The Night He Died and Saved My Life, Part Two (of Three)

The response and interest to Part One has been very much appreciated! Part One, was edited again after release. Feel free to take a look back, before going forward. ~ JM

The days following seeing Aaron, and everyone, I was not well and needed to recover. I guess that was why I didn’t call. I also think I was afraid he would hurt me. No matter where my life was headed, the reality was, he was my big deal for quite a while. I am not sure if I have ever said this before, or written this out, but, I loved him and never told him.

November 22, the weekend after Aaron’s party, I hung out with my friends, Randi and Angela. They lived on top of a hill, in an area of town, called Clifton, near University of Cincinnati. We went to Blockbuster and rented, Too Young To Die and 9 to 5.

As I left their place, stepping out into a beautiful, crisp, Fall night. I wondered if I should go to the party that was up on the other side of town. Thinking it over, I got into my red Ford Escort, Bessie. I was dressed like a poor, gave up on life, college student or in casual wear, if I’m being kind. It was already pretty late, I think around 11pm.

I pulled onto Martin Luther King Boulevard, leaving behind the Forum Apartments from up on top of the hill and made my way down to a light, and the next one. I sat there, I think I may have sat through two. Bessie and I overlooked the 75 freeway, running left to right, right to left in front of us. Cars tempting me with their lights and motion.

Time seemed to be slowly ticking by, I wanted to see Aaron and everyone, but all the things he said from the previous week, kept working, obsessively on repeat, in my brain. As clear as the night sky, his words played again “What are you doing? You aren’t like the other girls?” We both knew he was right. Something did not feel right to me.

In this moment, this feeling, was covering me with a sense and a voice almost saying in a whisper, “Do not go, Jennifer. Go home.”

I drove forward, looking ahead and to my right, towards the house we had been, just the week before. Oh my Father would kill me. The house where I watched Aaron demoing what looked like a more traditional Karate move. Continuing, driving over the freeway. I pushed passed the exit and drove myself home to bed.

The next night, Sunday evening, the 23rd. My parents, their friends, my friend Angela, all went to a nightclub in downtown Cincinnati, to see my brothers girlfriends band. They were a popular cover band with some excellent original songs. They were opening up for Blessed Union of Souls, a regional band that had a hit on the radio called, I Believe.

We arrived at the venue, Sycamore Gardens, well before the first band started. Sycamore was one of the best venues of its time in ‘Cincy’. My older brother Chris, who worked on the security team, made sure we had the VIP treatment. Chairs set aside for us, in a line, up and a little to the side of the stage.

At some point my Mom told me to call home because I had messages. I pulled out my shiny, Sprint flip phone, and through the loud sounds from the band, I could barely hear my sister as she said, “Shae called and said to call her. And Mandy called, “She said, Anne was murdered.” the sound piercing my ear. “What?! Anne?” I screamed. I thought she was talking about my guitar instructors’ girlfriend, Anne. I was shocked I was getting a phone message like that.

She then shouted, “No. Jenn, Aaron, Aaron was murdered”, I heard her say. I can still hear her young teenage voice. The tone, sounded to me, as if the magnitude of what she was telling me hadn’t sunk in for her yet.

E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g slowed, almost now frozen. I again shouted, “What?!” An explosion of chaos let loose in my mind. The last few times I saw him passing through me as if I was clicking impatiently through slides on an old school projector. It got faster and faster and faster.. The plans we had to see one another, his voice, his smile, demoing how to protect himself, the spin continuing.

I saw myself in my car, choosing to go home the previous night and I instantly felt as if, his voice saved my life somehow or saved me from injury, covering me in chills. I had so many thoughts and feelings holding me to that chair but I wanted to shoot through the ceiling.

As the images continued, my eyes wide and fixated on nothing and everything all at the same time.

