One time I was helping a dear friend through a hard time, such a hard time, she thought the only way to make the pain end was to end her own life. I had to be strong, responsible, and a caretaker. It is never easy talking someone out of suicide. It takes a lot of patience, strength, time, and more, all of which, I have. Most of the time it was hard, I was exhausted, and slightly stressed. But, I kept calm, collect, and reminded myself to take some deep breathes. I remember I Skyped with her all night to make sure she wasn't going to do anything she was going regret later. It was quite pitiful, she cried so hard, just, watching waterfalls come out of her beautiful brown eyes, it was (to say the least) super upsetting. Seeing her, who is very small in size, curl up in a tiny ball. Her somewhat pale skin, became nearly white, from the anxiety attacks and crying. Which, to be honest, only made her bright blue hair stand out even more.

Luckily it was successful. She did not even attempt to take her own life. In this process, she had other friends helping her too. I was very scared, anxious, somewhat calm all at the same time. I told her, “That things were gonna be okay! Maybe not next week, next month, or even next year! But, everything is going to get better and when it does, I can't wait to see you grow stronger, smarter, and overall a better person! No matter what, I will always be here by your side whenever you need me.” I always had to remind her that she's beautiful and amazing the way she is.

I felt like I had more responsibility than independence. I had to be very responsible on  the words I had to use to help her and more. I’m only human, so I messed up wording, but  I fixed it and covered it up with something that was worded better. I did have independence though, I did not need to rely on other people to help me help her. She did have a couple of other friends helping her, but to such extent that I did. When, those friends had to go, I was completely independent. I had such self-determination to get to see them another day, that compared to her other friends, seemed like they had none. Independence wise, it wasn't any different than going to a concert with a friend or something

Of course I had other times where I had to responsible! For example, when I'm walking with friends to a gas station down the street from my house or something along those lines. But, none of that could compare to the responsibility I had while helping her. Just think about it! It's life or death, if she has a future or she cuts her life short! I helped her because I knew things would get better! I want her to see her high school graduation, go to college, walk down the aisle, have children and watch them grow, and other big milestones along the way! I was not gonna let her take away something as valuable as life away from herself! Sure, life stinks sometimes, but you gotta fight through the bad and show people what you survived! Show them the hell you survived! Now, my friend is a sophomore in high school, has a wonderful boyfriend, and is stronger than ever! When all that happened, she was in eighth grade.