I walked Kylie home. “Those police were unprofessional. We’ll try a different police station. It will be different,” I said.

“I don’t think so,” Kylie said. “It will be the same and I don’t think I can go through that again.”

“I’ll be with you. We can do it together.”

“But we’re not together are we? I’m the one who was raped. Not you. I’m the one.”

I know she didn’t want to be mean, but I felt bad. She was right in any case. But still I knew that reporting the crime was the most important thing.

We arrived at the corner and Kylie stopped. “Please Kylie, let’s try one more time. I’ll come for you tomorrow. Let’s try a different police station.”

She agreed, but reluctantly.

*****

The next morning I arrived at the hardware store a bit early. I waited in the morning cold. The time for meeting passed and still Kylie didn’t come. At first I thought she was just late but eventually I started to accept that she was not coming.

She didn’t believe that the police could help her even though I knew they were the only ones who could. The police from the day before were not doing their jobs. All we needed to do was to find a police officer who would take us seriously. I needed to help Kylie. It was my job as her friend.

I knew she wouldn’t like it but I headed for her house. I knocked on the door and her father answered. Though it was only about eight in the morning he was already drunk, even more drunk than the time before.

“You again. What do you want?”

I could see he was in a bad mood and I didn’t want to make him angry, but I needed to see Kylie. “Kylie and I were supposed to meet up today.”

“She’s sleeping.” He tried to close the door but I stepped into the dark room before he did. The room had no windows and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust. There was a big bed in the room. In the corner was a paraffin stove for cooking, a few buckets and a shelf with some food stuffs, dishes, and pots. “Hey, you can’t just come in here!”

“I thought I might just wake her up. I know she’d not want to miss our appointment.” I was afraid of him but I wasn’t going to back down. I was relieved when he shrugged his shoulders, lay down on the bed and covered his head with the blankets. He was immediately snoring.

At the back of the room I saw a door. I knocked on the door but there was no answer. I opened it. Inside were two mattresses on the floor. On one lay Kylie’s sister, snoring, her arms flung out to both sides. On the other mattress lay Kylie, on her side, her legs bent forward and her arms hugging herself. A thin blanket covered her.

I bent down and shook her gently. “Kylie,” I whispered.

She didn’t respond. Then I noticed something in her hand. It was a bottle of codeine pain pills. I took it out of her hand. I could see it was a new bottle, and the wrapper lay nearby. But the bottle was empty. I panicked and started shaking her and shouting. I put my face near her nose and could feel she was breathing, but shallowly. She’d tried to kill herself.

***

Tell us what you think: What is your opinion of what Kylie decided to do?