Personal Narrative: Caroline Smith's Life

Growing up, Caroline Smith always knew she had it easier than most children her age. She had two loving parents, was the top of her class, MVP of the swim team and Caroline was nothing but loved. Throughout high school, she always had many boys who viewed her as a goddess however she never felt the same way. It was at the end of summer going into her Junior year when she met a boy named Emmett Anderson. Caroline fell in love with him the moment she saw him. Emmett had nothing but good intentions towards everyone he knew. After countless amount of days of doing everything together and the school year passing, they had finally fallen in love. Caroline planned to join Emmet at the University of Oregon and move in with him. Emmett
always told Caroline not to be so hard on her when it came to school; Emmett was trying to become a neurosurgeon. During Caroline’s and Emmett’s senior year almost every girl was envious of Caroline’s relationship, many of them even attempted to ruin their relationship. They both knew that when the saw their future they were always going to be in each others life. Around the time college acceptance letters were being sent, Caroline and Emmett were faced with a real life challenge that most high school couples face. Caroline started to worry that she wasn't going to be accepted to the University of Oregon when her friends started getting their letters and she wasn’t. Things got worse when Emmett got accepted and Caroline still had not. She started to fear that that their perfect future wasn't going to happen. Caroline started having a emotionless blank stare most of the time and was rarely feeling any joy. Emmett knew that not receiving the acceptance letter was hurting their relationship so he thought he would write her a poem. The next day he saw her waiting outside the gym and thought this was the perfect time to show her the poem. He reassured her that Everything would work out in the end for them and that she will get her letter, she just needs to patient. He started cheering her up and told her he had something for her. He then started reading his poem:
[ paste poem]

She realized that everything was going to be okay and she shouldn't doubt herself so much. A week later she received her acceptance letter, but her mood didn't improve. She told herself that it because it’s almost graduation time and so she’s just being extra emotion because she was almost an adult. The week before finals was stressful for both Emmett and Caroline so they decide to dedicate their time to studying, so they didn't see each other much. Caroline mood wasn't getting any better, but she decided to hide it from her boyfriend because she thought it was nothing. Finals week arrived and Caroline’s stress and anxiety levels were at an all time high. The morning of her first finals she was doing some quick studying and in between her notes was the note Emmett wrote for her. She decided to read it and her mood improved and was grateful for everything and went on off to take her finals with a peace of mind. Things were finally getting better little by little.

It was finally graduation day.
Caroline was thrilled to move in with Emmett and not have to worry about her future anymore because from there on out, this was her fruture. She was positive that her life was just going to get more and more perfect as she was no longer going to be in high school. Throughout the years that they were together in college, their relationship just got stronger. Both Caroline and Emmett’s friends thought that living together throughout college was not going to be good for their relationship, but they didn't care. They knew their relationship was strong enough to face any challenge. Throughout these years, Caroline secretly still felt sad and anxious but didn't want to worry Emmett. She even got to a point where she stopped feeling anything at all. It came and went and by her final year of college, she went back to being her happy
self.

After they finished college, Emmett started working as a neurosurgeon and Caroline as a Psychiatrist. Emmett proposed 3 months after caroline got a job as a Psychiatrist. They decided that they were going to get married the next spring. Caroline was finally back to her perfect life she dreamt of as a kid. Her job was amazing and she had the most amazing fiancé that was always full of support. They got married and a year later she had a beautiful little girl. They named her Emily since it was the closest to her father’s name. They wanted a name similar to emmett because baby emily looked exactly like her father. Having a baby was stressful but they managed to still have their perfect relationship.

Seven months after Emily’s birth, Caroline began to feel the same way she did in college, but it was even worse now.
She started experiencing terrifying thoughts, nightmares and finding herself being paranoid whenever alone. Being a Psychiatrist, Caroline noticed herself become depressed as she believed she failed at her job for not being able to take her own advice. In the continuing months she began to experience symptoms of schizophrenia. At times she would go through strange hallucinations leaving in a state of delusion soon after. Unknown to her was also the unusual motor behavior of her brain. Once Caroline began to understand what all this meant she hides it from her husband, deciding she can fix it herself. Sadly it became worse, yet Caroline reused to acknowledge it. But the voices were unrelenting; she needed to keep them away so she got her prescribed drugs in secret. The treatment was slowly working; she thought it would all be okay. Until one night, Caroline and Emmett had been invited to dinner with the head neurosurgeon, a colleague of Emmett’s; it was running smoothly until voices came to light. Caroline wanted to scream and cry but to her this was too important, she fought against the merciless voices; acting as if she wasn’t being swallowed by the darkness. The voices ripped down the shields of her mind crushing her. They told her she didn’t deserve any of that happiness, that wasn’t worth the time. That everything that she did was worthless and she was angry
because she believed those voices lies. Eventually she had to run out to take her prescription however she didn’t expect Emmett to follow.
When he saw what Caroline was doing he demanded to know what was going on.
Caroline could no longer hide so she told him. That night still filled Caroline with shame and anger towards herself as the voices told her she was embarrassing and a burden to
Emmett. She tried to tear those thoughts away but they would always find a way back to her. She finally told Emmett everything and he told her that he would do everything in his power to help her threw this.

Everything change for Emmett and Caroline. At first Emmett tried everything to help his wife, but he just couldn't handle it anymore. He still loved her but she wasn't the same girl he fell in love with. He started drinking a lot and was already done with Caroline by the time emily was 3, but he couldn't leave his daughter alone with her. Emily was the only glue keeping the family together. Caroline started controlling her illness with medication and started living a life as normal as she possibly could.

Years passed and Emily wasn't a baby anymore. She was around 10 when she noticed that her family was not like the ones her friends had. Her mom was always acting weird and different and her dad was always making sure her mom was taking medicine, but he didn't look at her the way everyone else’s parents looked at each other. One day, She noticed that her father was packing up some of his clothes and decided to ask him where he was going. Emmett went up to Emily and told her he loved her very much but he had to go on a trip for work for a little while. He told her to not upset her mother while he was gone and if she was scared to go in his office and get the paper on his desk. He felt scared leaving his daughter with Caroline but knew he would be back in 2 days. He got called to got to New York last minute and didn't have anyone to watch Emily. Emily watched her father drive off to the airport and didn't realize that that was the last time she would see him.

Caroline got a call that emmett had died in a plane crash and felt utterly helpless. Little Emily now had to grow up with her mother alone and lost the one person that made her feel safe. Caroline stopped taking her medication after her husband died because she felt like she lost a part of herself. She now had to raise her daughter on her own and she didn't know if she could. Caroline felt horrible after her husband died, but the voices haven't started since she stopped her medication so she thought she could go without them. A week after Emmett’s funeral, Emily was crying and her mother was in the kitchen making dinner for them both. Caroline was done and was serving it when she realized she took out three plates instead of two. She then wanted to start crying when the voices started coming. They told her that Emmett wasn't dead. They said he left her because she was crazy and was tired of her problems. Caroline tried fighting the voices when Emily walked in the kitchen and asked if she was okay, but Caroline didn't see her daughter, she saw her husband. An enraged Caroline started yelling at her daughter as if she was her husband. She couldn't control herself when she started chasing and yelling at her daughter. Emily ran to her father’s office and got the letter on his desk and started reading it aloud to herself. Caroline got in the office and was about to attack her daughter until she heard the words she was saying. She recognized the words as the poem written for and it brought her back to the time when Emmett first wrote it. She apologized to Emily and promised herself she would never do it again.