Amelia

Before

It was 3.08 am. She was up, crying her eyes out. Again. This was the second week running when she got no sleep at all. Her insomnia was worsening, her depression was becoming more severe and she constantly wore long sleeves to hide the scars that tattooed her pale arms. She had a suicide plan playing like a broken record through her mind.

       She tried thinking of all the times that made her happy.

       The first two years of secondary school were great for Amelia. She had many friends who loved spending time with her and a boyfriend that would give her the biggest hug whenever they saw each other. She would go out every weekend and had some of the best memories in the cinema and her local park. In these two years, she was happy and cheerful and would greet everyone with a wide smile. Amelia was...herself.

       She glanced up at the clock. 3.12 am. It took four minutes to play back through all the good times in her 14 years on earth. They all occurred in the short time before she started to change...

       Nobody would expect what happened to her next.

       Things started to get really bad at home. Arguments got worse between her parents and they wouldn't talk for weeks at a time. They started to fall into the dark depths of depression and her siblings started to appear less cheerful and bubbly. Soon after, Amelia's mental state started to deteriorate and when she tried to turn to her 'supportive' friends, they started acting differently around her and pushed her away; they brushed her off when she needed them the most. This sped up her depression, and she no longer felt safe or comfortable at school or at home. She had no one to turn to, as her boyfriend also left her for someone more pretty, more cheerful, and more 'mainstream'. Amelia would turn to her blade every day and a river of vibrant red would flow towards her fingertips. She couldn't really remember a day when she didn't bring a sharp blade to her precious skin.

       Amelia looked up at the clock again. 3.29am. It took 17 minutes to go through the bad times, just from the last few years. The suicide plan was still playing through her mind and she had no more tears left to run like a waterfall down her cheeks. She lay there for a few minutes, listening to the tick of the clock. It was...rhythmic. But she knew this was the last time she would hear that noise. In fact, it would be the last noise she heard. Amelia grabbed her blade and cut deeper than she had ever done before. With the blood dripping through the gash in her arm, she fixed a noose she made to a hook on the ceiling and stepped up onto a stool. She looked around her room; the old posters, drawings and murals still plastered her dull walls, and she had left a note on her desk which explained everything- all her reasons for her ending her life, and that she loved her family deeply and always would. It also had a list of those that she wanted to be at her funeral.

       This was it. This was the last moment of Amelia's life. She placed the noose around her neck and with her last breath, she kicked the stool out from under her foot. She died three minutes later, at 3.46 am. A single tear fell from her eye, as her heart stopped to the tick of the clock.