Letters by Her [Book 2]

Chapter 30

"Hello," a male voice answered that Dusty knew immediately wasn't Kyera's.

"Where is Kyera?" she demanded.

"Dusty, it's Kyera's dad, Terry. Kyera took an overdose and is in the hospital," Terry Aroura said, though his voice quivered with emotion.

"I'll be right there," Dusty managed to reply. She felt the world begin to crumble around her. She was in floods of tears by the time she hung up on the call.

"Dusty, is everything all right?" Kayla hurried over to her weeping daughter.

"It's Kyera." Dusty sobbed. "She's in the hospital!"

****

Dusty managed to calm down during the drive over to the local hospital. Ashley's father kindly drove both her and her mother there, a pained look of sadness etched across his face the entire time. "I'm sure she'll be all right," Kayla said.

"Why would she do this to herself ?" Dusty said, quivering. "Why would she want to die?"

"I don't know, honey." Kayla shook her head. "She must be a very troubled young woman."

As they pulled in to the hospital parking lot, Dusty noticed the flashing blue lights of the ambulance near the access to the emergency department and tried to block out flashbacks to the terrible night when her father had been shot. She hated seeing those flashing lights; they always meant that there was someone in trouble.

She often imagined a young girl like herself witnessing something awful, desperately waiting for help to arrive. Kyera had been moved into a side room. Her father was waiting for Dusty outside as she all but ran down the corridor, still wearing her cap and gown and attracting a few bemused looks as she passed people by.

"What happened?" she asked, her tone incessant. Terry Aroura looked tired, more tired than she'd ever seen him look before. New lines had appeared in his already haggard face, and dark circles hung beneath his blue eyes that had probably once sparkled as her daughter did. Terry looked like a man who had weathered turbulent times.

"We found her this morning in her dorm room," Terry explained. Dusty could see his eyes were red and raw, unable to cry any more tears.

"This morning?" Dusty was aware that it was now almost half past two in the afternoon.

"We didn't want to worry you," Terry explained, sensing her unhappiness at not knowing of the situation sooner. "It was your graduation day. We couldn't let it be ruined," Terry continued, glancing into the room where Kyera lay on a bed while her mother watched anxiously over her.

Dusty wanted to scream that her day was completely ruined, that her graduation from Princeton would forever be tainted by Kyera's suicide attempt, but her mother, who was in a more rational state of mind, spoke up before she had the chance.

"We appreciate you thinking of Dusty's well-being at such a difficult time," Kayla said, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Graduation is a key milestone growing up." Terry choked. Dusty's anger softened when she realized that Terry had now been denied the opportunity to see not one, but two of his children graduate.

"Why would she do this?" Dusty whispered, trying to understand her girlfriends motivations. "I thought that she was looking forward to graduating."

"So did we." Terry sighed. "She invited us up and seemed so excited. We should have expected this would happen again."

"Again?" Dusty queried.

"She's tried to commit suicide four times since..." Terry looked away sadly, not needing to tell Dusty the moment he was referring to. "This would be the fifth attempt," he said, looking intently at his daughter . "If she keeps it up, she risks being institutionalized."