She lay there frail as a clear glass vase. Her eyes were glazed over like a sheet of glass separated them from the outside world and her skin was so pale it was as if it had never seen the light of day. She lay there motionless with her best friend’s family gathered around the bed… waiting… waiting… waiting. So what were they waiting for you ask? Well Kate to live to tell her triumphing story once again.
There I was, being chased by a giant puffy marshmallow so tall you couldn’t see the top. It probably stood about ten feet tall if you actually stopped to measure it, but I didn’t dare stop. I kept running and running and running some more, even though my muscles throbbed and I felt as though I could go on no longer. Okay so you’re on to me, no, I wasn’t being chased by a giant marshmallow but I was running. You see, when I run my mind wanders and makes up all these different stories and dreams, as if I was completely weightless and free. It’s the strangest thing; my brain just turns off so my imagination can grow into something so huge and it makes the dream feel so real and lifelike. It gives me almost this high of emotion and makes me feel almost numbed by the intensity of my feelings and imagination. I know what you’re thinking, wow what a wacko, and I’m right there with you seeing how you would go about thinking I'm so strange, but I really the wacko? To tell you the answer to this question I think you would have to know more about me, because as they always say, “you can’t judge a book by its cover” and, well… I’m the book your about to read so you might as well get to know me.
Me and my best friend Lisa were walking home from school one day when she noticed a new sign that said, “Do not enter” right outside this old abandon house, and Lisa being herself, automatically rushed into saying,
“Oh my goodness! We have to go in there! It’s like an invitation when they put up a sign like that! I mean what person in their right mind would resist an offer like that?”
“Well only one that’s not you!” I stated. “I’m not going in there and there’s nothing your going to do to change my mind! Besides we’ll get in trouble!”
“WOW!!! You’re such a baby! Grow up much?” Lisa said obviously annoyed with how much of a wimp I was.
“Well I’m sorry we can’t all be daredevils like you” I said in a harsh, mocking tone.
“Well I don’t know about you but I’m going in there and there isn’t anything you’re going to do to stop me!” Lisa insisted.
So that’s what we did, we went out “exploring” as Lisa put it. She always had a way of doing that, pushing me into things I didn’t want to do, but she’s my best friend, and what am I supposed to do break her heart and make her do things all by herself? I might as well tell you what happened though, even though it’s not all that existing. We did end up going into the restricted house, or at least to the front door, because I was way to scared to go any further and I’m glad to report that no, we did not get caught; it was just an old house, nothing very existing. However this was not the reason I told you this story, but I told it to you so you could get a feel of what people say is my “weak point.” They say that I give into people too much, I don’t exactly disagree with this statement but at times it gets old I feel like I can and do make my own decisions but people just don’t realize it because they don’t have a chance to get to know me. Almost like people think everything I do I only do because other people want me to and it can get really annoying when they say it over and over. People also describe me as “a shy awkward person.” I mean I’m shy but not that shy, I’ll talk if I really have something to say its just most of the time I don’t. I just don’t know, I feel like as hard as I feel to be myself no one will ever understand me. Oh well, if you’re yourself that all that matters… right?

My life hasn’t necessarily been “easy.” My dad left when I was just 10 and my mom doesn’t always treat me the best, not physically hurt me or mentally abuse me, she’s just sad all the time and doesn’t really care what I have to say or my opinions or feelings and that’s not what a mother is supposed to be like. She doesn’t mean it though, and it’s not her fault she’s like that, I mean she loves me but the love of her life left her, I would think she would be sad plus on top of that she’s a little obsessed with herself so she cant relate to other people, it’s a medical condition, something isn’t quite right in her brain, so I try not to make a big deal of it but day after day it gets really hard to live with. Because of this I often spend most of my time at Lisa’s house. Her family is like the one I never had, and she has the most picture perfect family with a mom, dad, older brother Jason and a dog named max. She claims she would much rather live at my house with my mom, but I think she just says that to make me feel better. I always feel so bad that I have to practically live with Lisa’s family, I eat their food, use their showers, sometimes wear Lisa’s clothes and Lisa’s mom said that when her brother goes to collage next year I am welcome to live in Jason’s room. That’s just how they are, amazingly loving people who always keep their arms and hearts open to me, they love me so much and that means the world to me. I feel really bad for Lisa because she has to share everything with me, I’m like the adopted sister she never wanted but family feels bad for so she has to lets me stay. I just hope she knows how much she means to me, she is like a sister only one million times better because she’s my best friend too and without her I would not be the person I am today. What can I say? Lisa has changed my life forever and will continue to change the person I will become.

School is weird, just plain out not right, like I said I don’t have very many friends, only Lisa, but that’s not the only part that’s abnormal. My teachers all hate me because “I don’t try as much as I can”, or so they say. The thing I don’t get is, how on earth do you know what I’m capable of? These teachers think they know everything and that they have some supernatural power or something, its crazy if you ask me. My grades are average, I’m not like some supper genius child or anything but what even is a genius? They are supernatural and only come up about every ten years so how do they expect me to be one? Maybe if they actually took the time to get to know me they would like me better but because I'm shy they just don’t care. Along with this there are a lot of things that make me mad. When people try to be funny, when people try to be stupid, when people are just your friend because you have something they want but most of all, if someone is friends with you only because you get hurt. This is the thing that makes me absolutely lose it!!! People think that if your sick or hurt that if you are their best friend then they are going to be some “hero” or something but the second you are better, o wait… who are you again? Ugg it just aggravates me so very much!!! I feel like I just want to become sick just to make people mad when I refuse to let them into my life and be my best friend. I know it would be really mean and they are just trying to help and all but it would make me laugh! You may say I don’t tolerate much but that’s not true, it’s just cretin things make me really angry, that’s all.

