My Friend Was Killed In a Massacre – And Changed My Life Forever

Rest In Peace to all of those lost at the Bataclan and Charlie Hebdo events. You are loved.

Death has always been something I have been incredibly afraid of, but I have learnt that there is beauty in death, as painful and terrifying as it can be. This a story of a lasting impression that someone dear to me left. It’s also a story of incredible universal coincidence. I call these “universe moments.”

Ever since I was young, I wanted to travel to Paris, France. I grew up in Vancouver, BC and went to french immersion for all of elementary and high school. When I was in my early 20’s I met a boy and fell deeply in love with him, he had spent a year in Paris and every time he told me stories about it I got lost in a daydream.

The food. The romance. The fashion. The language. The history. The architecture. The nightlife. I didn’t even drink, but fantasized about drinking wine every day, staying up late, eating delicious foods and being engulfed by the hummm of the gorgeous Parisian accent. It was my all time favourite romantic fantasy.

During our relationship, he introduced me to one of his Parisian friends, Romain, that he knew I would absolutely love. He was an alternative kind of guy, a punky…