Emily Promised to Live, But She Lied
Lisa Katherine Hughes
So here it is, as I remember it. Please bear in mind that I had been awoken in the middle of the night by my father’s yelling. I was only half awake. I would say it was all a dream, but I was wide awake the next day when the bishop of our ward asked everyone in the church to pray for Emily. My Emily.
“She took all of her medication. She took three bottles of medication. I don’t
know what to do. I need an ambulance, fast.” Dad was panicing as he talked to the 911 operator. The first thing I saw as I left my room was my dad. He was on the phone down the hall.
I don’t remember where Emily was when I first saw her. She was wearing just a
shirt and underwear. I was very confused when I first saw her. I didn’t know what was going on. I am sure I looked at my dad on the phone after seeing the doped up look on my sister’s face.
And then I knew.
She had broken her promise. She had lied. All those different times in the mental hospitals when she had so many razor blades, she never once tried to kill herself. But tonight she broke the promise she made to us and to God and tried to take her life. And from the looks of it she was damn close.
She smiled at me. But her eyes did not see me. And then her smile went away. She tried to walk. She kept bumping into the hall walls. But she kept moving. And then she sat down. She started to close her eyes. Didn’t I read somewhere that if someone closes their eyes and then goes unconscious, they die? I was so scared she was going to die. I talked very loudly to her. “Emily, hang in there. Help is on the way. Em, you have to stay awake. Not too much longer, Em. Just hang in there, Emily. Emily, we love you. You have to stay awake. Keep your eyes open, Em.”
The next thing I remember is Dad holding Em as she went into convulsions. Her legs and arms and head started shaking. All of her just started to move. Then she started to make noises. These awful noises kept coming out of her throat. And Dad just held her.
The ambulance arrived. The emergency medical men came through the door.
They asked some questions. They found out what medication she had taken. And they called her by name as they worked to save her precious life. She lay there on the floor, shaking and making gutteral noises, wearing only a shirt and underwear, surrounded by a bunch of gaurdian angels in blue and orange.
I heard movement in Philip’s room. Philip is nine. He is the sweetest little boy.
He is very sensitive. He is very loving. He is easily hurt. And it would have scared him to see this. I went into his room and closed the door behind me. I sat down in the dark. I sat listening to the noises Emily made. I listened to the emergency crew talking to her and talking to each other, doing all they could to save her. And I cried.
They strapped Emily down. They counted together. Then they lifted her and
carried her out to the ambulance. And they left.
I got up and walked out of the room. Andrea, my sister in law and friend, was
walking around looking lost. “What is going on? Is everything okay?” I hugged her and began to cry once again. I just buried my face in her shoulder and held on tight. Then I told her all I knew. “Oh my gosh.”
There was one man left at our house. He cleaned up the mess they left. Then, as he was leaving, he said, “They are doing the best they can to save her life.” And he was gone.
Andrea and I sat down and talked. We cried and laughed and sighed and smiled and frowned. And after a few hours, I was exhausted. I went to bed and tried to rest so I would have the strength to face the days to come with a healing heart and an unbreakable spirit.
