Picture Perfect

Chapter 1 - Brody

Today marked four years since Kyra lost her brother, Brody, in a motorbike accident. She'd been laid in bed all day, wishing she could bring him back. Kyra had been fifteen when she heard the news her brother's motorbike had been hit head on by a drunk driver and he died instantly. At the time, he was on his way back from the shop after she'd asked him to get her some painkillers for her migraine. Still, to this day, she blamed herself and unfortunately, so did her parents. The anniversary of her brother's death got harder every year instead of easier like many people promised her it would. The depressed young adult wanted nothing more than to take her own life and be with her brother. She believed in heaven and believed that her brother would be there. She hoped to go there so she could apologise to him.

Picking up her cracked white iPhone 4, she opened up the Instagram app; her safe zone where she could post whatever she wanted on her account without anyone knowing it was her. She opened up her camera roll to find and upload the picture she saved this morning. As usual, the quote related to her mental health, this time it was suicide in particular. The quote read:

"Suicide. The only mistake you won't live to regret"

And she captioned it with:

"Four years today and I'm still suffering without you. I miss you"

She posted it then locked her phone, throwing it on the floor and lying back down on her cheap metal framed bed with springs poking through the mattress and digging into her back. Tears filled her emerald eyes and she didn't try to hold them back this time, letting them spill down her pale, freckled face. As her body shook with heart wrenching sobs, she wondered how different her life would be if she hadn't been selfish enough to send her brother to the shop and he would still be alive today. She knew he would accept her sexuality and speak to her parents so they'd come round to the idea of their daughter liking women in a way that was more than friends.

Ten minutes later, Kyra's phone buzzed, signalling she had notifications. She reached down to pick it up from the stained, worn, grey carpet. Typing in her pass code, she opened up Instagram to find three comments on her recent post.

"@Depressed_Gxrl: This is so true, I agree 100%"

"@Positivity_Posts: I'm so sorry you feel this way but I promise you things will get better, stay strong sweetie"

"@multifandom_advice: I don't know if you're in any fandom but I'm still here for you. Please don't do anything to hurt yourself. People love and care about you"

Kyra tapped the heart next to the first comment, showing that she liked it, and ignored the other two. She didn't believe that anyone cared. She had no family close by except her parents who had disowned her and her friends left when she became severely depressed and spoke about ending her life.

Two hours after Kyra posted the quote regarding suicide, Lauren finished her gym workout and decided to check her phone. On her lock screen was a notification which read:

@k_unknown shared a post

The sweating brunette immediately opened up the notification on her brand new rose gold iPhone 7 to see what Kyra had posted. As her eyes scanned over the words, her heart sank. She scrolled down to see when it was posted and as soon as she read the words 2 hours ago, her heart began to race. She tapped Kyra's username to see if she had posted since but she hadn't. Lauren instantly thought the worst, that Kyra was dead. Although she didn't know the younger girl, she was still worried. She had an enormous heart and wouldn't want anyone to end their life. Lauren decided to message Kyra, her thumbs hovering over the screen for a minute before she decided on a short and simple approach: