Dark Nights

As each day went on, I never saw the hurt in my own friend. Life went on and as usual I never took life or the people around me seriously. Until one day!

One day I found out that must save my dear friend from her Dark Nights. No one knew her location or whereabouts. All I knew though was the last text that I received from her. The text said, “Please hear this, I did not mean to hurt anyone but I need to escape this pain. Life is not as it seems and my Dark Nights help me deal with life, but I want to leave these nights behind.” I never knew she was depressed but then again I never paid attention to the signs she gave me. As soon as I received the text I knew something had to be done. I ran out of school that day and went straight to her house but when I got there she wasn’t there. As I ran around frantically looking for clues of her whereabouts, I noticed a yellow sticky note that read, “Don’t bother to look for me and if you find me don’t be sad, for life and its problems have overtaken me. I will be in my secret hiding place forgetting and punishing myself for the things that I have done. I’d like to come out of these Dark Nights, but life won’t let me. Maybe now life would be better, peaceful, and hurt won’t fall upon me. Don’t try to find me.” Panic began to overwhelm me as I thought of any place she could be.

In our early years we had a little private place where we went to play. After finishing the note and remembering the place she could be, I ran straight there. The little “private place” is an underground room that goes through a tunnel and it is on her grandparent’s property. It’s been years since we have played here and I could only pray that I find the tunnel going into the underground room to save her. When I stumbled upon the property I ran towards the tunnel, but as I went in I could not remember which way to turn. Suddenly, I realized that I had no time to panic, so I turned right. As soon as I turned I saw the door leading into the underground room. Before I turned the knob, I could only hope that my dear friend was in the room. When I opened the door I was surprised at what I saw.

There she was lying on the floor in a low state of mind. It was such a remorseful moment to see her overtaken by these Dark Nights. Why had it happened to her? What had she done to deserve to be eaten by these Nights? It had driven her into a deep state of sadness and, sadly, she could neither tell nor express. Is she happy, is the pain gone from everyday life? Can she now sleep at night without awakening from the evil nights that kept her up? These Dark Nights brought her to her fate and all she could was cry in pain. As I asked myself these questions, I noticed a note. The note read, “As the blade goes deeper in my skin, I forget about life. Every person that could have ever hurt me is now forgotten. I can also punish myself for the pain that I have caused upon others. My Dark Nights, are now forgotten and laid to rest because the pain is now swept away. So, don’t be sad when my Dark Nights overtake me, just know that I am happier than ever before.” After finishing the note, I thought to myself of how much pain this child must have went through. Her Dark Nights was the only thing that seemed to help or care and in the end it ended every good or bad thing that she worked for.