“Just leave me alone.”

       With that, Mary’s mother walked out the door with a worried look on her face.

       That night, Mary suffered through another night of restless sleep. In class the next morning, Mary had a math test handed back to her. Seeing the angry, red 40 on the top of the paper angered her. She had been a straight-A student for as long as she could remember. School was always a breeze, why was she struggling now? What happened? Something’s changed, maybe I’m just not smart enough anymore. Mary became afraid to go to school. She didn’t want to come face to face with her failures.

       One day after English class, Mrs. Monroe asked Mary to stay behind.

       “Mary, I’m beginning to worry about you. Do you need any help?” she asked.

       “I’m fine,” Mary replied. “Thank you.”

With every passing day, Mary’s attitude grew worse and worse. She thought her friends were too juvenile. She became annoyed with her parents as well. Clearly, they didn’t trust her to handle herself. They were still treating her like a little kid. Her teachers treated her as if she didn’t exist. They used to tease her playfully and call on her in class, but now it was as if she were invisible. As time went on, she felt a strong sense of self-loathing. Mary wanted to cry, but she didn’t know why. She wanted to scream, but she didn’t know what was upsetting her. Everyday, she went through the motions of her life, living it but only experiencing it vicariously. She wasn’t sure what to do anymore.

       Mary lost track time. She didn’t know how many days had passed. Whether it was days or weeks, she didn’t know. But one day, her friend Dickon passed her in the hall and gave her a plastic CD case. “I think you might enjoy this,” he said with a lopsided grin. Without another word, he walked away. The CD was shoved into Mary’s backpack unceremoniously, soon to be forgotten.

       A few days passed. Mary was even more apathetic about life. When she went to get changed for bed, Mary tripped across her backpack, which was lying on the floor. In a fit of frustration, Mary kicked the backpack across the room. From the front pocket, a plastic CD case fell out. Mary slowly walked over and picked up the case. She remembered this; Dickon gave this to her a while ago. Dickon was a good friend. Whenever she was upset about anything, he would always crack a joke or do something to cheer her up. With that thought, Mary decided to listen to the CD. After all, what is there to lose? She walked over to her laptop and played the disk. The piece was called “Arabesque”. Once she hit play, Mary heard a strain of beautiful piano music. As she listened, Mary began to cry. Am I going crazy? Why is such an ordinary piece making me cry? Nonetheless, Mary continued to cry. After sobbing for a long time, she began to feel tired and climbed into bed. Soon enough, she began to drift off to sleep while listening to the music.

       Mary was so tired, that she slept soundly that night. In the morning, she ate a good breakfast then got on the bus and headed for school. When Mary sat through her first period class, she didn’t fall asleep like usual. As she did her work, she occasionally heard the melody line of “Arabesque” running through her mind. She wished that the day would pass by faster so that she could go home and enjoy the music.