Michelle ran a paw through her long brown hair, then sighed again. She shut off the computer, then went to her bedroom. She pulled out a letter from Luke, then read it slowly. She smiled, because Luke always wrote funny things in his letters. She folded up the letter, then placed it in her hiding place under the bed.
Michelle lifted her head as she heard her name called. �What do you want?� she replied.
�I need some help with dinner,� Michelle�s mother said.
Michelle hopped off her bed and started walking to the kitchen, but stopped in front of a mirror. She inspected herself in the mirror, then resumed walking to the kitchen. She was fairly attractive compared to most other cheetahs her age. That was one of the reasons Luke liked her so much. The main reason Luke liked her was because of her easygoing personality.
Michelle walked into the kitchen, then helped her mother finish cooking dinner. Michelle knew how to cook fairly well, although it wasn�t one of her strong points. After dinner she logged onto the Internet and chatted with Luke for a few hours. When it started to get late, Michelle decided to go to bed. She said goodbye to Luke, then logged off.
A few days later, Michelle noticed that Luke was appearing to be quite depressed. One day, she logged onto the Internet and yahoo Messenger and found him with a status message that said, �Suicide is looking better by the day.�
�What�s wrong?� Michelle asked Luke in an Instant Message.
�I�m still depressed about Magick,� he replied a few seconds later.
Michelle and Luke chatted back and forth for a while, then Luke logged off. Michelle sighed, because he had left rather quickly. It wasn�t all that uncommon for him, but Michelle never got used to it. She stayed on for a little while longer, chatting with other friends, then eventually went to bed.
The next morning, Michelle logged quickly onto the Internet and was surprised to find that Luke wasn�t online yet. She waited patiently while chatting with other friends, but he didn�t show up the entire day. This was unusual. Luke logged onto the Internet every day.
�Perhaps something happened to the computer,� Michelle thought to herself. This had happened once before, and Michelle had received a letter from him via snail mail a few days later.
Michelle began to get nervous over the next few days. She didn�t know what to expect in the letter, because Luke had been awfully depressed when he logged off. Her older brother, Josh, asked her why she was looking so depressed.
�Luke hasn�t been online for a few days now, and he was really depressed when I last saw him,� Michelle replied.
�Well, maybe he decided that he loves someone else,� Josh said.
Michelle turned red, the spun around to face her brother. �What did you say?� she hissed.
�Maybe he loves someone else.�
Michelle blew up right then. She lunged forward and placed a hand around Josh�s neck, then snarled angrily. �Don�t you dare ever say that again.�
Josh coughed and tried to reply, but his words were muffled due to the choke-hold Michelle had on him. Suddenly the anger and fury drained from her face and she pulled away from Josh quickly. She looked at herself in confusion, then quickly ran into her room and locked the door.
Michelle threw herself down on her bed and looked at the ceiling in confusion. �What the hell was that all about? I completely lost it and wasn�t even in control of my emotions.�
Michelle shook her head, then heard her mom call her name. She took a deep breath, then unlocked the door and walked into the kitchen. She was expecting to get a lecture about not trying to strangle your siblings, but instead her mother was smiling.
�There�s a letter for you that came today,� her mother said softly.
�Thanks,� Michelle mumbled. She took the letter from her mother, then ran back to her room quickly. She was thrilled to see that it was from Luke. Michelle quickly tore open the envelope and was surprised to see that there was a single piece of paper, and there was only writing on one side.
�Short letter,� Michelle said to herself as she began unfolding the piece of paper.
Michelle immediately fell into a state of depression upon reading the first sentence of the letter. It proceeded like this:
�Dear Michelle,
I�m sorry it had to end like this. I�m writing this letter at 4:00 in the morning, and am about to do something that will affect the rest of your life. It won�t affect my life much, because my life is going to end a few minutes after I finish this letter to you. Yes, you�re reading this correctly Michelle. I�m taking my life. As you know, things have been going horribly wrong in my life recently. I can�t deal with it any more, and it seems that there is only one way out. I�m sorry Michelle. I�ll always be thinking of you in the afterlife, and I hope you�ll do the same for me.�
Michelle immediately burst into tears, surprising herself a bit. She rarely cried, so why was she sobbing uncontrollably all of a sudden? Sure, Luke meant a lot to her, but Michelle had reacted much faster than even a sensitive person would react.
Josh, hearing the sobbing from Michelle�s room, decided to investigate the cause. He knocked on her door, then waited patiently for her to answer. He heard the sobbing quiet a little, then a few moments later the door opened a crack.
�What do you want?� Michelle said, wiping her eyes and sniffling.
�What�s the matter?� Josh asked, quite a bit concerned.
Michelle handed Josh the suicide note, and he read over it carefully. He looked up slowly at Michelle, then threw his arms around her. �I�m sorry,� he whispered in her ear.
After a few minutes, Michelle pulled away and looked at Josh. �How am I going to go on with life, knowing that my boyfriend commit suicide?�
Josh sighed, then took a deep breath. �Michelle, I�m going to be honest. You�re just going to have to get over it at some point in time.�
Michelle turned a bit red, then replied, �Get over it how? I loved him more than anything.�
Josh saw Michelle turn a slight shade of red, and could detect a tone of anger in her voice. �Calm down Michelle. I�m being serious. You can�t just live your whole life moping around because of the death of a loved one.�
�Josh, you don�t understand. Luke was the ONLY person I have ever loved. He was the only guy that understood how I felt, and he would return those same feelings of closeness.� Michelle�s voice took on a sharper tone as she talked.
�Fine, but don�t come complaining to me about your depression.�
Michelle�s eyes blazed and she dove forward, tackling Josh to the floor. She wrapped both hands around Josh�s throat and began hitting his head on the floor, which was luckily carpeted. He struggled to get Michelle off, but she had him pinned effectively.
Michelle�s mother heard the noise and rushed out of the kitchen. She surveyed the situation, then rushed forward moments later. She tried to pull Michelle off Josh, but Michelle pushed her away roughly.
�Daniel, get in here!� Michelle�s mother yelled as she got onto her feet.
Daniel, Michelle�s father, appeared seconds later. He immediately saw what was happening and ran over to where Michelle and Josh were. He pulled Michelle off Josh roughly, then pulled her arms behind her back. He was careful to avoid Michelle�s claws, which were fully extended.
Josh rolled over and got onto his hands and knees, coughing noisily and gasping for breath. His mother helped him onto his feet, then walked with him to the kitchen. Before disappearing from view, she looked over her shoulder at Michelle with a worried look. What had happened to her little angel?
Michelle�s father closed the door, then pointed to Michelle�s bed without saying a word. Michelle walked over to it and sat down on her bed with a horrified look on her face. Her father sat down next to her, then took a deep breath and took her paws in his.
�Would you care to explain what just happened?� he asked gently.
�I don�t know what happened,� Michelle said. �First I was talking to Josh, then the next thing I knew you were pulling me away from him.�
Michelle pulled her paws away, then looked around the room. She put her head in her paws and began crying quietly. �I don�t know what�s wrong with me. I�ve been having these sudden mood swings that are triggered by the tiniest things.�
Michelle�s father put his arms around her waist, then pulled her into a close embrace. He stroked her head gently, then whispered, �It�s going to be fine. I�m sure it will pass.�
A few minutes later he left, closing the door behind him. Michelle looked at the letter from Luke by the door, then stood up. She picked up the piece of paper, then placed it with her other letters from Luke. She sat back down on her bed, then began to sniffle quietly.
�Why did I do that?� she asked herself quietly. �What caused me to explode like that?�
Michelle had similar thoughts for the next few minutes. She began to wonder what her parents would think of her now. Michelle placed her head in her paws again, then began cursing herself quietly for doing such a thing. Had her parents not been home, she might have killed her brother.
Suddenly Michelle�s head shot up. �Josh!� She stood up and ran to her door, then ran into the kitchen where Josh was. �Mom, can I have a few minutes alone to talk with Josh?�
Michelle�s mother looked at her hesitantly, then nodded her head and left. Michele then looked over at Josh, who was looking visibly nervous. Michelle walked over to where he was sitting, then sat down in the chair next to him.
�I�m really sorry for what happened earlier. I didn�t mean to do that, and it felt as if I wasn�t in control of my body or my emotions.�
Josh looked up at Michelle and said, �That�s obvious.�
Michelle sighed and continued, and eventually Josh calmed down. He could see that Michelle wasn�t lying. She really had lost control entirely. Still, something was different about her. She had changed somehow.
A few days later, Josh realized that he was right. He caught Michelle in her room, holding a kitchen knife in her hand. He rushed forward and grabbed the hand clutching the knife right as Michelle was about to slash her wrist with it. He and Michelle began struggling against each other. Josh yelled desperately for their parents.
Michelle�s dad rushed in seconds later, but this time he was prepared. He saw that Michelle was armed with a knife, and that Josh was trying to force her to drop it. He ran to Michelle and grabbed her from behind as he had before, but this time he was holding a needle in one hand.
�I�m sorry sweetie, but this is for your own good,� he said as the needle penetrated into Michelle�s furry shoulder.
Michelle immediately began to calm down as the tranquilizer took effect. Josh pulled the knife away from her easily, and her body slackened. Michelle�s father supported her firmly so that she wouldn�t fall to the floor, risking injury. Eventually Michelle�s body went completely limp. Her father laid her down on her bed gently, then went to the phone and dialed an emergency number that he had acquired recently.
A few minutes later, two men in white coats knocked on the front door. Michelle�s father answered the door and led them to Michelle�s room. He described the situation, and the two men listened intently. The two men then proceeded to check Michelle�s vital signs.
�The tranquilizer is working perfectly. She�ll be transported to a nearby Correctional Facility, where she�ll receive treatment. If all goes well, she�ll be back to normal and home again in around four years.�
Michelle�s father kissed her goodbye, then whispered, �I love you,� in her ear.
The two men then carried Michelle�s unconscious body to the waiting vehicle, which then took her to the local Correctional Facility. Nobody knew, however, that Michelle wouldn�t be spending four years in the Mental Institution . . .