The Forgotten Angel ✔️

Chapter 6: Problematic Reporting

It didn't take long for the news to spread that someone at CUA had just committed suicide. There was much debate about what caused Darryl to overdose on painkillers. Since they found his body in his studio at Crough, many thought the workload he had to endure as an architecture student was just too much. People wondered if CUA overloaded their students with unnecessary assignments that caused much stress to its student population. Many weighed in, and by the next day, the Tower ran a special article online reporting exactly what happened.

Luke didn't leave his room all day Saturday. He found himself beneath his covers scrolling through social media. He typed in Darryl's name and the first thing that popped up was a profile picture of Darryl standing in front of the Coliseum with his arms stretched out to the sky forming a Y. The next thing that popped up was a section entitled "Relive Memories with Darryl Dixon." Luke scrolled through all the memories and photos he had shared with him—Darryl's photos in which Luke was tagged in, and Luke's own photos where Darryl was always making a new gesture, be it a peace sign, thumbs up, web-slinging Spiderman, praying hands, etc. He then decided to click on Darryl's name and his profile popped up on his screen.

There he is, Luke thought. It's like he never died. Social media had a way of giving the deceased a short extension on life. Only after a couple of years did most social media sites deactivate inactivate accounts—but a bot can't distinguish why a person is not active anymore on social media—especially at such a young age. He had not discontinued his presence on social media, Darryl had discontinued his presence in life.

Luke would have liked it better if Darryl's name didn't show up on social media. His profile seemed outdated. His last post, Luke shuddered, was made moments before he died. Luke couldn't bring himself to read it...

But he was forced to when he got a notification from his email. A news article had been posted by the Tower, CUA's student run newspaper, and Luke supported the Tower and tried to read it as often as possible. He thought the Tower article may take his mind away from the guilt of not taking action in preventing this tragedy from happening.

But, he should have known what the article would be about.

"Sophomore Darryl Dixon Overdoses on Painkillers and Kills Himself," read the title. Luke gulped as he scanned through the article:

On Friday, the body of Sophomore architect student Darryl Dixon was found dead in his studio after overdosing on Vicodin, a powerful opioid painkiller. Authorities are investigating the incident and have inquired into the acquisition of the restrictive drug Darryl used to kill himself. Findings have uncovered that the drug was prescribed to him after having his wisdom teeth removed. In addition to ibuprofen, Vicodin was prescribed to dull the pain if the ibuprofen was insufficient. He never used the Vicodin and kept it for a deadlier purpose.

Below the first paragraph was a photograph of an empty pill bottle with its cap resting a foot away, surrounded by pencil shavings. The caption beneath it read, "Darryl ingested nearly 20 times the prescribed dosage, causing his kidneys to fail, and his liver to shut down. All that was left at the scene of the suicide was this empty bottle."

The article continued:

Many of his friends have said that Darryl's suicide was so sudden and without any warning signs. "He was such a dedicated individual," said his roommate Brian Reynolds, Sophomore Politics Major. "He wanted to do so much in life. He wanted to design the next Coliseum, a sporting venue that people will travel far and wide just to catch a glimpse of."

Such a dream is now expired. In his last interaction with the world, Darryl took to social media to share his final thoughts. In it he writes, vaguely, his reasoning for taking his life. "I've tried to kill myself twice before. This time it's for real. I can't say why tho [sic], all I can say is that you wouldn't believe me if I told you why."