The Suicide Status

Laura stood up and stretched. She had been sat at her laptop all morning, writing a report for the local FoodHub magazine. She had been writing for them for quite a while now, alongside a few other companies. She was well known for her excellent reports in Lonsville. Which is where she lived on her own, in a one-bedroom apartment on the first floor of a small block. 

Laura put the kettle on to boil and had a look outside. It was raining. The wind was howling too. It was only 2 p.m. but the sky was dark. Laura had seen on the news that there was a storm heading this way, but it wasn’t due to hit Lonsville until this evening. Not that it bothered her anyway, she didn’t need to go anywhere today. Just then, her phone pinged. She smiled as she started to read the message. It was from her friend Leigh-Anne ‘Hey, Laur! Just read your report on The Pepper Mill in FoodHub! Outstanding work - again! Speak soon! Love Lannie x’. Laura sent an emoji face with love hearts for eyes. She made herself a cup of tea and went back to her laptop to check if anyone had responded to her post yet. Laura was shocked to see there had been over two-hundred comments already! She began to scan through them. The majority were positive comments but near the bottom of the page, she spotted a neutral comment. It was a long one so she clicked on the Read More button. ‘Yet another fantastic review from Laura Bold. The way she describes the restaurant’s interior and staff, as well as just its food, is genius. However, the sentence at the end doesn’t sit right with me. It is not something Laura would normally write. I can’t mark this as negative, due to it being such a fabulous report. But, Laura may need to think about how she signs off her reports going forward’. Laura was confused. She hadn’t written a “sign off” sentence. She opened up the published report and scrolled right to the bottom. She couldn’t believe what she was reading! ‘However, I won’t be visiting this restaurant again anytime soon. It has some hidden secrets. Dirty laundry, but I won’t be airing it. This is Laura Bold, signing off at 2 a.m!’ Laura stared at the screen, then said out loud ‘What on earth is that’. She hadn’t written any of that last paragraph. ‘Dirty laundry! What is that all about? And ...2 a.m? It's the middle of the afternoon!’ She thought to herself.  She opened up the copy that was saved on her laptop and scrolled to the bottom. It was there. Saved directly to her laptop. She must have written it. ‘No’. she thought. She knew she hadn’t. Someone had managed to hack into her laptop. ‘Yes. That is what must have happened’. Laura plugged in her hard drive and copied all her important documents over. Then she reset her laptop to factory settings, which she hoped would sort out this situation. Whilst waiting for her laptop to restart, she typed up a tweet on her phone to apologise to the restaurant and explain to her readers that she had been hacked. 

Her laptop screen came to life and she began to set it up from scratch. Just then, her wifi cut out. Laura thought it must be the storm. She looked outside and it was pretty harsh. She received a text message. ‘Hi, Laura. It’s David. I’m not sure what you’re going through right now, but if you need any help. Reach out, yeah? Take care - Dave x’. Laura was puzzled. She replied ‘Sorry, Dave. What made you send that kind of message? I’m fine, other than my laptop being hacked’. She paced her living room waiting for a response. When it finally came through she could hardly believe it. ‘Yes. I saw your tweet. But, I am referring to the blog entry you posted a few seconds ago. It’s going viral and...it isn’t easy to read, Laura. Why did you do that?’ Laura didn’t know what to do. Had someone figured out all of her passwords? ‘No. That’s impossible. They’re all jumbled up letters and numbers that mean nothing at all!’ she thought to herself. Just then, her laptop screen flickered and her blog appeared on the screen. She looked at her router, and still, a red light flashed - meaning she had no internet. She looked back at her laptop, and to her horror, it seemed to be typing of its own accord...on her blog! Laura smacked the laptop lid shut. She called Leigh-Anne. ‘Laura? Are you alright?’ ‘No. Lannie. I am really...not alright. Something is happening. Can you come over?’ Laura asked. ‘I can’t, Laura. The storm is too bad. It’s knocking down trees and power lines. It isn’t safe. I’ve seen your blog posts. Why are you saying those things? I didn’t realise you felt that way about yourself. Please, don’t do anything stupid okay? I will come over tomorrow, as soon as the storm clears up’. ‘Do anything stupid? What exactly do my posts say, Lannie? Listen, it isn’t me writing them. It’s … well, it’s my laptop’. Laura looked over at her laptop. The lid was down, but she could tell that the screen light was still on. Leigh-Anne sounded like she didn’t believe her at all. ‘I’m not sure what you are going through right now, Laura. Please, look after yourself and I will come round tomorrow. We can talk this through. I promise’. Leigh-Anne ended the call. Just then, there was a flash of light outside. Then seconds later, thunder. Laura closed all of her blinds. She heard a crashing noise right outside her front window. She was about to peek out when suddenly, the lights went off.

