The Will to Live

Chapter One: Untimely Death
The sun shone brightly overhead on a warm April day as Kail Brezdon was walking home from school. Normally, the nice weather would raise her spirits, but today in school everyone had learned of some terribly tragic news. A classmate of hers, a young man named Emmanuel Leese, had killed himself the night prior. Many students in her class cried; some quite passionately. Kail hadn't known Emmanuel personally, but she could certainly feel the deep sorrow. She didn't cry herself, but she felt on the verge of tears for almost the entire day. She thought about how his parents and other loved ones must have felt, never being able to see him again...

As if that weren't bad enough, Kail had seen a good number of news stories about the increasing suicide rates worldwide, and the deep-seated depression these suicides were causing. It seemed that the living were becoming quite miserable with the growing number of people taking their lives. Depression was gripping people fiercely, leaving them as hollow husks of their former selves. They were being forced to grapple with misery day after day.

Kail felt terribly for those who were suicidally depressed, and deeply wished that they could get the help and support they needed. And for those who were already gone, she hoped for them to be in a better place where they could be happy and at peace. However, Kail's heart also went out to the living. She knew full-well that suicides affected large numbers of people, and the friends and family of the deceased most of all. Kail hated to see the world falling deeper and deeper into despair because of this tragic rise in people who wished for death....

When she made it home, her mother was on the porch, waiting for her. She hugged Kail tightly in her arms. "Oh, Kail, sweetie, I heard about what happened! I'm so sorry about Emmanuel! You can take a day off of school if you like! How's your heart?"

Smiling sheepishly, Kail tried to push her mother away slightly, as she felt she was being crushed, and answered, "My heart's fine, Mom." Kail was born with a heart defect that gave her a slight arrhthymia; irregular heart beat. Other than that, there was a possibility she could suffer serious injury if she experienced too much excitement or surprise. She had medicine she took regularly to lower this risk.

"I made hot chocolate, let's have some! And we can talk all you like." Her mother led her into the house.

Kail drank the hot chocolate graciously, despite the fact that it seemed a bit warm for such a beverage. She was grateful for everything her parents did for her, even if it felt like she was being babied a little bit from time to time.

"Your dad should be home soon," her mother said, looking at her wrist watch. "He called me and told me he bought you a present to help take your mind off things."

Kail smiled shyly, and said, "W-well, that was nice of him, but he didn't have to do that..."

"Oh, he said it was no trouble at all."

Kail's mother worked from morning to afternoon, while her father worked around the same times, but usually came home an hour later than her mother. Kail thought it would definitely be good to be with her family on a day like this...