Jamie was sitting under an oak working on a drawing, watching people in the 
quad and sketching them as they walked by. Hundreds of tiny figures walked 
across her pages, and hundreds of students walked by on the paths.

Kit ran up, out of breath, pushing her subjects out of the way. She looked
up, annoyed. "Must you?" "Jamie, come on. Sarah isn't answering her door 
again."

"Shit. I'm with you."

Jamie stood up, took a deep breath, mind already racing, getting ready for
the scene she knew she would see in a moment. She stacked her drawings with
a quick motion of her hands and gritted her teeth. She shoved them into her
bag, snapped its latch shut violently, and stalked off toward Sarah's dorm.

They knocked once on the door, but even though they knew it was futile.
Jamie set her drawings down by the door, slipped outside, and grabbed ahold
of the drainpipe, and climbed up until she could see in Sarah's window. She
grabbed the sill, lifted the window with her free hand, and pulled herself
inside. She opened the door for Kit before she turned to face the room and
actually let herself look.

Sarah was on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, breathing infrequently
in slow, shallow breaths.

"Shit. She's bad." "Yeah. Oh, geezus. Look."

Kit held up the trashcan, and arranged neatly inside were eight pill bottles,
all empty.

"Aspirin. Tylenol. Ibuprofen. Midol. She's not in pain at least. Vicodin.
Sheesh... where'd she get that?"

"Aaron had his wisdom teeth out last week. I bet she took them from him. I
wonder how many he had."

"Damnit. We left her with four of each of the others, and only three Midol.
Nyquil, Dayquil, and No-doz. I guess after the first bottles, she wasn't
picky." 

"Yeah. Let's get her down to the R.A. and get some help getting her to the
emergency room again."

Jamie started to lift Sarah by the arms, and saw the gauze patch neatly
taped to her bicep. She set her back down for a moment and peeked
underneath. Nineteen neat cuts oozed blood.

"Shi-it. She started cutting again too. I wish she'd talk to someone.
Anyone."

They hauled her off the bed and half-carried her and half-dragged her to the
elevator, and down the the first floor. The R.A. saw them as the door
opened. "Shit. Looks like I'm not going out after all. Think she needs an
ambulance?" "Might be smart. I don't have my car this quarter." "Yeah, and I
sold mine since I'm working on campus this year."

"I'm Monica, by the way." said the R.A.

"Good to meet you. I wish the circumstances were better." said Jamie. "Yeah."
said Kit.

Monica called 911 on her cell. "Possible drug overdose. Yeah. On campus, the
residence. We're on the first floor." "What'd she take that's making her nearly
comatose?" she asked when she hung up.

"She does that on her own. I don't know what she bothers with the drugs
for."

"Whoa. Why's she like this?"

"She won't say, but her best friend last year, who she won't talk to now,
told me a bunch. Raped at 13 by her dad. Repeatedly. Tried to hang herself 
that year. Her mother drinks. Her mother doesn't believe it happened. She's
got no other family, and had no close friends then. She still doesn't. She
doesn't know I know, either. I get as close as I can, but she goes nearly
this comatose if people even start talking about boys and she seizes up when
people talk about their family, too."

"Whoa. And I thought I had it rough. My dad's just always saying 'Monica,
you can do better.' He pressured me into the medicine program. I haven't got 
anything on her."

"Yeah, she's really messed up. Like I haven't met anyone who has anything on
her. But she's brilliant. She's here on full scholarship. And even though
she spent three weeks in the psych ward last semester, managed to pass even
so. She's amazing."

The paramedics arrived. Kit showed them the bottles, and they loaded Sarah
into the ambulance. "I'll go this time." said Kit. 

"Thanks, Kit. Thank you, Monica. I need to finish my math homework. I think
I can do something. I hope. If I fail this one, I'm not in good shape."

"Heh, I know the feeling. I'm doing okay in bio, since my whole family's
been in medicine forever, but some of the other academics are kicking my
ass. I kinda wish I hadn't agreed to be RA this year. At least I meet people
this way, keeps me from being a med school shut-in."