Charlotte Green Research Paper

Charlotte Green. Generous, witty, playful, intelIigent, brave, a fighter, and gone. Charlotte took her life on May 24, 2013. Two days before her 12th birthday. Charlotte, once one of my closest friends, and now just a whisp of a memory of someone I once knew. I don’t know why she did it, and yet I understood perfectly. I don’t know why she decided to choose to be so young when she left this world, and yet it seemed like the best decision. I have no idea why she wanted to leave me here with a false sense of hope that she would get better, and somehow I’m not mad. I wanted her to live and be here, happy, with me today. Instead she let her fear get in the way, and she ran from it. I wanted her monsters to go away as much as she did, but I think

Charlotte was the first friend and person who was close to me, who showed me what it was like to go through depression as a young individual. I saw what not many people saw. I saw both sides of Charlotte. I saw her with and without her mask that hid her insecurities. Charlotte told me what it was like to have these “monsters” in her mind. Charlotte lived with anorexia and depression. I remember, once in fourth grade she wrote a story. Her story was titled, “When I Play With the Monsters, They Bite.” She went on to describe what it was like when she played with her monsters. She said she couldn’t see them, and she couldn’t feel them, but she could hear them. And they were loud, demanding, and harmful. She said they never wanted to do what she wanted. They only wanted her to hurt herself. The teacher grew frightened of what Charlotte was describing, and took her outside to speak with Charlotte about her story. Later, I asked what Charlotte had said in response. Charlotte looked at me slowly and replied, in a quiet and guarded voice.“Liv, I wasn’t lying. I really do have monsters.” I’ll probably never forget what she said to me that