Riker's life couldn't be any better than it was right now. He had proposed to Laura months ago and the wedding was getting closer and closer. He spent almost every moment of every day with his fiancée. His family was all completely supportive. Nothing could ruin his life right now. Or so he thought.
It was one of those odd days where he didn't get to spend time with Laura, because her family had taken her out to find her the perfect wedding dress. They had taken Stormie with them and Mark had taken Rocky , Ryland and Ross to see some zombie movie that Rocky , Ryland and Ross had been dying to see. At around noon he went downstairs to make himself a sandwich for lunch. He decided to make a second one for Rydel . She had been really closed off and sad lately. They hadn't had a proper brother/ sister talk since he got Laura back and Rydel got Ratliff back. He figured they could talk while they ate lunch together just like they used to.
However when he got downstairs there was a letter on the counter with his name printed on the front in Rydel 's messy rushed chicken scratch. He opened it slowly just figuring that maybe she left him a note saying that she was going out with Ratliff . He finally began reading it and was horrified at what the letter contained:
Dear Riker,
I know that you're not with Laura today, because she went to go find her wedding dress. Therefore I know that you'll probably spend most of the day in your room. Or at least I'm hoping you will so that you won't be able to stop me.
I needed you Riker. I needed my big brother, my protector, more than anything and you couldn't see it. You've been spending so much time with Laura and everyone's been so focused on your relationship that nobody saw anything about mine. PLEASE KEEP READING! Don't think that this is a letter telling you how jealous I am that you were getting all of the attention when I needed help, again. But anyway I'll just skip to the point here. Riker ever since I started dating Ratliff .He's been hitting me. At first it was just when we would argue he would slap me kind of hard. Then it got worse he would start to freak out and hit me when his drumsticks . Then it escalated again and he just started hitting me for no reason whenever we saw each other.
I needed someone to protect me from him, and nobody would listen to me not you not Dad. When I tried to tell you all I heard was, "not now Rydel I'm going to see Laura. I don't have time to talk now." When I tried to tell Dad I heard, "Rydel I can't talk right now I'm helping Riker and Laura with…" and fill in the blank. I know you saw me pulling away. I know that you saw me becoming less talkative, less smiley, less chatty. I know, because you would give me these looks that told me that you were slightly worried, but you were even more grateful that you didn't have to deal with me insulting you so you never brought it up. To save your own ego and pride you ignored when you saw that I was in pain. I've been cutting for the past eight months ever since Ratliff started raping me.
I needed you Riker, but I don't anymore. I don't need anyone's help except my own today. Because today is the day that I get out of this hellish situation. Riker this note may not have made sense to you yet, but this is my way of telling you goodbye. This is the only way that I knew you wouldn't stop me. In fact I'm fairly certain that you didn't leave your room until a little after lunch time which means that it's too late, because it's now six AM. Today is the day that I get rid of all of the pain and all of my suffering, and I finally let go. Goodbye Riker, and tell Mom Dad , Ross , Rocky and Ryland that I loved them, because my time on Earth is up.
I love you,
Rydel .
Time seemed to slow down as Riker got to the end of the letter. He was hoping that Rydel wasn't serious, and that this was just one of her stunts, but deep down he knew that no matter what Rydel wouldn't do a stunt like this. He dropped the letter to the ground and tore off upstairs. He got to the door to Rydel 's room and threw it open almost puking at what he saw. Rydel 's room was a complete mess. All of the pictures that Stormie had hung up of Rydel and Ratliff together laid smashed on the ground. And Rydel lay pale and motionless on her bed. She laid in a puddle of her own blood that had obviously flown out of the extremely deep wounds that were on her wrists.
Riker quickly closed the door and ran back down the stairs to get the phone. He quickly typed in Laura's cell phone number knowing that his mom never answered her phone. Laura answered after just one ring. "Riker I'm not going to send you a-" Riker cut her off mid sentence, "Laura I need you to put my mom on the phone right now it's important." Laura agreed and Riker heard her telling Stormie that it was Riker. "Riker? Honey what's going on?" She asked him in a confused yet comforting tone, and Riker lost it and began to sob. "She's dead Mom. Rydel is dead!" He heard his mother gasp. "Riker what do you mean?" She asked and he could tell that she was holding in sobs of her own. "I came into the sub shop a little after noon and I was going to make up both lunches so that we could talk like we used to. When I got downstairs there was a letter addressed to me on the counter. Mom Ratliff 's been hurting her for a long time, and none of us saw it. She killed herself this morning Mom." Stormie lost it then and began to sob. The bridesmaids around her, except for Laura who was sobbing as well, had heard and were looking at her with sad looks on their faces. Stormie told him that she was going to come home as soon as possible. She would call Mark and Rocky , Ryland and Ross and Riker was to call 911 and get an ambulance there to pick up the body.
Riker did as he was told and the rest of his family and the paramedics arrived at the same time. While the EMTs went to get the body Riker showed the rest of his family the note. They were all sobbing uncontrollably Mark most of all. He kept saying, "she was my little girl, and I blew her off when she needed me the most. This is my fault!"
Just then the EMTs came down with a black body bag on top of the gurney. Stormie walked up to them and asked, "Can we see her just one more time?" They looked skeptical knowing how bad the girl looked completely covered in blood. Stormie continued, "Please she's my only daughter, and this is our fault for not seeing her pain sooner. Just let me apologize to her even if she can't hear me." The older man nodded and the younger man unzipped the bag just enough so that the Russo's could see her pale and lifeless face. They began to sob harder and one by one they all apologized for not helping her.
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