The Forgotten Angel ✔️

Chapter 6: Problematic Reporting

A third time's a charm. After two failed attempts at committing suicide, Darryl managed to add to the growing number of suicides at the college level. According to recent data from the CDC, suicide is the second most common cause of death, behind accidents, amongst college students and has since tripled from more than a century ago in the 1950s.

A fierce debate has erupted over the possible cause of Darryl's death. Many have apportioned blame to the intense curriculum of the School of Architecture. The Tower reached out to the Dean of Architecture, Julia Davidson, about reducing the intensity of the curriculum in light of the most recent suicide. She has yet to respond, prompting many students to take to social media to organize a walk out of class on Monday to raise awareness of student workload and how stress from it is killing our nation's youth.

A recent study in the UK has shown that workload has contributed to over 33% of students contemplating suicide. The basic requirement for a master's degree in order to secure an entry level job, has forced many students to continue through schooling in order to secure a master's or doctorate's degree. This is a necessity if one wishes to make a decent living that is not dependent on how low the government sets the minimum wage to keep non-degree holders from starving.

Architect students, like Hatma Al Jarid have expressed concerns that some professors assign unnecessary readings, projects, and assignments that do not serve a long-term purpose in developing real-world skills to apply competitively in the job market. "I agree that some of the projects can be eliminated, but I also want to point out the issues that come with a liberal arts education. Many of these concepts can be learned in two years, but excessive courses are piled on to keep students busy, stressed, and here to pay into the school's coffers."

The article went on to talk about student workload, but Luke couldn't take the bullshit anymore. Luke knew the real reason why Darryl committed suicide. But Darryl is right, Luke thought to himself. They won't believe the true reason. They already apportioned a cause for his death to stand for.

Luke spent the rest of Saturday beating himself over failing to prevent Darryl's suicide and flat out ignoring the overt signs he displayed. Luke had barely slept, ate, or showered in over a day and a half. All he did was torture himself by thinking how much he screwed up. Darryl was isolated in his own studio. He freaking told me that he got raped and was thinking about killing himself. And I did nothing. I should've told someone, but would they have believed me? Did I even have the authority to share such information? Darryl would've felt ashamed if I leaked out what happened to him.

And then I went on the date—I left my struggling friend alone, by himself, after undergoing such a tragedy. I should've forgotten about my first date and called the suicide hotline myself, with him in the room, to make sure he got the help he needed.

But then, Luke's anger turned on the Tower. Luke had been trying to avoid reading Darryl's last post to prevent his guilt from overwhelming him. But then the Tower had to go ahead and publish the damn thing in the paper. Why would they even do such a thing? I mean they even described how he killed himself, how he got the drugs to do it too. It was almost like a guide on how to successfully commit suicide and make the headline news. There is such a thing as too much detail.

Luke's mind raced all night, and sleep was unattainable except for the occasional nod that was only disrupted by images of his last encounter with Darryl.

When Sunday morning came, Luke was greeted by a breaking news notification from the Tower, "Breaking News: Second Student Commits Suicide on Campus, the Second Suicide in Three Days."

No, Luke thought as he put down the phone. I can't. He got up off his bed for what felt like the first time in half a day.

Kev took notice to the activity and asked, "And he wakes."