After posting a heart-wrenching status on social media site Facebook, a 16-year-old girl from North Carolina committed suicide. It is suspected that the teen was a victim of bullying, which may have propelled her to take the drastic step of ending her life.
Amber Cornwell, who was just like any other teen, fell victim to bullying from peers.
On Dec. 20, the teen took her life after she posted the Facebook status: "If I die tonight, would anyone cry?"
Hours later the teenager committed suicide in her bedroom in Henderson County. She was found hanging in the closet. Earlier that day, she had just come back from a date with her boyfriend and all seemed fine.
According to her parents, Amber took her life because she was being bullied at East Henderson High School where she attended. Her mother Kim Cornwell revealed that her daughter had been targeted by bullies since the sixth grade.
"The boys like her and the girls hate her, and that's not fair and I don't want another child to die because of name calling," said Kim. "All the time, it was always something. We thought it had calmed down."
The teen's friends said Amber was being sent mean messages on Facebook; she was called names. Some even went to the extreme of saying she did not have any future.
Amber was an honor roll student; she danced, played tennis and was also a member of the chorus. Her distraught mother is still grappling with the nightmare.
"This feels like a horrible nightmare that I won't wake up from," she said.
Amber's friends have created a Facebook page in her memory: R.I.P. Amber Cornwell. Some of the comments on the Facebook page also indicate that it was bullying that led to the teenager's death.
Kim believes that the increase in bullying in schools needs to stop.
"Look what it's doing to families, look at my face, look what it's doing to me," sobbed the mother.
Amber's parents hope that her story can stop another tragedy like this from occurring and that bullying is nipped in the bud.
