A Victim – Her Story ♥
This is a story about suicide. I wish it was a story about rescue and hope, but it’s not. It’s a story about victims , the ones who are left to deal with the pain, anger, and the inevitable questions when someone kills themselves. Here, one girl describes how her friend’s suicide has permanently changed her, and how she’s fighting to get back to normal.
*Annie describes her friend *Sharon as “probably the nicest, sweetest girl you could have ever met”. Annie and Sharon had known each other for years , and although Sharon moved a couple of towns over, they kept in touch and stayed close friends. Sharon hated where she moved to, had some problems, but she seemed to be have any emotional issues under control with medication. She never seemed sad, and everything thing seemed fine. This is why Annie was stunned to hear that Sharon had jumped in front of a train after a fight with her girlfriend. Apparently, Sharon was so upset after the fight that she called 3 different people and said “I’m going to do it, I’m going to kill myself.” One of them called Sharon’s brother, and he ran down to the train station to try and stop her, but it was too late. By that time she had already made a choice in one devastating moment that could never be taken back. And in that one moment, many lives have been changed forever. Of course her family, they will never fully recover from that loss, and her brother left to always wonder if he could have only gotten there a little sooner. Her best friend, who was on the phone with her at the time, and has the rest of her life to remember the sound of the train horn suddenly cut to silence. Suicide affects families, circles of friends, entire schools and communities. It affected Annie deeply. After hearing the news at drama rehearsal, she was in shock until she went home to her room, listed to some music and let the awful truth sink in. “I fell into a depression. my grades went down the drain, just everything stopped for me. I felt horrible, I looked horrible, I was just a big mess.” Four months after Sharon’s death, Annie heard about the organization, To Write Love On Her Arms. She finally got a sense that there is some hope , that suicide can be prevented. Annie had this to say about healing from the pain of Sharon’s suicide: ” I started to get involved with TWLOHA, and I love them with everything I have. I also started to make sure I helped people. I refuse to lose another friend to something that can be prevented. I had a big reality check then, you never know when something is going to happen.. You never know if someone you love may be gone the next day, So I try to make the best of everything, and help everyone I can. I want to spend the rest of my life helping people. I still don’t know how, but I know I want to.
“I came to the conclusion that suicide is probably the most selfish thing you can ever do, all the family and friends you leave behind, how they have to pay for your mistake, your actions can’t be taken back.”