Friends, Family Remember Unique Pawhuska Teen Who Died In Crash

Losing a friend is hard no matter your age, but when it's a teenager and it's unexpected, it makes that loss even more difficult to understand.

Hearts around Pawhuska High School have been heavy this week.

“It's just been sad,” Hayden Javellas said.

Students there are trying to cope with losing one of their own, 16-year-old Mikey Lynn.

“He was pretty unique, one-of-a-kind friend,” Daniel Nightengale said. “Probably never have another one like him.”

Nightengale it felt like the world stopped spinning when he learned his best friend had been killed in a car crash Saturday.

Now, nearly a week later, homecoming is giving students a brief distraction. The kids still are paying tribute to their friend with signs, shirts and Mikey's favorite saying, “I'm here and that's all that matters.”

“Makes me feel good about what they're doing for him and all, but it still won't really be the same here without him,” Nightengale said.

And over at Mikey's parents' house, it will never be the same either.

His cousin Joseph, who was also in the car when it crashed, wears Mikey's favorite shirt. A cut on his eye is a reminder of the day his best friend died.

10/19/2014 Related Story: Pawhuska Teen Dies In Osage County Wreck

“Bravest person I ever knew,” Joseph Lynn said.

Mikey was a hunter, a fisherman -- a runner and a wrestling star, bound for a state championship.

His mom says Mikey was a pistol, comfortable with who he was, wasn't afraid of anything and didn't have much of a filter.

“That's why I worried about when he reached the pearly gates, I thought, ‘Oh gosh Ky, have your hand on his mouth',” Mikey's mom, Tina said.

Mikey's parents have lost a child before, their daughter Ky died of cancer several years ago.

With Ky, Tina says the family was prepared. The same cannot be said of Mikey's death.

“It was just unexpected,” Tina said. “He's gonna be missed so bad.”

And while Tina's heart aches for her youngest child, she says she's more worried about kids up at the high school.

“I just want them to know he loved them and he wouldn't want them to be like that. Be more like Mikey, let it roll off,” Tina said. “I just tell them my door's always open if you want to come and talk. Just come. I'm here. I don't want them to keep it bottled up inside of them.”

His friends say Mikey will certainly leave a legacy behind, but also a lesson that could save their lives.

A trooper's report said neither he nor Joseph were wearing a seatbelt, and that has stuck out in the minds of Mikey's friends.

“I feel like it makes you think twice about some of the decisions you make,” Marshall Tolson said. “I feel like a lot of students took that from this, and I think it will open everybody's eyes.”

But the focus for his mom is more about how Mikey lived rather than how he died.

“He lived for the moment,” Tina said. “As long as he was there, that was all that mattered and now he's not gonna be there, so... but I just hope the kids just keep on and don't stop.”

“He will be with us every day,” said Mikey's brother, Dalton.

A fundraising site has been set up to help Mikey's family with funeral expenses.