Sometimes when I’m having a bad day, or week… or month, I’ll create this imaginary world where everything is perfect for me. I’ll just shut out the world and make it my own. It’s kind of like my own personal drug that makes me feel better and the best part about it is that it doesn’t hurt me at all, in fact it actually kind a helps my imagination grow and in the end makes me feel better. Sometimes I’ll dream about how I am surrounded by the biggest potato ever, or like I said earlier, a giant marshmallow is chasing me through a gum drop land. You may think I’m obsessed with food, and you would be right, I am, so then your next logical thought would be, oh, she must be fat! The truth is, no I’m a normal sized fifteen year old girl, and I don’t eat any more or any less than anyone else. Food is just something I find extremely fascinating. If you just take time to think about it, you need food to survive yet then again at the same time if you have too much food, it can, and will kill you. As you know, I’m not a person that takes many risks but just the thought of them is what really interests me. I wish I was adventurous don’t get me wrong, Lisa is very adventurous, and maybe that’s why I feel so compelled to be more daring. Just put myself out there and push myself to be the person I know I truly am.

Just when you thought I was a normal kid, with a somewhat normal life… my life took a change for the worst. I woke up that day just like any other ordinary day. I had my usual whole wheat toast with grape jelly, honey nut cheerios and a glass of orange juice. It was just like any other day. I walked to school with Lisa and her brother just like the day before. First and second hour were totally normal then, all of a sudden, right in the middle of third hour I saw my life flash before my eyes. All the good times I’d had and all the bad times, as if for ten quick seconds I had relived my life all over again. I felt my face grow pale, as if all the color in my skin was sucked out of me with a vacuum. I could feel myself falling toward the floor in slow motion as if it was an actor in an overly dramatic movie where someone passes out. I could hear the screams of my classmates fill the air as I was falling off my chair, as if I was falling toward my death but the best part was, there was absolutely no pain. I felt motionless and at peace with everyone and everything, it was as if my life had completely stopped. As if I had no enemies and nothing to regret not a care in the world, none at all. And that’s all I remember from that day, that regular, extra ordinary, changed my life forever day.

From there Kate got rushed to the hospital from her third hour class. She was diagnosed with brain cancer and was in a coma because her brain was not able to take care of her body well enough to keep her alive. Some people say Kate’s brain shut down that day, others would say she was completely alert but her brain could not process all the information fast enough to keep her alive. The doctors still don’t know for sure, I guess it will forever be a mystery, but if we do know one thing, it’s that Kate is resting in her hospital bed as we speak. Exactly like the beginning on the story. She lay there motionless, pale as the snow after a fresh snowfall. It was as if all the life was sucked out of her, the only thing keeping her alive was a little machine about the size of a computer. All of Lisa’s members were there waiting to see if she would wake up. Every breath they took seemed to take forever and every second on the clock felt like a million years. Ten days went by and nothing improved. She still hadn’t moved a muscle and if anything her faced looked even more pale and motionless. She looked dead, but according to the machine she was still alive. The first day she was in the hospital almost all the kids from her school were there to place flowers and get well cards in her room, it was just the thing Kate hated, people that would never talk to her before now wanted to be her best friend. However now a year later it seemed as if no one remembered her. No one, except Lisa and her family, came to visit. As if the world had just moved on without her, sure the teachers and her peers still remembered but no one was willing to go out of their way to be there with her and let her know they cared. Sure you might say this is what Kate wanted but it’s still sad to think that no one wants her. However, this all changed for the better in just a few short years.
After being in a coma for three years one day she just… woke up! Nothing different happened that day, no full moon or anything… it was just like the day that got her into this mess. Some people say it’s a miracle, others say she was awake the whole time. Yet again, another mystery, that’s the thing with Kate, she may seem like the average everyday kid but there is something spectacular once you get to know her. She is kind of like our own guardian angle sent down to watch over us. She’s just that type of person that no one saw coming, the average nobody in your Biology class who doesn’t have many friends. But if you take the time to be her friend, you could feel like the most popular kid in school; however this is not what Kate would want, and I think we can all learn a little something from Kate, a few things actually. First, never give up, Kate never gave up, she sat in that hospital for three years with no one but Lisa and Lisa’s family to support her, yet she never stopped fighting and it eventually paid off and because of that she is able to live a somewhat normal life today. Second, if you just be yourself no one can replace you. Kate never stopped being herself and because of that people missed her when she was in the hospital, there was no one exactly like her to take her place and because of that she was wanted and loved even though no one will exactly admit to it but Lisa. Finally, third, you don’t have to have a lot of friends to be happy. Kate learned that she was most happy when she only had her one friend Lisa than when she had all these “friends” who only wanted to be her friend because she was hurt. If anything, Kate is an inspiration to us all and we can all learn a little something from Kat’s triumphing story that will cause us to be better people in our lives today.