I remember that day. Can you believe it was almost 2 and half years ago? I can't. It seemed like I didn't have him for too long. I guess I should have savored every moment I had with him.

People may say "It's only a fish." No, it's something more than that. You get attached to your special friend. Even though it happened yesterday, the pain still pierces me.

He was a red halfmoon bettafish - also my first fish. His name was Ruby. It took me a long time to pick out his name. I tried Ketchup, and Crimson, but they didn't fit him. He was err- different. He was always excited to see me when I came home from school. He had a 5 gallon tank that stood beside my bed. I loved him so much.

Over the previous summers, I did lots of reasearch about bettafish - where they lived, what their name meant, what colors, disesaes, types. The worst disease I found had to be dropsy. Dropsy is an uncurable disease where the scales start lifting up. This is a sign of kidney failure. They will be very bloated.

I told myself I would never lose any to that horrible disease.

Yesterday. I found his color fadinf from red to a whitish color. His scales were lifting up -- not too bad, though. My older sister, Jill, came in and said I should Euthinize him. I yelled at her and said never.

After, I started considering it. My mom and I looked up humane ways to kill a betta. The first one was Ice.

We scooped him up in a little bowl filled with his normal aquriam water. Then placed him in a bigger bold fillled with ice. I didn't want to be up there when he passed, so my daddy let me sit in his lap, and he carassed my head.

After 30 minutes, they returned downstairs, and my mom told me Jill was saying all these sweet things to Ruby - Now, guys, I've been bawling since we read about humane ways to kill a fish - Now, I'm almost screaming. We went upstairs to flush him. Later that night, I found out my mother actually did cry (never does, exept toy story 3). I slept with my sister (2 years older than me) in her room. I slept in a beanbag and she slept in her bed.

Ruby was my best friend. No one can compare to him.

Best friends, forever, bud.