Michiel’s suicide attempt during an earlier rehabilitation stay

Michiel’s suicide attempt during an earlier rehabilitation stay is revealed indirectly, when Beatrice corrects Emma’s mistaken account of how he came to the PAAZ. The disclosure changes the meaning of Michiel’s admission: he had not simply arrived after partying too hard, but after a suicide attempt during treatment for drug use.

The Revelation

The information surfaces as the patients discuss Michiel’s prolonged absence. Beatrice, turning her endless blue scarf through her hands, says that he attempted suicide. Her statement initially alarms Emma, who fears that another suicide has occurred during her own admission. Beatrice clarifies that she means an earlier attempt, from before he came to the PAAZ.

What Happened Before the PAAZ

Emma had understood Michiel’s story as one of excessive drug use and partying. Beatrice counters that he had been in a rehabilitation clinic. According to what she had heard from the nursing staff, he attempted to end his life while there, was taken to hospital, and subsequently came to the PAAZ after the rehabilitation clinic no longer wanted him. The account is second-hand: the scene gives no details of the attempt itself or of Michiel’s own description of it.

The Disclosure’s Effect

Iefke asks whether Michiel’s having had leave privileges for weeks means he must now be safe. Emma responds internally by pushing away her memory of the bridge. The question links the newly revealed history to the present uncertainty around risk, without establishing what Michiel is doing during his absence or whether he is in immediate danger.

Narrative Significance

The revelation briefly turns an apparent present crisis into a fact about Michiel’s earlier history. Emma’s relief that no suicide has just occurred does not erase the significance of what Beatrice has disclosed; instead, the news unsettles her understanding of a fellow patient she had thought she knew. The scene also places suicide risk beside drug rehabilitation and psychiatric care, showing how an earlier attempt forms part of the route by which Michiel arrived at the PAAZ, while leaving the circumstances of that attempt largely untold.