BASED ON A TRUE STORY
On November 12, 1997, a baby girl was born, her name was Nicole. Nicole was uniquely different from her older brother and sister who had brown hair and brown eyes; she had blonde hair and blue eyes. She grew up happy with loving parents, and when she was 17 months old, her parents had another child and she was now the big sister of a red headed, blue eyed baby girl named Brooke. Nicole had a very loving relationship with her siblings when they were younger. But as time went on, that relationship changed.
Age 9When Nicole was 9 years old, she became overweight. And along with being overweight, she was also made fun of, both at home and school. Nicole didn't notice it though, so none of the words affected her. She just knew that she was happy the way she was.
Age 11On November 15, 2008, Nicole's main source of encouragement and someone who she knew she could talk to no matter what, her best friend, passed away from cancer. Nicole was left alone, and with no one to lift her up when she was feeling down, she slowly became depressed. And on top of all this, her parents would fight and get violent every night.
Age 12At the age of 12, Nicole was still being made fun of, her parents were still fighting and violent, and she also had her first suicide attempt. And although the suicide attempt was a half-hearted suicide attempt, just that one, led to things much worse.
Age 14When Nicole turned 14 the bullying at school had stopped, but it continued at home. And starting in August of 2012, she began to skip meals daily even though she wasn't overweight anymore. Around this same time, her younger sister (now 13) was getting into a lot of trouble which, believe it or not, added to Nicole's stress. Her sister had messed around and done things that caused a lot of drama. She'd come home every night with something new to tell about someone else. And on top of this she had such little self respect that she'd post stuff about herself on social media, get called a couple of things, then threaten to kill herself; she also threatened to kill herself when she didn't get her way, as Nicole put it.
This is also the age that she found out something about her did that tore their relationship apart dramatically.
Age 15In December of 2012, Nicole's mother took her and her sisters out for winter pictures. As Nicole's mother was telling her ways to pose, Nicole, in the nicest way she could, told her mother she didn't feel comfortable posing a certain way because she felt fat. Her mother then got mad, told her to get in the car, and said a couple of unnecessary things to her on the way back to their house. When they got home, Nicole was crying and upset and went up to her room and overdosed.
In January of 2013, Nicole got invited over to a friend's house for their 16th birthday. While at the party, Nicole let her feelings get the best of her and she was very antisocial and miserable. She didn't eat, she fell asleep before everyone else, and woke up later than everyone else, then sent her mother a text to come get her early. She really didn't want to be there and she knew deep down that if she had just been confident about herself, she would have had fun.
In September of 2013, Nicole had two major breakdowns. She had kept all her feelings inside for the past 5 years, and she finally broke. She told her parents about the thoughts she had been having, but she was too embarrassed to tell them about the suicide attempts, overdosing, etc.. They also offered her help but she refused it out of embarrassment.
CurrentlyNicole is currently 15, turning 16 on November 12, 2013, and everything that was said to her in the past runs through her mind daily. And even though not every little detail was talked about, this IS real. Things you say to people, even though it may not bother them at the time, can and will affect them in the future. Nicole is a beautiful, loving, and caring girl who has a lot going for her, but just simple words from the past has caused her to almost end her life on many occasions.
Please, think before you speak and know that words DO hurt.