I was unaware in the moment but that night as we sat listening to the music, my parents and their good friends, sitting to my left were discussing a young man that had been brought into the morgue. Jim, the husband of my Mom’s friend, was a Cincinnati police officer and worked in the morgue. At the time, they didn’t know I knew him.

I can’t remember how I got up or what I said to whom but I could not get to my car fast enough. Maybe if I went fast enough, I would move time, I could erase this from reality. My friend Angela came with me and I drove her home. As I was driving, racing to Shae’s house, I lit a cigarette and I took the car lighter and held it against my skin, leaving a scar. (more on that subject in another post)

As I drove, I felt him in my car, circling around it, flying free. And again, this, the last place I saw him alive. I looked at my empty passenger seat and felt so sick. This was NOT the first or the last time, that passenger seat, was the last place I saw someone alive.

Shae, her brother, his best friend Big D, our friends Tom and Mandy, his friend Johnnie and so on, all either left moments before this happened, or couldn’t make it. ATM’s not working or random issues kept us all away. Some part of that group had been together for years, and none of us were there.

What I didn’t know, as I drove home Saturday night from my friends, tensions were heating up at the house where I was supposed to be.

Aaron got in a fight with a guy at the party, William Sizemore. If I am not mistaken, William had recently gotten out of jail, was flashing some money around. I understood that they had been picking at each other all night and fought outside. I read recently, that at some point, Aaron hit him in the face with a bottle during the altercation. William eventually gave in, the fight was over and that was it. William ran away.

At a certain point, William came back, begged Sean, the lead singer from the band, to let him back in the house. For some reason Sean finally gave in. (I know this haunted him for years) William came in and went straight into the bathroom which was right by the back door. This was very close to the doorway, where you entered the living room.

After a bit of time, William, jumped out of the bathroom, attacking Aaron with a knife. He stabbed him repeatedly with a 3 inch blade. Unfortunately, one of those stab wounds, pierced his heart.

The paramedics tried to save him but there wasn’t anything they could do. From what I can recall, he was gone within 20 minutes and passed away after 1am. He was just 25 years old.

There was also a girl standing near Aaron. She was either pulled down into the melee as Aaron was falling, reaching for her or she tried to get in between them. Court documents found online, say she tried to intervene and was stabbed in the neck, severely injured but survived. I am not sure how long it lasted but it was likely very fast and somehow he ran out of the house, and disappeared for a time.

This crowd of people was like a lot of groups of people in ways, however, there were some on the fringes, a bit more of a criminal mindset, I will say. They were looking for William. I do believe, they would have beaten him up or killed him had they found him before the police did. I can’t remember if he was found or turned himself in.

The following days and weeks were trying for those closest to him, his family, people who saw him day in and day out. The absence of his presence was obviously, hard for them. We all were gearing up for the services, memorial benefit and moving on.

for Part Three, The Funeral and A New Song

Editors Note: After moving to LA in May of 2001, which you will hear more about in another post, I left LA for 16 months in, July of 2002. I took a job with a close client from Ohio, to live and work on their 365 acre ranch in Montana. One of the most spectacular times of my life. This family has done more for me than I could ever say. After raising initial funds for my CD, The Other Side of Me, they paid for the entire thing to be recorded and mastered. After falling in love, living apart for 16 months, I moved back to LA, November 2003.

Aaron’s Song (The Clouds Song as some have said)

I walked out last night
Felt a cold breeze blow up my back
Smelled leaves on the fires
Heard the others rolling through the streets
They sounded like a million little feet

And I’m warmed by the thought of you
I’m warmed by your scent
I’m warmed by the thought of you
I’m warmed by your scent

I can see you, Walking in the clouds
Flying with the birds
Singing your songs
As we play along
This is your song.

The moon is hiding
Behind the clouds that are racing
The trees are dancing with the light
Trying to show me, the way to go,
I’m trying to be brave for you

Chorus / Solo

Your motto, “No Fear”
Is rattling in my head
I start running with my tears
As I remember all you said

Pre-Chorus
Chorus Out