It was New Years day, when I went for a walk to the canteen in the caravan park to get some coke. I was told that the police were coming to see us. Something had happened, I thought, "Oh no! Not Brett. Please let Brett be alright!"

The police came about half an hour later and told us to ring my Auntie Marlene. Marlene answered the phone, "Hello."

"Hello, it's Leigh, Kath's niece. What is going on?"

My aunty explained to Leigh how my cousin Frank died.

As we walked back to the van, all I could think about were all the times Frank and I had spent together, how it happened and why. That day I came home from our holiday and stayed with my cousin Leigh. Waiting for the results of the autopsy and learning how he drowned was the worst.

They say he went for a walk near the water and it had soft edges, he slipped, hit his head and drowned. He went for a walk at 2.00 a.m. He asked his girlfriend, Kim, if she wanted to go for a walk, but she said, "No". I bet she never thought that would have been the last time she would see him.

They found his body at 10.00 a.m. that day. I was hurt, confused and angry. Why my cousin? What a great way to start the New Year. He was so young. He had more life in him. It was and still is hard to believe that he has gone.

The day of the funeral was hard. As we walked into the funeral home, I felt like walking up to the coffin and opening it, just to see and believe that it was my cousin in there. But I couldn't I just stood there, looking at it, I felt frozen, I couldn't move. As I sat there looking at the coffin, a song that Frank used to listen to all the time, 'Dreams' came on. It sounded exactly like my cousin. It was about a young guy who was free and he had all these dreams, but then he died, exactly like Frank.

The thing that is missing, is when I used to go to my auntie's, I was always greeted by this great big happy smile. Now it's gone, all gone.

Standing at the cemetery we heard a stranger talking about Frank as if he knew him. You had to know Frank to really talk about how he was carefree, lovable and so funny. That was Frank. The priest knew nothing about him. That's what hurt. The way the priest was talking about him, it didn't even sound like my cousin. Then something distracting caught my eye. There goes another one of my loved ones.

The coffin was lowering, this was the moment of truth. All of a sudden Frank was gone.

Seeya Foo. I'll always love you.