Anesthetic

LXII

GIRL FOUND DEAD IN HER APARTMENT BUILDING

Grace Monroe was found – dead – in her bathtub. Investigators say she drowned herself in the tub. It was overflowing, and still spilling, when the police came. Her neighbor was the first to find her body. She smelt something horrible and wondered if something happened to Ms. Monroe. So she knocked on the door, but no reply came. She asked the landlord to open the door for her, only to see the flood.

Nobody knows the reason she drowned herself, but there has been theories we'll never know if are true or not. There has been said that one boy would know. He was a patient of hers – her only patient. She refused to have anyone else besides him. The front lady wouldn't give the police his papers, claiming it was classified information. No one made a move to remove the files from her hands.

The Monroe family threw her a great funeral. Everyone in the town came, mourning and praying for the lost. People at the funeral were friends of hers, people who she's helped through tough times. One girl was bawling her eyes. She said, "Grace was an amazing girl. She made me feel better about myself. I've committed suicide twice, and both times, she's stopped me. I lived because of her."

Ms. Monroe was a well-known therapist, who was depressed herself. Her father used to abuse her bother physically and mentally. He'd scream insults at her while whipping her with his belt, after coming home from bars completely drunk. He has been behind bars now for nearly ten years.

Grace lives with her stepmother. No one knows what happened to her biological mother, but her stepmother has been treating her well for years. She cried when she told us how she thought her daughter was happy and healthy; she didn't know about the thoughts inside Ms. Monroe's head.

Grace Monroe will be dearly missed, and we hope she lives a great, happy life in heaven.