We had just moved to a new city, my sister had to be the new girl, at a new school.
She quickly made friends. All the boys wanted her. All the girls wanted to know where she got her clothes, how she did her hair and her makeup. She became best friends with a girl named Maddie. They spent every waking hour together, had sleepovers, everything you can imagine.

Two days before she was to start the ninth grade, she made a mistake that changed my family’s lives forever. She had been at the park with 2 friends, who had 2 ecstasy pills that they had bought for $10 from a man off the street. About 2 minutes after, my sister popped the pill. She began to complain of being dizzy, not being able to see, and having a horrible headache. She then fell to the ground into a seizure, her friend Steph, ran to a nearby family members house for help.

Within 25 minutes, she was at the hospital put on life support in the intensive care unit. During the three days that my sister, Mercedes, was at the hospital she had many convulsions, multiple heart attacks, and many resuscitations. After six seizures, her temperature sky rocketed.

They did a CAT & CT scan on her brain. Her brain showed no activity. That one tiny pink pill had rendered her brain dead. I stood there watching her. Her lungs would rise and fall from the machine. Staring into her eyes, that were once lively and so colorful now looked dull, and had no life in them.

The next day, my mother was given permission to take my sister's body ( as she's a licensed mortician). My mother got to prepare and wash my sister’s body for the funeral.

Sometimes, I feel like it's my fault that my little sister is dead. She wasn't allowed to even go out that day, but I told her if she didn't say a word to mom about it, then she could leave for 3 hours. Sometime, in those 3 hours my sister made a mistake.

I want all teenagers to learn from her mistake. Everyone thinks of E as the "party drug" and as a drug that does no harm. Well, you’re wrong. It does lots of harm and damage.

To end this, I love you with all my heart my Mercedes. I'll never forget you. You'll always be my baby sister. I'll see you when it's my time to pass.