KC Memories May 2014 | Page 15

y first three years of High School were difficult for several reasons. Two weeks before my freshman year began, my cousin committed suicide. That was the first time I encountered the death of a loved one. I wasn’t sure how to deal with the matter. I wasn’t sure who to turn to and in turn, began to draw from within myself only to find nothing. I came into high school with many misconceptions. I thought people would care; I thought I would find people I could trust. For a while, that seemed to be the case—that people did care—that I found people I could trust; it wasn’t until my sophomore year that reality set in. Around February of tenth grade, I began to realize that I was alone.

It began then—the depression. It was then that I began to spiral into a depression, plummet in self-esteem, descend into an emotional darkness, and gravitate into isolation. As time went on, the pain only seemed to grow. To combat the darkness, I began to fill my life with activities, commitments, and people. I was filling myself up; I was overflowing—overflowing with emptiness. It was then that I found Tristan Watson. He was on my level intellectually. We had so much in common; through him, I found myself again.

My friendship with Tristan put me on the up and up; I was getting better. I was no longer an emotional wreck, a social time-bomb, or a pitiful victimized teen. I was me. I was Caleb, and I have been ever since.

M

KC Memories / May, 2014 3

How did I

survive?