Lucy looked at the water in the tub, analyzing her own reflection. What had she done to deserve this kind of life? Who did she upset so much that this was all that it came to? It has been months since she was pushed out of life she worked so hard to build. She lost her best friend, Aiven, in the process of it all. She lost the only support system that was provided to her. And for what? Her inability to chose and stick with those choices? At this point she wasn't sure if she ever made a single right choice in her life.
She leaned her head against the bathtub, turning off the water. In the room next door Adelaide was sleeping, peacefully unaware of her mother's internal struggle. What kind of world will she come into, knowing what had happened to her mother? Or perhaps she will never find out. Maybe Ben will hide that from her, just like he hid things from her.
Lucy stood up, stripping to only her underwear and socks. She kept looking at herself in every reflection she could find. For years she had avoided looking at herself, and now all she wanted to do was look her shame in the eyes. She wanted that to be the last thought she has when she closes her eyes forever.
Shame. Drowning in guilt that remains after she passes. Just like water, overflowing from the tub and into the rooms, spilling into the world she leaves behind. Shame. Some part of her wanted to feel that shame so it could stop her, but the multitudes of sadness she felt were too strong. The tides had washed over her, leaving only empty creases in the river banks of her sorrow.
Lucy Cooper took out a notebook from the box next to her. It had a few pages left blank, so she figured she'd fill them with her shame. If someone was to ever read that, at least they would know exactly how she felt. At least, they'd know exactly what was going on in the mind of a woman so desperate, she was ready to end her life.
---------------------
"My mother was suffering," Adelaide explained to the crowd. She was surrounded by a screen projection of happy woman in her later twenties. A woman who didn't look like she was suffering at all. "Everything she worked for so hard in life was lost. Her marriage was affectionless, her friends turned away from her and she lost her work to the people who didn't know how to properly execute it."
She flipped to another slide. This one had a letter saved from her lover, Aiven. The letter was dated a few years before Lucy's marriage to Benjamin.
"It's no secret now that my mother was having an affair. Even before she started seeing her then husband, my father," she nearly chocked on that sentence. Not one shred in Adelaide's bones believed that Ben was her father. "She was interested in him. In fact, the two exchanged some very intimate love letters over the course of nearly eight years of their friendship and relationship."
She turned towards the wall where the letter was displayed and began reading one of the many touching passages written to Lucy.
"You're like a guiding star. Any time I need help, I look to you, because you always seem to know the answer. The omniscient energy follows you. Lucy, if I had never met you, I don't know where I would be now. I don't even know if I would still be alive," she flipped to another page and a picture of them in college appears. Aiven was wearing a grey shirt and had his arm around Lucy's shoulder. Lucy's brown hair was cut short and dyed slightly green. She seemed so happy, the warmth was practically radiating off her.
"Strange how life works," Adelaide spoke after a pause. The students in the hall were paying attention to this story because it mattered. Suicide prevention was part of the reason why she chose psychology and focused on therapy. She wanted to help people who were struggling. She wanted them to live. She wanted them to thrive. "My mother was thriving for so long. She had a life most of us would envy, and yet...She still ended it tragically. Through no fault of her own, of course, but rather the circumstances that life put her in. I can only imagine what Aiven went through after losing her. Unlike Lucy, he only left letters behind, and only to her. It's hard to piece his side of story."
She saw a student raise her hand, but she quickly shut it down with a smile. "In a moment - questions at the very end. Write them down so you don't forget." She switched the slides again, but before she could start speaking, a loud noise and a flash illuminated the lecture hall.
The dark lighting of the room was instantly destroyed with a bang, emanating from staircase - a light that appeared out of nowhere, like a strike of thunder. Students gasped and covered their ears, and Adelaide tumbled backwards, completely taken aback by the sudden change.
"Everyone stay calm!" She attempted her best to remain composed, but this unexpected occurrence had no real explanation. There was no lighting device where the light had appeared, and the noise that followed it was heavy and hollow. It sounded otherworldly.
When the light faded out, a figure was crouching down on the floor, in a hole that the light had left. A woman wearing a white dress, with long brown hair neatly braided into a single braid. Her eyes wandered, scared, dazed. For a moment it was clear - she had no idea where she was or when she was.
She slowly, painfully stood up. Her body had marks on it, but they were barely visible, fading away. Whatever was done to her was horrible, but she had survived it all; and she was ready to handle whatever will come next.
Adelaide squinting, trying to make out a figure and see if she recognizes the woman. Shockwaves spread through her as she realized that the woman in the pictures on the wall and the woman on the staircase were the same person.
Somehow, through whatever magic or mystery, Lucy Cooper had returned from the dead.