Laura was rooted to the spot. Under normal circumstances, she would just light her candles and settle down to read for the evening. Blaming the storm, yet enjoying the peace. But, this was different. Yes, she still blamed the storm. But, ‘if all of the power is out, why is my laptop still on?’ she asked herself. Then she thought rationally about this. ‘Oh. Come on, Laura. Everyone knows laptops work on battery power!’ her head told her. She relaxed a little, but this still didn’t explain how it was typing … by itself. She opened the lid of her laptop, it was still on her blog. She began to read what had been typed. She was horrified. It was all about her supposed inner-self, and how she truly felt in her head. Of course, none of it was true. But, people wouldn’t see it that way, because it looked like she had written it! She needed to do something. She clicked to create a new blog entry. But as she began to type, she realised her words were not appearing on the screen. ‘What on earth is going on here?’ she thought to herself. Just then, the battery on her laptop flashed red and the screen went blank. Laura was slightly relieved, actually. At least there would be no more suicidal posts! Laura walked around the apartment, lighting her candles. Reaching the kitchen, she realised she hadn’t shut the blinds in there. She could see that next door’s porch light was on. Which she knew was electric because hers was too. ‘Strange. I wonder why that block of apartments has electricity, and I don’t’. Laura wondered. She decided to pop down to Eve. She was the old lady who lived underneath Laura, on the ground floor.

‘Laura! What a lovely surprise. Come in!’ Eve greeted her at the door and gestured for her to come inside. ‘Thank you, Eve. How are you coping with the…’ Laura stopped talking mid-sentence. All of Eve’s lights were on. Even her television was on! ‘...storm. I was just...wondering if you needed anything?’ Laura said with a smile. ‘Oh. Bless you. I am just fine sweetheart. I have everything I need’. Eve replied, walking slowly into the living area, where Laura was standing. ‘Did you lose electricity at all?’ Laura asked, thinking that maybe it only just came back on. ‘No. I think we have been lucky. I saw on the news that plenty of power lines got knocked out. But ours seemed pretty stable out there just now’. replied Eve, nodding towards the window as she sat in her armchair. Laura walked over and peered outside. Sure enough, the power line that connected her block and next door’s block was still intact. Just then, the news came on the television. Laura turned to watch, as the reporter mentioned the storm ripping through Lonsville. ‘In other news, local celebrity Laura Bold has been blogging tonight, about how she really feels. It comes as quite a shock to us all as she is very well known for her fantastic reviews’. Laura couldn’t watch anymore. She made sure Eve was comfortable and headed back up to her apartment. As she walked in, it felt cold, empty, dark, and for the first time ever, she felt lonely. She closed the door behind her and locked it. The storm was getting worse. She put on a jumper and some thick, fluffy socks. Then, she got herself into bed and tried once more to use Twitter to clear her name. She noticed she had a couple of bars at the top of her phone screen. So, she attempted to tweet, ‘I would like to apologise for anything you may have read in any of my blogs or reviews this evening, It seems I have been the target of a very immature prank’. she took a deep breath and clicked to send the tweet out into the world. But, there was a problem. An error message popped up on the phone saying she had been logged out of Twitter due to her account being used on another device. The only other device she had used had been her laptop. She got back out of bed and went to check her laptop. It was open, on the side table, the screen was on and logged into Twitter. But, the battery was still dead. ‘How? This can’t be happening’.  Laura thought to herself. Just then, a video began to play on her laptop. Laura was glued to the screen.

