(Earlier that night…)

Megan had just switched off the bedroom light. The day was done. It had just been an ordinary day. Autopsies, observations, paperwork, legal stuff. She'd picked up Lacey from school, they'd come home and had supper, and afterwards Megan helped her daughter with some tough homework questions. Once that was sorted out, it was "me time" for both of them; Lacey used her computer, and Megan picked up a novel she had started reading several months ago.

Around 10:00 Megan went to bed, tired from her full day at work. Lacey stayed up till about 11:00 chatting with her friends on the computer in her room.

In Megan's room, everything was quiet, dark and still.

But not for long.

Megan heard a loud crash from Lacey's room.

What is she doing? She should be asleep.

She raised her head off the pillow listened for a minute. After a few seconds had passed, she heard Lacey's panic-filled voice calling out "Mom! Help me!"

Megan jumped out of bed and ran out of her room toward the sound of Lacey's voice. It came from the bedroom.

Megan flung Lacey's bedroom door open. It was pitch black inside except for a flashlight that lay near the doorway. Its eerie, yellow light was shining right towards Megan. She bent down, picked it up and aimed it into the room. She was struck by a thrill of horror at the scene that was illuminated before her.

Lacey lay on the floor, on her back, with her right hand stretched over her head toward the door. Her mouth of open and her eyes were wide and rolled back in her head. Megan flipped the bedroom light on and quickly got down on her knees beside her daughter.

"Lacey! Lacey, can you hear me? Lacey…"

Megan looked and saw at least a dozen empty pill bottles scattered around the floor, along with an empty water bottle. Lacey's insulin pump was lying on the floor in a corner; it looked as though it had been flung there. Megan was in a state of shock for several seconds. But after she recovered herself she immediately checked for vital signs. No pulse. No respiration. No signs of life. Lacey was dead.

Megan cradled her daughter's head in her lap, reeling inwardly with grief.

Lacey, Lacey! How did I not see! Why didn't you say something? How could I let this happen?

She immediately thought of her own father. He had committed suicide. He gave no warning signals. One day, they just found him in the house, dead. Megan was reliving that nightmare, but this time, it was her precious daughter. Her world had come crashing down. Lacey's lifeless body lay limp in her arms. Her once bright and eager face was frozen in an expression of pain and terror. And her eyes… the tears rolled down Megan's face as she looked into her daughter's eyes, now rolled back with nothing but the whites showing.

What did I miss? How did I let it get this way? Lacey, come back… don't do this to me. Lacey, why?

Would it be the same as it was with her father? No note, no explanation anywhere?

Nothing in the world could have broken Megan's heart more than to see her own beautiful daughter throw her life away. And she could have stopped it.

How could I be so blind?

Megan just sat there, rocking Lacey in her arms, wishing with all her heart that she would just wake up and apologize for scaring her like that. She would sit up and give her a hug, and then they would both go back to bed. She would be up in the morning. They would eat breakfast together as usual. She would go to school, and then come back home.

But then Megan's mind came back to the scene in front of her.

Lacey is dead.

That thought was pure agony. But Lacey's body was growing colder by the minute. And there was nothing she could do to bring her back. Her world was shattered. Everything went dark, and she felt like she was falling down, down, down…

Then a sudden involuntary twitch brought Megan back to reality. She was lying in her bed, coated in sweat. The sheets were twisted around her legs, and her hands were stretched out and clenched into fists. She found that she was crying, and for a split second she was puzzled as to the reason. But then her dream came back to her in a flash.

Lacey's corpse. She committed suicide, right there in her room… right under my nose.

Megan felt sick. She tried to remind herself that it was just a dream. Lacey was fine, really.

Why would I have a dream like that? It's so… awful.

She shuddered.

I should really go back to sleep.

Her throat was dry, and her skin felt clammy.

I should get a drink. What time is it, anyway?

[Thanks for the reviews, everyone! It's really encouraging.]