Murphy. Hero. Terryn. Probably the weirdest names ever, considering the circumstances. Murphy: Girl. Hero: Guy. Terryn: Girl. But heck, I loved Murphy and Hero. They were like my family. The family I never got. My twin sister (Anah) died when she was two days old, and if she had lived, she would have the most normal name out of all of us (sound-wise, anyways). My mom was all depressed about her death (not that she didn’t appreciate my birth, but losing a child is always bad) and so she never really got around to taking the right care of me. And my dad was an alcoholic. So they took me out of their custody. But then dad put himself in therapy. Except for then he died in a car crash (ironically, hit by a drunk driver) which was really unfortunate. But then they just put my mom as my legal guardian but since she didn’t raise me, she really didn’t know what to do with a child (I was nine). But heck, the government didn’t know that, because she was feeding me and stuff, and so…I never really got around to having a real family.

Then, in seventh grade, I met Murphy. And she was totally psycho. She was fun and hilarious and an awesome best friend. In eighth grade, Hero was the new kid, and, Murphy being Murphy, she introduced us to him and he became our other best friend. Their parents became my parents, and so when I got tired of microwave Mac n’ cheese and Diet Coke, I could walk over to Murphy’s house (like five houses down) and get a real meal. Her parents were always generous like that. Hero’s parents were too, but I generally opted not to go to his house because he lived like, six miles away. And when Murphy (or Hero) wanted Mac n’ cheese and Diet Coke, they could come over to my place and eat it. My mom really didn’t care.

Then in tenth grade, Hero started dating this chick. And she wore too much make up. She convinced him that we were, well, like, contaminated or something. And Hero just kind of…dissolved from us. So it was just me and Murphy. And then Murphy, well, I don’t like to talk about it. But, Murphy…died. She was in California and got bit by a shark. For real. She bled too much. She was on the news for like, ten days straight. Her death was terrible for me. But, heck, it was dramatic. The type of death she always wanted. And Hero was bummed out too, for a while. He talked to me again. Then Murphy drifted off the news and Hero drifted away again.

Murphy. Hero. Terryn. Probably the weirdest names ever, considering the circumstances. Murphy: Girl. Hero: Guy. Terryn: Girl. But heck, I loved Murphy and Hero. They were like my family. We were the trio that used to be.