Sarah Beth | Teen Ink

Sarah Beth

February 19, 2009
By Megan SILVER, Greeley, Colorado
Megan SILVER, Greeley, Colorado
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Her name was sarah Beth. She was one of those girls who everyone avoided or made fun of for stupid little reason. Reasons like: Shes too short, she looks funny, or shes too quiet. IT only took once effort from one person to stand behind her. Nothing much, but no one would. They all followed the crowed.
My name is Grace Williams. I live in a small town in Colorado. Sterling to be exact. Nothing much hee to do except go to football games, watch a movie, drive around, or hang at the farm.Our school isnt that big as well as population. A true one horse town. LAst year a girl transfered in from foregin lands: Nebraska. Ok ok, so its not totaly foreign, but come on. All there is is corn. Woohoo, fun place to be. She was a shy, quiet girl. Very plain and odinary. Followed the rules and never complained. That wasent what got everything started. She was bald.
After they saw her anked head everyone laughed and begun to make fun of her. At first i did the same thing. The weeks of torture adn insults. It was monsterous. I was apired up with her for a science experiment. She invited me over to work and so i went. Thats when i found out the truth. Her mother told me she was sick. I asked what was wrong and this is what she said:"Sarah has lukemia. The doctors said she moght not live much longer, but shes fighting. Even though she has stopped responding to treatments, shes still fighting and still strong." Thats when i came to realize that i was wrong for what I did. I also realized i only did that becasue i didnt want to be different.
The next day i wnet to find her at school. I skipped a class and went searching. I wasent having any luck. I wlked intot he bathroom and there she was. She was standing at the sink witha azor in hadn. MY eyes widened and before i knew it I had already ran to her side and took the razor away. She looked at me suprised. I told her not to kill herself. She asked me why and all I could say was."Im sorry for what I have done to you. I truley am." Ever since then for the next three months we were the best of friends.
It was spring me, my boyfriend Jack, and Sarah were the outcasts and the hot topic of the day. Everything seemed to be going well. Until a few weeks before gradutation. Sarah had got an email that told her someone was going to kill her family. I told her not to worry over it. It was just some stupid thing that a stupid person sent trying to scare her. The day after that someone egged her house. The day after that, they broke all her windows of her house. The day after that, they stole her mothers car.
I walked around the friday before gradutation with Jack. I saw a crowd around a building. I thought some hot celebraty or singer was here. But then i saw them pointing and looking up. I folowed their gaze and there stood Sarah Beth. I shot up the stairs with Jack. I got to the roof and stood looking at her with Jack by my side. She turned her head. I shoook my head and mouthed"Please dont do it." She gave a small smile and said in a soft voice,"May God be with you." And she jumped. I Screamed and went to run but Jack grabbed me and held me back. I fell to my knees screaming and crying.
The day after her funeral her mother asked me to come over. She thanked me for everything i had done. Adn thanked me for eing ehr daughters friend. I sat in her room adn looked through the box. I found a letter adressed to me. I opened and begun to read.
" Dear Grace,
If your reading this, im already gone. I thank you for all you've done. You showed me that people do care and there are nice people out there. Thank you for sticking up for me, and thank you for saving my life that one day. your apologie that day met everything to me. Tell Jack I thank him too. He was a great friend as well. May god be with you my dear freind.


- Sarah Beth"
She had drawn a cross at the lower right hand corner of the note. Even though she was religous and beleived in God, she jumped. Even though she knew commiting suicide was the worst sin, she jumped.
I learned alot from Sarah Beth. Never once did she complain about her cancer. Never once did she talk back or fight. Never once did she say a mean thing about another person. Never once did she sow she was sad or in pain. She kept going on. She slipped once, but cme back from it because of me. Someone who had been so mean adn clueless. A person who thought little of herself and went with the crowed was her savior. I never thought that i would be that much of help, but now i know i can be. Now i can be my own person and ty to help others who really need my help. Im my own person now.

The author's comments:
I really dont know how this came to be. It just sort of popped into my head. There was this girl who was made fun of because she didnt have any hair and it was because of cancer, but it wasent lukemia. It was something else. Thats where i got the character Sarah from. Grace was just a girl who was part of the crowd not really her own person. She was the character taht taught the lesson to not follow the crowd and to be your own person, and also not to judge people by what they look like. THe ture beauty is on the inside and not the outside.

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