It was April 1997.

I was 13 and I already discovered the band through The Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness the year before, which became my first cd ever. 

A friend of mine also liked The Smashing Pumpkins as much as I do and I lent him my Gish cd. 

Me and my friends were waiting the bus that would pick us up to head a skatepark.  While we were waiting, after a trick try, my friend’s skateboard went out of control crossing the road so my friend ran after it. All of the sudden, a car hit him and he passed away.

A few days after this fatal accident that marked us forever, some of my friends went to his mother house showing care and respect. She gave them back some stuff he borrowed from us as video games, skateboard magazines, VHS tapes, couple of cds… Gish was among the items.

His name was Rafael.