Heroes/Villains

I met Madisyn in 6^th grade and here we are nine years later still going strong. I remember everyone talking about her in my gym class and I would think to myself, who is this girl everyone keeps talking about? Then eventually she was right in front of me and from there we met. I have a group of friends including Madisyn from middle school and we all stay close to each other. Madisyn came off as a nonchalant girl, not caring about what others had to say about her was huge and different to me in middle school. I would always wonder why she was the way she was, soon overhearing that her uncle was an NBA player and she didn’t like all that attention on her. I’m personally not into sports so it wasn’t that big of a deal to me, it was the way she acted that made her stand out the most. From the beginning she would always be nice to me, always caring for others and being there for everyone was just who she was.

Madisyn’s life was a little different than others because her parents got a divorce when she was 10 years old. She was diagnosed depressed after an attempted suicide. She had to see a therapist and was soon put on anti-depressants and melatonin. Her depression caused her to miss a lot of her 5^th grade school year. Feeling like her world had been flipped upside down, Madisyn’s parents tried making her feel as comfortable as possible. They tried buying her everything she ever wished of, like a dog and a snake. It was a temporary fix but her pain was so much more deep than anything purchased could fix. She stayed in her home growing up with her mom and her dad packed up his things and moved out. She still got to see them both equally and the parents would fight a lot around Madisyn. Putting her in uncomfortable situations, making her feel as though she had to pick a side of who she likes better in a way. Her mom was very angry towards her dad for cheating that she couldn’t hide it in front of Madisyn.

Fast forward to a little later in the year and Madisyn got meningitis around that same time period. Her dad didn’t believe she was sick, thinking she was making it up just to keep him home from moving to Miami, FL. She began to cough out blood, had a bad fever, a bad headache, all things she could not just fake. She had this disease once before in her life and because it was so uncommon and rare to even get once her dad believed she was lying that she got it again. Her mom would tell her what her dad would say and then assumptions and arguments would ignite from it. Madisyn loved them both equally but, in a way, had some resentment towards the dad after finding out her mom had cervical cancer. She blamed the dad in every way possible because her mom is her best friend and who else was to blame? It was just easy, and she could aim all her anger out on someone. Finding out her mom had cancer she was heartbroken, feeling like she was going to lose her. Terrified to lose the one person that never left? How would she deal with that? How would she cope with that? She found out on a school day when she was getting ready to walk out of the door to get her day started when her mom got a phone call from the doctor. It’s not hard to tell something bad happened. After asking what happened, the three words it her like a bus…”I have cancer…” She would cry in class and cry at home, not knowing what to do.

Later in life, starting in middle school, Madisyn started to get into boys and relationships. Her first relationship came out of the blue, I never would have guessed this boy was the kind of boy she liked. He was the opposite of her in my opinion, it didn’t look like a good fit. Here Madisyn is, a smart, outgoing, athletic girl and the boy was not as intelligent, not athletic, not talkative at all, it was just very hard to imagine them getting along in any way, let alone a relationship. Long story short, they didn’t last very long but it was good while it lasted! She got to experience her first relationship. In high school, all the bad began with her first real relationship with an older boy. She believed it to be love at the time. Her parents were not sure of him as they didn’t hear the best things about him before their relationship began, but they decided they would let her figure this out for herself. After a bad spiraling of events, he ended up not being a good role model for her. He caused her to tell unnecessary lies to her parents and they forbid her from talking to him. He turned her into someone she was not and completely took her out of her character.

After experiencing the “bad boy,” she went and found her first love her sophomore year. Things were completely different. Their relationship also came out of the blue. They had so much in common, all the way from their ethnicities to their favorite foods. The met after they both had just played a basketball game, had one conversation and the rest is history. I believe their relationship has taught her a lot about what she does and doesn’t want out of a relationship. Like any young relationship, they had their high moments but have also had their low moments. They began to get very close and they decided he would move in with her and her mom. It was nice while it lasted but after seeing each other all day every day, they began to grow sick of each other. Little arguments would start, and they realized how low their patience for each other was getting. They had broken up and that almost made things even worse. He began showing interest in someone else but when Madisyn said she was done with him, he decided they were more important and that was the relationship he wanted to figure out. They’ve had their ups and downs but their love for each other, even to this day, has always remained consistent.

After experiencing so much her life all before the age of 20, she really has learned a lot. She has bettered as a person overall. She likes to say that she is the way she s because of all she’s been through. One statement she made that really stuck with me was that she said she was a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. She really does believe that she is so strong because of all the hardships she has faced in her years of life. Now, she understands how important she is. She understands that she should come first. Although it is hard for her to adjust to that, she is trying her best to be happy. She will never stop trying to become the best version of herself or let her hardships affect what God has instore for her.

Work cited: Smith, Joe. Personal interview. 3 Feb 2020.