Dusk had fallen by the time she reached the valley –as she had hoped, it was completely deserted. For the first time in over a year, she laughed. A year of heartache and torture would end in a few minutes.

Biting her lip, she looked around her. Was she sure she wanted to go through with this?

Yes, she answered herself fiercely. This has gone on for long enough.

Taking out her phone, she selected Samantha’s number from the speed dial menu.

“Hello?”

“Sammy, it’s me.”

“Adele? Why aren’t you here with the rest of the gang?”

“I needed some alone time,” she explained, trying to block out the sounds of a game of truth or dare in progress on the other end of the line.

“Where are you?”

“I went for a walk,” she hedged.

“Where?”

“Nowhere special.”

“Adele, why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me something?”

“Can you put me on speaker phone?”

“Sure,” Samantha shrugged.

“Is everyone hearing me?” Adele asked a few seconds later. She settled herself comfortably against a boulder and slipped a razor blade out of her bag.

“Unfortunately. What’s up? And why aren’t you here with us?” Richard asked.

“Nothing’s up… I just felt like being alone,” she answered, suppressing a gasp of pain as the blade tore through her left wrist. Shifting the phone into place with her shoulder, she poised the blade above her right wrist.

“Don’t do anything insane, ok?”

“Of course not,” she lied, slicing through her wrist. “Listen, I just called to tell you all one thing: I love you all. Never forget that.”

“Adele, where are you?” Samantha asked, suspecting what she was planning.

“I’m not saying.”

“I bet she’s at the valley,” Laura whispered to Samantha and Richard.

“Adele, life’s not a hopeless mess!”

“Mine was,” Adele said, starting to cry.

Richard snatched up the phone.

“Adele, tell me where you are.”

“No,” she answered, watching her blood staining her clothes.

“Please, we’ll come and meet you. You’ve got us!”

“Promise me one thing.”

“Anything!”

“Never open yourselves to love. I love you all too much to ever want you to end up in this mess.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Because I hate myself!”

“ADELE!” Richard shrieked into the phone.

When the trio arrived at the valley, there was nothing to be seen, until Laura felt a wet patch on a boulder.

“It’s blood,” she called to the others.

“But there’s nothing there,” Samantha insisted.

“Don’t get too close to the edge,” Richard warned.

When the police arrived, and searchlights illuminated the area, they saw her phone lying a few metres away from the edge.

When dawn crept across the valley, they saw a crumpled heap lying at the mouth of the valley.

When her body was lifted to safety, the medical personnel saw another statistic.

Her friends saw a broken figure that had lost all hope in life.

An angel saw hypocrisy in the face of those who cried.

An angel saw relief in the face of those who didn’t need her.