Leigh-Anne woke with a startle. Outside, the sun was shining. She checked her phone. It was 8 a.m. and she had five missed calls from Laura. She got up out of bed and went downstairs. Her partner, Michael, was in the kitchen cooking scrambled eggs. ‘Good morning, sleeping beauty’. Michael said, kissing her forehead. ‘Morning. That smells lovely’. Leigh-Anne replied with a smile. She sat at the breakfast bar and tried to call Laura back. It was going straight to voicemail.

After breakfast, Leigh-Anne got dressed and decided that on her way to work, she would stop off at Laura’s to check on her. She had planned to go after work anyway, but with everything that was being posted from her accounts last night she just wanted to put her mind at rest. Otherwise, she would not be able to concentrate at work. She pulled into the parking space around the side of the apartment block. She could see that all of Laura’s blinds at the front of the building were closed. Which was unusual as Laura loved the sun-light shining into her apartment. She pressed the buzzer for Laura’s door. No answer. She tried again. After a couple of minutes, she tried Eve’s number. ‘Hello?’ a frail voice came through the intercom. ‘Hi, Eve. It’s Lannie, Laura’s friend. She isn’t answering her buzzer. Could you let me in please?’ ‘Hello, Lannie dear! Of course! Give me a moment!’ Leigh-Anne waited, and the door buzzed. She opened it and ran straight up to Laura’s apartment. She knocked, and knocked, and knocked louder. After there was no answer, she banged the door with her fist. ‘Something’s wrong here. I know it. I can feel it’. she thought to herself. She took out her phone and dialled 999. Whilst waiting for the police to come, she went down to see Eve. ‘Oh. Yes, she was here last night, actually. She asked if I had lost electricity or something’. Eve said, whilst making Leigh-Anne a cup of tea. Just then, the police turned up. Leigh-Anne took them to Laura’s apartment. They knocked and introduced themselves, but still, there was no answer. ‘Okay. Get us in there boys’. The lead officer said to the team with the door-breaker. One huge smash later, they were into the apartment. Leigh-Anne waited outside the door. ‘We need an ambulance, apartment block 2 Grange Road’. said an officer walking out of the apartment. ‘Sorry. Excuse me. An ambulance? Is Laura okay?’ Leigh-Anne asked, following the officer outside the building. The officer began to put tape around the entrance to the building. Another officer came to escort Leigh-Anne away from the entrance. ‘Sorry, Miss. You are going to have to wait outside of the cordon’. he said. ‘Why? Can someone please just tell me what is going on?’ Leigh-Anne asked. She was both worried and frustrated. ‘This is now a crime scene. The best thing you can do for your friend right now is to go home, and wait for an officer to visit you later’. Leigh-Anne was shaken up. She called work and explained that she would not be in today. Then, she made her way back home.

As she walked through her front door, a police car pulled up at the bottom of her driveway. ‘That was quick’. she thought, turning around to face the female officer getting out of the car. ‘Miss Ferns?’ asked the officer. Leigh-Anne nodded. ‘Can we come in for a quick chat please?’ ‘Of course. Is this about Laura? Is she okay?’ asked Leigh-Anne, as she noticed a male officer getting out of the car also. ‘We believe Miss Bold passed away in the early hours of this morning. At the moment, there is nothing to suggest that this wasn’t suicide. Can we take this inside, please? We have some questions if you’re feeling up to it?’ the female officer asked, compassionately. Leigh-Anne didn’t know what to say, she suddenly felt very light-headed. Her legs felt like jelly. Then, her world went black.

The End