Aminatu Noah says her only child, Elyjah Chandler, went missing while swimming at Jacob Riis park last Friday. Police say he and his 17-year-old friend went into the water as a large wave formed and never came out.

“I still feel like I’m dreaming, to be honest,” Noah said.

Family and friends gathered for a vigil at the baseball field overlooking the beach Friday, celebrating what was supposed to be Elyjah’s 17th birthday.

“Elyjah was full of life, that’s all I know. Loved people. Loves basketball — teachers and staff he was very close with as well. Very loving kid,” Noah said.

“Elyjah was a goofy, funny person. He was very caring and very generous,” Antoine Stoves, a friend of his, said.

Officials say the teens went missing right after 6 p.m., when lifeguards leave for the night. Rescue teams were deployed into the water but had to be taken out because of strong currents, according to the NYPD.

Isadora Velcy says she did not know Elyjah and his friend but came to the vigil to pay her respects. She says she was on the beach as the two teens went into the water.

“We ran for the lifeguards and there were two girls that was sitting on the, on the chair and then we had screamed and ran back and I actually went in the water to see if I can still see his body, but I had to go back because the waves were so strong,” Velcy said.

A day after the teens went missing, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended the search. The agency says crews searched over 600 miles, with search areas extending to Sandy Hook, New Jersey and Long Beach.

“I just pray that he’d come out of the water and say ‘hey mom’,” Noah said.

Noah says while she has so much support and love around her, what she wants is to see her son once more.

“At the end of the day it’s two kids, and I want them both to be found and come back to us — cause I need some type of closure, God knows,” she said.