girl from the 'hood. His family was devastated.
I was concerned about the affect the whole incident (not to mention future incidents) would have on Roc. Roc is a pretty pragmatic guy, but I am street-wise in a way that he's just not...I knew how things could wash over you at the most unexpected moments. The reality was that I didn't want it to come to a point where things backed up on him, too far gone to feel. Would I find myself as the sole/soul person aware of the extent of his internal anguish? Or would the days become weeks, then years, until the whole of his experience became like a woven canvas?
Time would tell. I knew this, and yet I fought for him, every day in my prayers. I interceded for his safety: body, mind, and spirit.