Healing the Wounds of Trauma

Lesson 6B SUICIDE

1. Amber is gone! Stephanie waited all evening for her friend Amber to come to the rec- reation center as she usually did, but she never came. Since Amber’s house was on her way home, Stephanie thought she would stop by and see why Amber had not come this evening. As she neared Amber’s home, she sawmany cars there. She almost walked on, but decided to at least tell Amber good night. As she neared the front door, she could hear people crying inside. It wasn’t just cry- ing. It was the wailing that women did when somebody died, and it made Stephanie shiver. She knew that someone had died. She knocked gently on the screen door. Amber’s brother opened the door for her and as she stepped inside, Amber’s grandmother hugged her and cried even harder. “My Amber is gone!” she cried. “Amber is gone!” The shock went through Stephanie’s body like a lightning bolt and she wept for a long time with the grandmother. Then she heard the story. Amber had committed suicide by overdosing herself with prescription painkillers. It seemed so unreal. Stephanie attended the funeral, but it was a blur. In the weeks that followed, she felt as if life didn’t have much meaning. She lost her appetite. Her grades dropped. Although it was customary to spend time at the home of the deceased, Stephanie avoided Amber’s relatives. She couldn’t fall asleep, and when she did, she often had nightmares. But one night, she dreamed that Amber came and told her how much she loved her. One day, her own grandmother asked her to sit with her under the tree in the backyard. After several minutes of silence, she started to stroke Stephanie’s hair. “Stephanie,” she began, “Your friend has been gone a while. At first, I was afraid that you might want to join

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Suicide