The summer of 2008. The year of the huge financial crisis. To Emelie Hutchinson, who had just turned 14 in May, it was a turbulent time.
July 14th -She sat at the table on the balcony, swinging her feet in circular motions above the floor. We’re all swimming in a sea of doubt right now, she thought. Just swimming and swimming in circles, not advancing out of fear of the murky waters in front of us. Just like that time she took swimming classes at the local YMCA when she was…what, 4? She took a cooking class there too, right? She sure was an active toddler. Her parents must have been looking out for her when they signed her up for all those activities. After all, she doubted she’d have become such a bright young lady if it weren’t for all that active engagement in her formative years.
She flipped open her brown, leather notepad; the one she had begged for as a birthday present this year. In the two months since she had received it, she always brought it with her to conduct interviews. She couldn’t feel like a real journalist without it anymore. This leather cover made her a professional.
Now then, it was about time she did something about all these murky waters. She flipped through her recent interviews and research notes, eager to get to work on her next article. This would be a massive project, maybe even her magnum opus? Oh geez, if she reached a magnum opus at 14, what would she even do with the next 66 years or so of her life? Wallow in self-pity that she couldn’t live up to her one big scoop?
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a magnum opus, but it would certainly be her greatest work before high school. No, too small of a scope. That was only a month and a half away. This was still a really big deal. Her greatest work before adulthood, maybe? Yeah, that sounded right.
She had made up her mind. She was going to solve the financial crisis. Well, obviously not, like, solve solve it. Her parents might be kinda rich, enough to pay for her tuition to a nice private school, but they weren’t that rich. She didn’t have nearly enough assets to end the crisis herself. But, with enough market research, she could certainly create an article on par with financial experts, such a sound economic plan that she’d single-handedly save the United States from its crisis, casting her in the spotlight as a national hero and maybe even a world-famous teen reporter.
Wait, ew ew ew, hold on! If she became famous for economic advice, wouldn’t that lock her career path into some sort of government financial advisor? No no no, that was gross! She wanted to be a reporter, bringing the most interesting and bizarre truths to light, entertaining and informing the masses!
Maybe she needed to re-think this project. How about she stopped trying to create solutions for now? Instead, she could create the most in-depth and accurate report on the history of the financial crisis and its current status. Yeah, that was it! Leave all the boring solutions to the government, why do that herself? If even government officials cited her paper in their decision-making, she could become the star reporter she dreamed of!
Okay, how about we rework this outline, then?
August 21st– Emelie’s parents had some big news to share. She sucked on a cherry lollipop and twisted it around in her mouth as she listened. Mmm, cherry candy was so delicious. It tasted nothing like actual cherries, though. Honestly, actual cherries were kind of gross by themselves, she thought. Unless they were candied of course. Those were always the best part of a sundae.
Her thoughts on sweets overtaking her mind, she barely heard a word her parents were saying. It was probably some boring speech about something bad her or her brother did again. Huh, maybe she could write an article about candy flavors? Why did candy flavors taste nothing like the actual fruit? And where the heck did blue raspberry come from? Ah, she loved coming up with article ideas from her own unanswered questions. Other people would see the headline and go all: “Wow, why are candy flavors named that when they don’t taste like the fruit? And how did they come up with blue raspberry?” And she’d have all the answers waiting for them on the next page! The old “answering questions people didn’t know they had” technique! So classic!
Emilie, enthusiastic about researching this candy article, noticed her parents looked suspiciously serious. Maybe this wasn’t the usual old self-improvement speech, after all. She took the lollipop out of her mouth and tuned in for a little bit.
Ever since that day, she wished she hadn’t. Maybe, if she hadn’t heard it, none of it would have to be real. She could have just kept living happily with her family, working on the Westview Academy Newspaper once she started school with fellow aspiring journalists, begging her brother to drive her places until she turned 16 and could take driver’s ed…
It was too late, though. Once the words left her father’s lips, there was no denying the truth in front of her. Her hands went limp, her delicious half-eaten cherry lollipop sticking to the carpet as it landed. The headline flashed through her mind, mocking her.
BREAKING: HUTCHINSON FAMILY DECLARES BANKRUPTCY, PARENTS SHIP OFF TEEN SON AND DAUGHTER TO ESTRANGED ADULT COUSIN’S RESIDENCE.
September 30th– She hated it here. She hated it here. She hated it here.
She just wanted to graduate and move out and go to a nice college and get a degree and become a professional journalist, and-
Tyler put his hand on Emilie’s shoulder, doing his best to comfort her. Of course, they bickered as much as a brother and sister would, back when things were normal. Now, though, he was practically the only emotional support she had in her life. Well, don’t get her wrong. Jeremy was okay, it wasn’t like he was mean or abusive or anything some young adult coming-of-age novel would feature, but he wasn’t anything close to a replacement for her parents.
Not to mention he lived in this (Mom, Dad, Grandma, other affectionate figures of authority in her old life, forgive her for her crass choices of words) shithole of a town. If he didn’t, maybe she wouldn’t be here crouched in the corner of her room crying onto her knees.
Look, she really wasn’t that uptight or anything, she really wasn’t. She didn’t need to go to Westview, even the public school back home would have been nice. But this place was just absolutely horrendous. Their apartment was grungy, the neighbors were loud, obnoxious drunkards, and she swore that if she left the house late one night that she’d be found dead in a ditch the next morning.
Oh god, and don’t get her started on her school. Before now, she had been looking forward to high school so much. Now she’d give anything to just drop out forever. The boys all wore their pants so far down they might as well fall down to their ankles, they were the sons of the loud obnoxious drunkards, so they too were unbelievably obnoxious, and the teachers barely put in an effort to stop their constant fighting in the bathrooms, showing up to classes 30 minutes late with bloody noses and dark bruises like people didn’t know where they were the whole time. If there was one thing she was grateful for, it was that she was a girl and didn’t have to use those disgusting boys’ bathrooms.
Their classes were always interrupted with gross, inappropriate jokes and incessant fake sex noises. She started to wonder if any college would even accept her, at this rate. She clearly wasn’t getting enough of an education to warrant it.
And then there was the most heartbreaking and demoralizing thing of all. No school newspaper. God, even if they had a terrible trashy one with no effort put into it, she could make it her personal project to revamp it and make it into something readable and exciting. She could take all the things she hated about this place and write criticisms of it, put to word just what she hated and wanted changed around here. Maybe she could try doing satire! She’d never been a fan of writing anything tongue in cheek, having always been an optimist who wanted to be upfront, but now that her life had turned hellish, it might just be cathartic.
But no. No newspaper. No one interested in the stories she wanted to report. All she had were a bunch of scribbled out headlines she couldn’t find the energy to write.
That night, she wrote a new one.
IS THIS TOWN A NIGHTMARE COME TO LIFE? LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN SAYS YES, SHE WANTS OUT FAST.
August 16th, 2009- Emilie Hutchinson felt so distressed that she was on the verge of puking.
Last summer, back when everything was normal, Tyler said he would go to college somewhere nearby. You know, to make travel during breaks easier, not that he wanted to see his parents and sister often or anything. He was the kind of guy to deny it like that, even though it was clear as day he was a big softie underneath. Emilie giggled to herself that night, writing a headline about it.
LOCAL OLDER BROTHER DECIDES TO STAY CLOSE TO FAMILY WHILE IN UNIVERSITY, CITES “EASE OF TRAVEL” AS REASON. TOO EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT HE LOVES HIS FAMILY? THE TRUTH REVEALED!
Even after the bankruptcy incident, in fact, especially after the bankruptcy incident, she assumed his intentions would stay the same. To be near his sister. You know, the girl who was absolutely miserable over here?
It turned out she was wrong. He left yesterday. She had no idea how to manage now. She frantically scribbled down headlines.
TRAITOR OLDER BROTHER ABANDONS SISTER IN HER PERSONAL HELL.
ASSHOLE OLDER BROTHER BETRAYS SISTER.
LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLER CONSIDERS JUMPING OUT HER 4TH FLOOR BEDROOM WINDOW.
LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLER WONDERS WHAT SHE DID TO DESERVE THIS.
LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLER CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE.
She tore up the paper and threw it at the wall.
June 10th, 2012. Emilie took her last steps out of Jeremy’s apartment, her head swimming furiously with headlines.
LOCAL TRAITOR COUSIN KICKS GIRL OUT AS SOON AS SHE GRADUATES HIGH SCHOOL.
LOCAL GIRL THRILLED TO NO LONGER BE A LOCAL STARTING TODAY.
LOCAL GIRL BEGINS- wait, no, no local. No more goddamn local.
BRAVE GIRL – she’s 18, she’s not a girl anymore.
BRAVE YOUNG WOMAN SETS OUT TO ACHIEVE DREAM – sounding better but lacks oomph.
Sure, she might have gotten rusty not being able to report at school for 4 years, but somewhere along the line, she found a certain format for wannabe journalists, and she had gotten some great tips, especially in the last few months. She knew she could write a better headline than this.
BRAVE YOUNG WOMAN SETS OUT TO ACHIEVE DREAM, DESPITE SOUL-CRUSHING ADOLESCENCE – yes, perfect. This would be a massive project, perhaps even her magnum opus.
Oh god, if she reached a magnum opus at 18, what would she even do with the next 62 years or so of her life? Wallow in self-pity that she couldn’t live up to her one big auto-biographical masterpiece? For now, she’d just call it her greatest work encapsulating life “before adulthood.” That sounded right.
But hey, writing something so heavy would be rough. Maybe she should start with something light and fun to get back into the spirit of reporting professionally. Hey, just how did they come up with blue raspberry?