You must not tell anyone what I’m about to tell you. My mother told me the story of my uncle once I became a teenager to warn me off from the dangers that were associated with the ‘bad kids’. Rosabella, my grandmother, had two sons out of wedlock and was forced to get married; it was her only chance of forgiveness for not being with an Italian man. First she had Angelo, my uncle, than two years later she had another son named Gabriele, my father. She chose the boy’s name because of their meanings. Angelo meant angel and Gabriele meant warrior of God.

Angelo was always a bright young man and everybody thought he was going somewhere, until he got in with the bad crowd. No one noticed at first but increasingly Angelo started going through a downward spiral. He dropped out of college and got his girlfriend Erin pregnant. He tried to be there for her but she just pushed him away as his drug addiction became worse and worse. He was doing cocaine and drinking very often.

Nobody tried to help him and they just let it get worse and worse. Erin had the baby; a girl named Luciana, and refused to let Angelo see her. Angelo started having financial problems because he was spending all of his money on drugs and gambling. Angelo was spiraling into a deep and dark depression but nobody noticed.

They finally realized the day he tried to kill himself. Nobody ever told me how but I know he survived. But the hospital didn’t do their job and sent him home without an evaluation. Nobody knew what to do for Angelo so their lives continued on like normal. They watched him a little more but nothing changed, he didn’t change either.
One day Rosabella came home and couldn’t find Angelo. She checked his room and went into shock. There was Angelo, hanging from the ceiling with a rope around his neck. She didn’t have to check to tell he was dead, just by looking she could tell he had been there for hours.

Life changed after that.

Everybody was devastated, especially Gabriele and Rosabella. Neither of them will talk to me about him. So it was my mother’s job to scare away from the bad crown and drugs and alcohol. I don’t know why my mother chose to tell me such an in depth detail. I also don’t know why Angel never went to rehab or therapy for help.
I do know that the blame of his death is on the drugs and the doctors. The doctors could have saved him. Erin chooses to blame Rosabella and Gabriele but she played a part in it too, it’s her fault her daughter grew up without her real father, she could’ve tried to help. I also know that I will never try such a terrible drug because I do not think I could put my family through the pain that people are still feeling today. Talking about Angelo with Gabriele or Rosabella brings pain to them so he is something loved and put away. Not forgotten but put away because remembering is too hard for them.
You must not tell anybody this story because it is painful and brings discomfort to my family; it is a secret that must be kept between us.