The love letter and the suicide note

3:41pm

"Come on, I still need to show you something." Astra said when she jumped off his bed.

Orson sighed and held his hands out. She smiled and grabbed the crutches and handed them to him. He grabbed them and then scooted to the edge of the bed, putting them down on the floor so he can put his weight on them when he stood up.

He gently swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and when Astra saw his hurt leg, she swallowed as she watched him struggle to get up.

His leg didn't have a cast on anymore. They must've figured out that if it was in a cast, they wouldn't be able to keep changing the bandages and keep cleaning his leg. They'd probably put his leg in a cast once they didn't have to keep doing that anymore.

Orson slowly stood to his feet, making sure not to touch the floor with his hurt foot. He put the crutches under his arms and looked up at Astra.

"What do you want to show me?" He asked her.

"Come on, it's in the bathroom." She said, and she made sure to stay by his side as he slowly walked to the bathroom.

When they got to the bathroom, she grabbed the water bottle she left on the sink when she went back to get him.

"You see this empty water bottle?" Astra held the bottle up for Orson to see, and he nodded his head.

"Yeah."

"Okay, let's say this is a human being. Just a normal person living their life." Astra set the empty water bottle down onto the water she had filled up in the sink. "See how it floats on top of the water?"

"Yeah."

"That's how this person wants others to see them. Floating on top, being happy and smiling. Showing everyone the good parts of them. But what happens when you apply a little pressure?" Astra put a little pressure on the bottle and it immediately sank just a little under the water.

"It sinks a little." Orson stepped closer to her, making sure the crutches were still under his arms so he wouldn't fall, and leaned forward for a closer look.

"Exactly. It's still floating, but it has a little water inside of it that made it sink a little. What happens if you keep applying pressure?"

Astra applied pressure on the bottle, and kept her hand on it as air bubbles immediately rose to top of the water, and the bottle slowly sank to the bottom as the air slowly left it.

"It sinks completely."

"Exactly. Humans are exactly like that. They only show what they want everyone else to see, they want them to see them floating. You'd want everyone to see you floating right? You wouldn't want people to see you at the bottom. But the only way for people to see you floating is to hide your struggles, hide your dark secrets and scars. Hide your pain. But the more you keep it all inside, the more it applies pressure to you, and the more it makes you sink. You keep sinking until every last air bubble is out of you, and then you're all the way at the bottom, suffocating in the pressure of keeping everything inside."

Astra held her hand on the water bottle until every last air bubble was out of it, and then she let go.

The water bottle stayed at the bottom of the sink.

"Now you're filled with water and you're suffocating, and there's nothing you can do. But what happens when you accept a helping hand?" Astra grabbed the bottle and lifted it out of the water, squeezing it as hard as she could so the water spilled out.

Once the water was all out, she put it back down on top of the water, and it floated.

"What happens if someone gives a helping hand and squeezes all that water out of you? All the water that was drowning you."

"It floats again." Orson said quietly.

"Do you get what I'm trying to say? If you don't accept help, if you don't let me help you lift all the pressure out of you, then you're just going to be stuck at the bottom. You're going to be stuck and full of water, drowning for the rest of your life." Astra reached out to take his hand in hers. "If you lighten the pressure and share what's inside with me, you'll get lighter. You'll get lighter and lighter and the water will keep pouring out of you until you're back at the top floating again."

Orson didn't say anything.

"People need people. We can't do it ourselves, we'll sink if we do. We need help, we need a helping hand that will help keep us afloat when the pressure comes. We won't survive on our own." Astra gently squeezed his hand.

"Okay." He said quietly. "You're right."