For teens' friends, deaths hit hard

TAMPA - It has been a whole year now since Jacob Gassen has watched his friend run during track practice.

One year, since he's been able to talk to his friend.

" Oh, she was amazing, she was kind and simple and sweet. "

For Jacob Gassen and Betsey Giammattei, it has been a tough year.

"Just remembering the way she was. She was truly one of the most amazing people I've ever known," Giammattei said.

"it's been extremely difficult. Nothing like, anything like I've ever felt," Gassen added.

January 27th marks the one-year anniversary since Calyx and Beau Schenecker were killed, police say, by their mother, Julie.

They were shot in their Tampa home. After word spread at King High School about the deaths, students gathered outside the Schenecker neighborhood for a candlelight vigil.

That night, Jacob went home emotionally drained.

"I was unbelievably sad and I just kind of wrote," he explained.

He wrote a poem, called Strange Little Running Girl.

The poem reads in part,

"Strange Little Running Girl, so kind, so simple, so sweet
 And if you knew this running girl, she swept you off your feet
The life of this strange running girl, short but fun and pure
The life of this strange running girl stolen to short, for sure."

"She was 'the' running girl, in my mind and she was really weird, so that's where the strange part came from. But it's not weird in any bad way. Oh she was amazing, she was kind and simple and sweet. She took value in all the little things," Jacob said.

That poem was then put to music by Betsey.

It's given some King High School show choir students an outlet for their pain.

Betsey said it took her one night to write the music. She said she had to take breaks, because it was so emotional. Jena Young, one of Calyx's best friends, drew the artwork: pictures of Calyx that are now included in an emotional video, posted on YouTube.

Jacob says it's been a tough week as the anniversary has approached.

"It's been an emotional roller coaster, quite honestly," Betsey said.

Especially because the court case for Julie Schenecker continues to bring this story back into the public eye.

Jacob and Betsey are hoping to sell copies of the song, and give the money to the Calyx and Beau Memorial Fund.

To watch the video and listen to this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjdYLhvRHLI