(A Short Story Inspired by “The A Team” by Ed Sheeran)

Angel. That was her name. She grew up in a lavish apartment in Chicago not far from the most famous landmark in the state – the Cloud Gate, more commonly known as “The Bean.” She lived in the center of the world around her, as she used to say. She was raised by her two parents and grew up with a great family, sense of community, and she knew she would be secure in the future, because she came from wealth. Her mom was a doctor and her father a lawyer. However, little did she know at the time that it would all come to a drastic end. She started noticing changes in her parent’s attitudes towards each other when she was just 12 years of age. Her father was always so caught up with his work that he would take it out on her mother who was also very stressed with the job she had. He never physically abused her, but words did enough for that matter. The loving, caring relationship her parents once had, had turned into a bundle of anger bubbling beneath the surface looking for any excuse to erupt into a fiery turmoil.

By the age of 14, things had taken a turn for the worse. Her father was no longer speaking to her or her mother. He just stayed quiet and went out most of the time. The times he was home, all he did was eat, sleep, and go out of his way to avoid his wife and precious daughter. Eventually Angel’s mother quit her job to try and settle things with her father, but it didn’t work. Some days, Angel would find her mother alone in her bedroom crying her eyes out. She wanted to help, but she didn’t know what to do. She’s never been in this situation before. One Monday morning, she heard her mother crying again, and this time decided to do something. She made her a toasted bagel with strawberry cream cheese – her favorite. She thought for sure that it would do the trick. When she walked into her mom’s room though, she was shocked at what appeared before her. Her mother was curled up on the bed rocking back and forth, knees to chest. Next to her, the nightstand was covered with white powder. Angel didn’t know what it was, so she ignored it. She walked quietly towards her mother with the delicious food she had made, and placed it down in front of her. When her mother finally looked up, her eyes appeared sunken and all the tears had dried up and formed a crust on her now pale cheeks. Angel’s mother just looked at her for a moment, then told her that her father had left for good this time and he took all the money they had. He left the night before, saying he would never come back. He was fed up with work, and he said that they were just another distraction. She told Angel to leave her room, so she did.

For the next few months Angel had gotten a job working at a local bakery in order to support her mother, who was getting worse by the day. This went on constantly without much change that eventually months turned into years. When Angel turned 17 she found her mother passed out on her bed. She had overdosed. Now that Angel was a bit older, she knew more about certain things. Since the day she found the white powder, she never found anything else, and her mother barely looked at her, probably so that Angel wouldn’t find out what she was doing. This being said, Angel now had a feeling about what had happened. A few days later, Angel went into her mothers room to see if what she thought was true. She opened her dresser drawer and found a bag of white cocaine. She cried and cried and cried some more until she was out of breath. She sat down on her mother’s bed, realizing that now she was truly alone. Angel’s mother used drugs to cope with the loss of her husband, and now Angel felt as if it were her turn to use them to cope with the loss of her mother, even though that is what killed her. She just wanted to try it first to see if it would help the feelings she was experiencing.

What she really needed was a therapist or a friend, but she of course had neither. She had nobody. Once Angel tried coping in the way her mother had, she couldn’t stop, and she didn’t want to because she had nothing better to do and it was giving her an emotional release. She would then go on to do everything in her power to get more, because she thought that was her solution to her pain. She soon became homeless and when she was out on the streets nobody cared to help. Nobody cared to talk to her, to listen to her story. She felt more alone than ever. The people that passed by her gave her looks she could never have imagined. Horrifying, ugly looks that she would remember forever. However, forever was not as long as it should have been. Because Angel took the route of drugs to numb her pain, she became more addicted as the days went by, and soon she didn’t get a release anymore, she just felt pain. With that being said, she didn’t try to get help, as she didn’t know how to. Angel eventually passed away at the age of 19,
just two years after the death of her mother and the start of her drug abuse. Her story needs to be heard because sadly, so many people go through the same situations. So many people suffer in silence. So many people turn down help or don’t look for it. And unfortunately, so many people die because of it. Angel’s story needs to be heard, because now Angel is a true angel. An angel in heaven.