According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. Currently, on average, there are 132 suicides per day and in 2022, over 49,000 people took their own lives.

I want to tell you about my friend Amber, a victim to suicide in March 18, 2023. Amber was like a ray of light. She was beautiful, kind, sympathetic, talented, smart; I could probably fill up a whole paragraph of how amazing she was. Most of all, she was a person. She was a friend, a daughter, a sister, a lover. She was in orchestra at her school and played the violin, she took all honors classes and was in many extracurricular activities. She was only 16 and had the brightest future; one that now only I can imagine.

No one ever wants to talk about suicide, seeing as most people find it selfish or too much of a touchy subject; but, Amber needed to be heard. She needed someone to listen to all of the things eating away at her in private. The results of deteriorating mental health are usually not taken seriously until it’s too late. Amber was fighting a battle and she lost. I will never stop talking about her and I will never let her be forgotten. Everything I do is for her and I will continue to make her proud, until fate steps in and I see her again.

After hearing of Amber’s saddening death, my whole world turned upside down. I couldn’t wrap my head around it for weeks; the fact that she was here and then gone within a few minutes. It didn’t feel real, and sometimes it still doesn’t. The emotions I felt were overwhelming; the guilt, the confusion, the anger, the gloom. It was almost as if she just disappeared.

If I had the chance to go back in time, I would use it to tell Amber how worthy of life she was before she made up her mind. If you or anyone you know is struggling, call 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Please, don’t make a permanent decision to fix a temporary problem.

Song used in title- Bigger Than The Whole Sky by Taylor Swift