Have a good one Quintin

I met this boy last year…his name was Quintin….short, cute, and shy, he looked like a little boy. Every time I walked in the house, he would be lying down in front of the TV, fitted perfectly on the two seated sofa, he would jump up, run into the room and put on a shirt that he picked up off the floor. I was shocked when I found out that he was 27, and even more shocked when I heard of stories….apparently, he was known as the terror of the family. Leon and Vernon were his cousins and housemates, they paid for his little room in their apartment, made sure he had his meals and pretty much tried their best to keep him out of trouble.

Quintin was always his daddy’s boy. Apparently, his dad was a bigger terror, and they made the perfect partners in crime terrorizing the town together. The mother was always distant; they never really had a relationship. Two years ago, Quintin’s father took his life, he set himself on fire, and died two days later on the hospital bed…unrecognizable. From then on, Quintin was pretty much homeless, jumping from one friends house to another, mixed with the wrong crowd, and landed in some pretty deep shit once in a while.

Poor boy I thought, every time I looked at him. Leon and Vernon always worried about his drug abuse, they say that staying in the same house with Quintin kept him off the bad company. He reminded me so much of my brother. Quintin was good with his hands, he broke almost everything he touched, but repaired anything that was spoilt. I remember walking into the house once to find an ear bud sticking out of the TV. Apparently, Quintin had figured out how to fix the speakers to their little TV by sticking an ear bud in it. Only Quintin.

A few weeks ago, Leon and I spoke about the possibility of sending him to a rehab, the same rehab that my brother was in. If Zachy could do it, I was certain that Quintin could do it to coz they reminded me of two peas in a pod. Leon posed the idea to Quintin, almost sure that he would disagree, but to our surprise….he said okey. Quintin was pretty hyped up about the whole thing, he asked me about the rehab on a few occasions and he told me one night in his drunken state that he would love to check in rehab the very same day. He pulled me aside and told me how he felt that he was going insane, and how he didn’t kno what he was thinking or even doing sometimes. I remember saying that it’s normal when you’ve been on drugs for so long, but I also told him that being willing to go to rehab is a very brave and strong thing to do. We made a few calls, arranged for an interview, and Leon made some calls to gather the finance, and the plan was all set to go…..we were suppose to check in tomorrow, Wednesday, Febuary 16th.

Two days ago, I got a call at 2 pm from Leon, he said “Kathy, can you call me back, its an emergency!!”. I hate emergencies, its always bad news. Leon sounded so different, panicked, sad, scared, all at once. He told me that Quintin had passed away. I immediately rushed to GH, and walked about to find Leon. There he was, sitting on a stone with his head down. I hugged him as tight as I could, as he told me how Quintin had committed suicide by jumping off a building. He survived the jumped, but passed away in the hospital two hours later. We walked together into the emergency room, and sat beside his lifeless body. What a weird feeling.
There were some complications at the hospital. Apparently, Quintin had converted to Islam two years ago, but nobody knew. The body was taken by Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (JAIS), and they were to organize the funeral. There were four of us present at the hospital; we took the opportunity to say a decade of the rosary for him, before he was taken away. The funeral was the next day, not many family members turned up at the Muslim cemetery. They brought in the body, all wrapped up in white. One of the members from the JAIS committee took lead, and explained the process to us. The white was to represent his purity, he was brought onto the earth pure, and that’s the way he should be put back into the earth. They opened the white cloth, and showed us his face. They did a grate job covering up the bruises. He looked so….Quintin. The few of us that were there took the opportunity to put the sign of the cross on his forehead. The people from JAIS were not as anal as we thought they would be, they were pretty understanding, polite and respectful.

We gathered in silence, as they read the verses from the Quaran. The rest of us prayed in silence. I guess we were all praying for pretty much the same thing, it didn’t really matter who or when or why, the ritual was peaceful and important. They placed him in the ground, we couldn’t help but keep the “throw in a rock” ritual. After burying him, a few people poured water over the grave. They said that, when you pour water, and grass grows over the grave, the grass will pray for Quintin when nobody is praying for him. I thought it was pretty sweet. The representatives from JAIS explained to us that we could go visit the grave anytime we wanted, but we were not allowed to conduct any rituals in the cemetery. I guess it was a pretty fair and reasonable deal. They apologized for having done what they did, and they thanked us for our corporation. All the things I’ve heard about JAIS since I was young, they are pretty intimidating, but I guess there are some exceptions to the bunch.

I thought about Quintin these past few nights, and then I thought about my 20 year old cousin that took her life a few years ago. The thought of suicide. All those things that they teach in religion, about the souls never being forgiven. Not to be disrespectful, but it can’t be true. How can anyone be in their right mind to commit suicide? Can life be more scary than jumping down a building?? I cant imagine Quintin as himself saying “ I’m going to die”. So sweetheart, rest in peace. I hope that wherever you may be, it’s better than the life that you had on earth. I’m sorry that life was tough for you, I’m sorry that you didn’t have enough love, I’m sorry that we nobody realized how much you were going through, and most of all, I’m sorry that we were too late for you. Please know, that there are people who will miss you, and there are people who loved you. I hope you’re reunited with your daddy, go paint the town red with your new found wings hunnie!!!