Once upon a time, there was a girl called Mary. She was Mr and Mrs Duncan’s only daughter. Her family was very poor. Although she came from a poor family, Mary worked hard at school. She wanted to be a nurse.

Mary was one of the most beautiful girls in her area. The sons of well-known people tried to propose to her but she refused. She wanted to fulfil her vision. Mary was a good girl to each and everyone in her area because of her good behaviour.

Mary was one of the few students who were selected to attend high school. Everyone in her village was very happy to hear that Mary was selected. Her parents were poor, but they worked hard to find money to pay their daughter’s school fees. Other well wishers from the area assisted Mary’s parents with money.

Things went wrong in high school when Mary started walking with other girls who earned their money by sleeping with older people outside of the school campus. She began to copy the other girls. She started when she was about to write her examinations. At this time, Mary found out that she was pregnant. She decided to have an abortion, so that she would be able to write her examinations. She also feared her parents.

Mary also found out that she was HIV positive, and she decided to kill herself because of this.

She drunk poison and died. Her parents heard this sad story. Her mother fainted because she had loved Mary very much. People couldn’t believe that Mary was dead. She had paid the price of negative peer pressure.

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Tell us: What advice would you have given Mary so that she doesn’t kill herself?