"Cheers to Lukie!"
We slammed our beer bottles together, I felt uncomfortable that in a tipsy spontaneous moment he'd yell that, I let it go.
"To Lukie!"
He yelled again and Lukie's face came rushing back into my memory; no ones supposed to die when they're this young.

I realized perhaps he wasn't in the wrong- keeping his spirit alive and present. I've been gone all these months but no one at home has forgotten him; he's not a name to keep tucked away on the bottom shelf. He was our friend. I knew the kid. It's surreal. He was kind, I don't claim to know him like the bunch who surrounded me in Salem tonight by any means, but I knew him. I've been to his house, I know his family, I understand. He was upbeat and in my experience with him, he was never anything but a fun time; he would've wanted us to celebrate I'd imagine.

"To Lukie," I said back.