Voice of My was my friend.
She loved Russian literature, particularly Dostoevsky, all
of whose
works she'd read
and re-read. She was endlessly amused by the absurdity
of Dadaism. She
wanted to be an artist, but never felt that she had the
talent, so she
settled for being a writer.
She started writing Daria fan fiction as an exercise to
improve her
writing skills and
started classes at her local college in the summer
of 2003, studying
writing and literature. She was enjoying it
immensely, getting,
and deserving, excellent grades. She sent me some
of her homework to
critique. Some of her poetry and her
stream-of-consciousness prose was hauntingly beautiful; much of it was
insightful and
wise.
About a month ago she suddenly complained of what sounded
like a very
bad virus. When she
started coughing blood, she was taken to hospital
and put into a ward
for serious problems. It took them a week or so to
diagnose multi-drug
resistant tuberculosis. They gave her a 20% chance
of beating it.
Last Monday it beat her.
Her father had just bought her a laptop computer which was
her pride
and joy. It let us
keep in touch up until a few days before her death.
She would have been 16 on September 11.
* * *
Epilogue
It's been nearly two years since Voice of My died. Those of us who were
privileged to know her mourn her as deeply now as we did then. Her star
blazed brightly and, like a bright star, she was consumed.
Today I received this from someone who was touched by her words. What
better tribute could a Daria fan give to one of their own?
Deref
7/13/2005
* * *
Jane and Daria stood by a tombstone in a graveyard, kneeling down Daria
read the name and date for Jane softly before looking down at the
ground. “Jane, she was one of the good ones. She’ll be sorely
missed.” As Daria read the tombstone again Jane knelt next to Daria
and put an arm around her shoulder gently. Daria then turned into her
friend and let her tears fall onto the red jacket Jane wore.
Jane looked at the tombstone for a moment longer before sighing and
nodding. “You were one of the great ones; I think you could have been
our third Amiga.” Jane then turned and hugged Daria joining her soft
tears in the journey to the ground.
--In memory of: Voice of My, from a fan who found out too late.