Andrea Gunning

She must have fallen.

With his help, she slowly stood up.

I remember looking in the mirror and seeing my eye.

It was swollen shut.

and completely closed.

It was the day of her high school reunion.

All of her friends were ready to go.

Saskia texted them she wouldn't be able to make it.

She sent Bridget a photo.

She had the darkest black eye and she was like, I'm not showing up looking like this.

She wouldn't be able to explain it.

She didn't even understand it.

She didn't understand why she couldn't control herself and why these things were happening.

Some of her friends, like Heather, tied the incident to her drinking or the way alcohol interacted with her meds.

I thought she probably got drunk and fell.

Whether it was the alcohol or her medications causing the change, Saskia was growing more difficult to be around.

She was increasingly erratic.

She was just so paranoid and accusing us of doing things behind her back, saying things behind her back.

And the only thing we were doing behind her back was talking about how worried we were about her and what was going on.

Saskia knew her friends were worried, but she also felt judged.