I met him in '99 when we were barely more than teenagers playing EverQuest.

Two years later he was the best man in my wedding.

Despite living a country apart, me in Baltimore, him in Seattle, we kept in constant touch. We talked almost every day, we gamed together for years.

Then he hurt his back and he turned to alcohol for relief and comfort. We slowly started to communicate less and less. Daily calls turned into weekly, into monthly. Then his wife left him. When he got out of rehab we picked up where we left off. But it was already the beginning of the end. He struggled with alcoholism until the day of his suicide.

I tried to get him help for his depression, but his family is jehova witnesses, so they just talked to a church person who basically said, cheer up and stop being depressed. He had an extremely close relationship with his mother, and I think if I could have gotten him away from her, and the church I could have gotten him the mental help he needed.

I miss him every day.