SEATTLE -- She was the girl it was never supposed to happen to -- beautiful, smart from a good family. But Carly Henley inexplicably committed suicide last year.
Along with dozens of devastated loved ones, she left behind a message for other young women dealing with their own personal demons.
Henley sang songs of hope and happiness from her bedroom. But that bright spirit was darkened by a cloud nobody ever saw. The young woman who sang about believing in one's self, about inner beauty hanged herself from a fire escape outside a University of Washington fraternity house last October. Carly's voice forever silenced at just 20-years-old. Now her guitar sits in a lonely corner of her mother's home.
"Her encouragement sounded like it was for others and I think as I listen to them now she was really trying to encourage herself, convince herself that she was okay and convince herself that she was enough and that her mistakes weren't the end of the world," said Tess Henley. "It breaks my heart that someone with so much heart and talent is gone. So, it's heartbreaking to hear."
But Carly's music remains. Her friends and family coming from across the country to record her songs, adding vocals and instruments her recordings, bringing them to life again.
It's a beautiful but painful process. Carly's dad said he doesn't know when or if he'll ever make sense of all that's happened.
"To this day I live a nightmare every day that I just never wake up from," said David Henley.
But he does know that there is a transformative quality to his daughter's music. Those songs that were once personal cries of silent suffering are now public proclamations to young women everywhere -- that their lives are worth living.
"Ultimately, I would love for girls to hear her story and learn something about their own lives from it," said Tess, "and that their lives would have a different outcome as a result of Carly's."
Carly's music will soon to be released on CD. The proceeds will be donated to "Rain City Rock Camp for Girls," a non-profit dedicated to building self-esteem through music.
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