Patch Taylors-Wade Hampton, SC --To many, 23-year-old Cynthia Kissick was the kind voice on the other end of the phone taking an order for Papa John's Pizza at Cherrydale.
To others, she was the warm smile welcoming people inside the store.
But to Alexaida Briggs, she was her closest confident, the keeper of secrets and her best friend.
"She was the best friend," Briggs said Tuesday afternoon. "She would do anything for anybody and never ask for anything in return."
Briggs said the mother of three was an unexpected friendship she gained when she came to work at Papa John's in 2008.
"She invited me to hang out after work one night," Briggs said. "She was easy to talk to and hanging out together became a regular thing. The more we hung out together, the closer we became."
Briggs said Kissick was one of two bridesmaids that stood with her when she was married.
"Cynthia and my sister... my sisters," Briggs said. "We were even pregnant during the same time. She was expecting her third child, Junior, and I was expecting my first child."
Briggs said finds it hard to believe that the "beautiful" woman she knew is dead.
Kissick died Saturday after an early morning wreck that sent her boyfriend, the driver, to the hospital. It happened on North Pleasantburg Drive, toward Cherrydale, at the intersection at Worley Drive.
According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the driver, Dominique Moore, crossed over the center line. The 2003 Toyota Camry turned sideways and slammed, passenger side first, into a parked tractor trailer.
Briggs said she got the call early that morning and she still has moments of uncontrollable grief.
Briggs said that she, along with a few other close friends, were at the home when Kissick's brother, Antonio Rivera, told Kissick's oldest child, Courtni, 6, that her mother had been killed. Briggs said they went there in hope of comforting the child, but she found herself comforted.
"She always wanted so much more for her children, her family, her friends," Briggs said. "So much more than she ever wanted for herself."
Briggs said Kissick worked hard to provide for Courtni and her two younger children, Cassidy and Junior.
"She made their birthdays so special," Briggs said. "Big parties, big gifts, but she always wanted to do so much more beyond that."
Briggs said that Kissick's mother had died when she was young girl and that she always felt a void.
"There were other mother figures in her life, but she always missed her mom," Briggs said.
It's a feeling, Briggs knows that is eventually going to hit home for Kissick's kids.
"I just want them to know how much she loved and adored them," Briggs said. "It was all about them. She loved hard."
Now, Briggs is hoping to help raise the money to give her friend a proper funeral.
Donations may be accepted at Papa John's locations in the Upstate and at Greenville First locations. There's also a Facebook memorial set up in Kissick's name.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at Thomas McAfee Funeral Home Northwest, 6710 White Horse Road, Greenville.
Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 2, at the funeral home. Reported by Patch 11 hours ago.