Hello, my name is Cynthia Adams, and this is my side of the incident that occurred on August 14th, 2012. It was the summer right before my Freshman year of college. The excitement ate me alive as I packed my bags to leave home, and chase the life I had always dreamed of living. My goals were set in stone, I didn’t plan to stray away from the ideas I created in my own head. My life would be perfect. As I loaded the last bit of my luggage into my maroon sedan, I felt a pit of sadness in my stomach. I would miss my parents terribly. In my heart I knew that this was the path I had to take, but at the time, I didn’t realize was that things wouldn’t go accordingly. That for the rest of my life, I would carry this tragedy with me.

As I arrived at my new college, I felt a sense of peace. I had made it, my dreams were finally happening. I was escorted to my dorm, where I was able to unpack all of my luggage. To my surprise, there was an extra bed. I thought maybe I had gotten the wrong room, so I peaked around the corner and the room was right. It was the room I was assigned, but why were there two beds? I put it out of mind, until a girl walked in claiming this was her dorm room. She was just as confused as I was. It turns out that we were roommates, we just weren’t told ahead of time. She smiled in my direction, so I took it upon myself to welcome her with a friendly handshake. I introduced myself, and she did the same. Her name was Rachel, Rachel McCoy. Her name rang a bell in my head, where did I know that name?

Rachel and I conversed for many hours. We unpacked our bags, and decorated our sides of the dorm room. We divided them completely in half, and I made sure of it. I brought my tape measurer to be exact. Rachel ordered a pizza, and when it arrived we turned on a chick-flick. She and I became very close over the next few hours. She shared some of her deepest feelings with me, things that I couldn’t even begin to tell people, especially a person I had just met. Rachel ended up telling me about the boy she was seeing, Michael Long. Michael was my ex boyfriend, we dated all throughout high school. He broke up with me so he could have the “college experience”. It caught me by surprise, and I didn’t see it coming. My heart was completely broken after hearing that he was with someone else, I just didn’t know it had been Rachel. As night fell Rachel became restless, she paced our dorm room, and it was seriously creeping me out. I finally approached her and asked her what was wrong, she said “I don’t want to fall asleep”. It caught me off guard, but I agreed to stay up with her, so she wouldn’t fall asleep. I should’ve noticed something weird, but I thought maybe she was just an insomniac.

When the clock struck 1:24am I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore, I slipped into a deep sleep. I remember it being just a few seconds, but when I woke up and the clock read 3:47am. The drowsiness was like a thick cloud blocking my eyes and ears, at the time I didn’t even notice Rachel mumbling to herself. I gained my full consciousness, and I walked over to where she lay. I said her name, and got no reply. She just kept saying to herself “why did you let me fall asleep?”. I shook her violently, hoping she’d wake. I remember feeling a cold chill down my spine, fear crept inside of me very easily at this point. She began to shout the same sentence “WHY DID YOU LET ME FALL ASLEEP?!” “Rachel…. Rachel…. RACHEL!” I shouted, she finally awoke, and I finally felt okay again. She told me that she was prone to nightmares, and from this point on, I remember her having at least two nightmares every week.

I got home from a late night with some friends, Rachel was already in bed. I went to the bathroom and washed the smudged makeup off of my face. I brushed my teeth and hopped into the shower. Hands in my hair, I heard a shout. It was Rachel’s scream, I knew it pretty well by now. I remember saying out loud, “it’s okay Rach, I’ll be out in a minute”, but I couldn’t lie to myself , Rachel’s nightmares and screaming annoyed me very much. I rinsed the suds off of my body, and wrapped up in a towel. I put on my pj’s, which I always keep in the bathroom. I then headed to mine and Rachel’s room, where I noticed our front door being opened, my eyes scanned our room, then I found an atrocity that my mind refuses to forget. Rachel’s lifeless body lay there, covered in blood, completely dismembered. The person who murdered her had a complete rage fit. I couldn’t even recognize her anymore, and the memory of my mutilated friend haunts my every thought. The case of my roommate, Rachel Olivia McCoy, was later cracked by a very detailed investigation. It did turn out that there were drugs in her system. She was taking medication that wasn’t prescribed to her, causing the very vivid nightmares. I blame myself, I should’ve ran to help her. So many people have accused me of doing it, and they have every right to. I did. I have been living in an institution for the criminally insane for over a decade. I will spend the rest of my life here, with no chance of being free. People aren’t always as virtuous as they may seem.