“I’m really sorry, but my brother is extremely tired and needs to rest,” Ara-noona said quietly. Her hand rested lightly between my shoulder blades, gently rubbing my back to lessen the stress and built-up tension.

The woman understood. Giving us a small, bittersweet smile, she finally acquiesced to our request. “If you’re sleepy, maybe it’s time to go home, then.”

I rubbed my temples in exhaustion. My body was fatigued, it was true, but it felt like nothing compared to the state my mind had been left in, after all the emotional strain of the last two hours.

“I’m really sorry,” I murmured, lowering my head.

“Don’t be,” my friend’s mother said practically. She turned to her daughter. “Your friends are leaving now. Won’t you see them off?” She then faced me again. “She has a gift for you.”

“I—I couldn’t—”

“Just accept it,” Ara-noona whispered to me, and I gave up.

We stood at the entrance of the house, and she handed a large brown paper bag to me. I bowed low from my waist in gratitude, but then I sensed movement and looked up.

The girl was reaching for a large jacket and passing it on to me. “Th-this is for you,” she stammered, handing it over. “S-since we won’t be meeting again…”

Flabbergasted, I was about to point out that it wasn’t hers when her father stepped up to take it. “Sorry about that; it’s mine,” he apologized ruefully.

“Then… take this,” my friend cried, ing the novel over to me. I recognized it as the one she had been poring over when we had first entered her room.

Her father took that, too. “This is also mine,” he said, glancing at it. “I had bought this back when I was at the States.”

“Then—please accept these puffies!” she cried one last time, stuffing a pair of small and fuzzy objects into my hands. She was already crying again.

I made eye contact with her parents, trying to return the latest item to them, but they merely pushed us towards the door.

“Just go,” they insisted, “just go now.”

Then at the doorway, when it was just our family and her parents, her father struck out his hand gruffly. “I can take those items back now.” He was referring to the “puffies.”

Without knowing why I was so grateful, I handed them over and bid them good-bye.

“I’ll be praying for her,” I turned back and whispered, as the door finally closed and obscured the warm lights within. “I’ll be praying…”

—END

A/N: Depression affects 121 million people worldwide. It can affect a person's ability to work, form relationships, and destroy their quality of life. At its most severe form, depression can lead to suicide and is responsible for 850,000 deaths every year. —ScienceDaily (July 25, 2011)

I think most of us are familiar with the disorder by this point. With these statistics, it is likely that at some point in our lives, we will all eventually have some history with depression, whether it be a firsthand experience or the witnessing of a friend/ beloved struggle with the disease.

It’s not pretty.

Regardless of how the media portrays it, fantasizes it, or even idealizes it (the popularity of those “emo” characters in our favorite readings)…

The truth is, depression is heartbreaking and ugly.

She isn’t the first friend I had who lives with depression, and I can guess she won’t be the last, either. In September 2009, I lost a friend to suicide, while another also had expressed similar ideals around the same time period. Thankfully, he eventually pulled through and got better, but that fall school term had been unforgettably stressful for me.

I won’t pretend to be a professional counselor and give you clinical advice, but this is my opinion:

If you know someone struggling with depression, one of the best things you can do for them is to believe in them. Believe that they will pull through, that they are strong enough to overcome it, and that one day… they will return to being the people they once were before the disease took over their lives.

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to write a conclusively happy ending, but I hope you can see why. Until the day they can be diagnosed as completely free, their stories won’t end. There are no “quick fixes” for these kinds of chronic problems. The only things we can do are to be patient and pray.

So then… let’s do that. Let’s pray for them, and have faith that someday, they will get better. Someday, they will smile again. And someday, everything will be alright.

A.W., this story was inspired by you. (1/1/12)

C.D., this story was dedicated to you. (9/3/09)

Audience, this story was written for you. (1/4/12)

Thank you.