What I Left Behind

Where Did I Go Wrong?

I wake up in my bed at the sound of screaming, sounding like it's coming from just down the hall.

Riley! Please, wake up! Please! I need you! Riley!"  Panic is evident in the person's voice. 

"Hayle, Is that you?" What would she be doing here in the middle of the night?  

"Don't come in here! Please!" What is going on? 

"What's going on Hayle? Does this have something to do with Riley?" 

I walk into the bathroom, and the sight in front of me is atrocious. Riley is just, lying there. A few white pills lay scattered around her, and blood is seeping all the way from her body to the edge of the carpet in the hallway. 

  "She-she never told me. I never knew. Oh god, what did I do wrong? My Riley. My precious Riley."  I faintly recognize that tears are falling down my face, and I can't even stand. I support myself against the bathroom door frame, barely listening to anything.

I need to call 911 I guess. I pull out my phone and dial the number. The person at the other end picks up.

"This is 911, what is your emergency?"

  "M-m-my daughter-she, she committed s-sui-suicide." I start crying louder, as it finally sinks in. She's gone.

"We will send paramedics as soon as we can. I'm sorry for your loss." She adds, almost as an afterthought.

I sit there crying in the bathroom until paramedics come, gently pushing me and Hayle aside so that they could put her on a stretcher, her blood staining the white sheets. When I see her being loaded into the ambulance, it's too much. My legs give out, and I fall, unable to get up. They pull me into the back of the ambulance with her, and I sit while they rush her inside the hospital,  while filling out a stack of paperwork they handed me. 

Exhaustion starts to sink in after hours of waiting for news from the hospital. It shouldn't take this long. They should have something, anything. I have a bad feeling in my stomach, and I hate it. She can make it. I know she can. My Riley is strong.

Time Warp(1 hour later)

 A doctor finally comes over to me, an expression of disconnection on his face.

"I'm sorry for your loss M'am. "

She's gone. She's really gone. Tears fall down my face. Why Riley? You had everything going for you! You were on your soccer team, and you were at a good school, you could've gone places Riley!

I nod my head and slowly stand up. I walk unsteadily out of the waiting room. Before I take my last step out I whisper "Goodbye Riley."