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Lindafishes8, bless her heart, messaged me to ask if I was okay because I hadn't posted short stories on Wednesday and I told her the truth: I had put the post together, but forgot to click on the "Post to Short Stories" button. I didn't however, tell her the whole truth. I still haven't completely wrapped my head around it, but I'm at the point that I can talk about it.
Wednesday morning, I awoke at my usual time, around 5AM, to get ready to go swimming. I have friends literally around the world, so I'm in the habit of checking my phone for messages, texts, etc. at that time. The first message I read said, "You don't know me, but my name is XXX and I believe David (the son of a deceased close friend whom I consider like a son) is commiting suicide. Do you have an address for him?"
David lives in Hawaii, I'm in Nevada and the friend who messaged lives in Colorado. I immediately messaged back that I didn't have his new address (he had just moved into a new place outside Honolulu), but call the Honolulu police department, explain the situation and tell them to ping his phone. I then checked my texts and saw that he had sent me a goodbye text. I tried to call, but it went straight to voicemail.
There was nothing else I could do, so I went swimming. When I checked my phone an hour later, XXX had messaged me to say that he had done what I said and the police had made contact, but that was all he knew. I figured if that's all they said, he must be alive, so I Googled and called local hospitals until I found him. They wouldn't tell me much as I'm not a blood relative beyond that he was a patient there. I gave them my contact information and told them to tell him I called if he woke up and if any family called, to give my info to them. David is my friend's only child, but I knew his father had other children whom I don't know and have never seen.
Fortunately, some of his friends did know how to contact these half-siblings. One of his sisters called me after calling the hospital and told me the doctors expect him to make a physical full recovery. Thank God.
Wednesday morning, I awoke at my usual time, around 5AM, to get ready to go swimming. I have friends literally around the world, so I'm in the habit of checking my phone for messages, texts, etc. at that time. The first message I read said, "You don't know me, but my name is XXX and I believe David (the son of a deceased close friend whom I consider like a son) is commiting suicide. Do you have an address for him?"
David lives in Hawaii, I'm in Nevada and the friend who messaged lives in Colorado. I immediately messaged back that I didn't have his new address (he had just moved into a new place outside Honolulu), but call the Honolulu police department, explain the situation and tell them to ping his phone. I then checked my texts and saw that he had sent me a goodbye text. I tried to call, but it went straight to voicemail.
There was nothing else I could do, so I went swimming. When I checked my phone an hour later, XXX had messaged me to say that he had done what I said and the police had made contact, but that was all he knew. I figured if that's all they said, he must be alive, so I Googled and called local hospitals until I found him. They wouldn't tell me much as I'm not a blood relative beyond that he was a patient there. I gave them my contact information and told them to tell him I called if he woke up and if any family called, to give my info to them. David is my friend's only child, but I knew his father had other children whom I don't know and have never seen.
Fortunately, some of his friends did know how to contact these half-siblings. One of his sisters called me after calling the hospital and told me the doctors expect him to make a physical full recovery. Thank God.
