MidReal Story

The Girl Who Fears Germs

Isadora

Scenario:This is Maddy McGraw at first sight a normal girl she has long brown hair and blue eyes she is 13 and at the very beginning of 8th grade. but Maddy wasn’t all normal or at least she didn’t think so, she has OCD ( actually 3 types of it Contamination and Cleaning, Symmetry and Orderliness, and Intrusive Thoughts and Mental Rituals ) most people fail to understand what it’s like to always be in your head even her friends sometimes don’t understand. Her friend group consists of Jessica Alden is a resilient and resourceful 13-year-old girl who is smart and kind she lost her parents a year ago and lives with her ( rich ) grandpa and her 3 siblings Henry who’s 15 violet who’s 10 and Benny who’s 6. A girl isadora quagmire she was stylish and people always said she looked older then 13. There was also a boy named Richie touizs, he was basically the funny friend always making jokes. And there was Eddie koburg he has asthma and his mom is very protective of him. There was max mayfield she had long red hair and is sarcastic. And finally there was jasper Davies he is a percussion and was always tapping a rhythm he was also kind of funny friend too. They were good friends most of the time. But her friends constantly told her that they were here for her with you’d think that was comforting but she actually hated it because everybody said it her parents “I’m here for you” her therapist “I’m here for you” everybody she ever talked to “I’m here for you” and they rarely ever meant it. And the worst thing about having ocd is that people assume it’s just lashing out if something untidy but it’s much worse than that. I also can’t handle germs sometimes all I can think about is the germs in every body. I feel most comfortable around Eddie because his mom is very overprotective and he understands the feeling of being “different” because of his asthma,when I was little my OCD symptoms were seen as a little childhood quirk but when I was 10 I started to wash her hands so much that they would start bleeding to feel safe that’s when my parents took me to a therapist and I was diagnosed with OCD. One of the things that people don’t see in me much is my harm ocd sometimes when I’m holding a pair of scissors, I think that I will stab someone or cuts someone’s hair which I never do, but it’s scary. The thing about having ocd it will always tell you you’re a bad person. She parents were so scared because I was a very happy kid but then suddenly she was worried all the time. One of Maddy’s biggest fears is get C. diff. But recently it had been getting worse with school getting harder and high school a year away. She therapist dr. Singh wanted to put me on a higher dose of my medicine it felt like I was 10 again and washing my hands like crazy. And when my ocd says that head washing isn’t enough this is going to sound crazy but I drink hand sanitizer I know i know I could die of that alone but that’s only happen like 2 times and the only people who know about that is dr. Singh and Eddie ( I don’t know if dr. Singh told my parents) Eddie was the one convinced me to tell dr. Singh ( he was so worried) and it also makes my stomach hurt. But sometimes she wants people to treat her like a normal person! ( this story should have the same vibe as turtles all the way down )

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This is Maddy McGraw at first sight a normal girl she has long brown hair and blue eyes she is 13 and at the very beginning of 8th grade. but Maddy wasn’t all normal or at least she didn’t think so, she has OCD ( actually 3 types of it Contamination and Cleaning, Symmetry and Orderliness, and Intrusive Thoughts and Mental Rituals ) most people fail to understand what it’s like to always be in your head even her friends sometimes don’t understand. Her friend group consists of Jessica Alden is a resilient and resourceful 13-year-old girl who is smart and kind she lost her parents a year ago and lives with her ( rich ) grandpa and her 3 siblings Henry who’s 15 violet who’s 10 and Benny who’s 6. A girl isadora quagmire she was stylish and people always said she looked older then 13. There was also a boy named Richie touizs, he was basically the funny friend always making jokes. And there was Eddie koburg he has asthma and his mom is very protective of him. There was max mayfield she had long red hair and is sarcastic. And finally there was jasper Davies he is a percussion and was always tapping a rhythm he was also kind of funny friend too. They were good friends most of the time. But her friends constantly told her that they were here for her with you’d think that was comforting but she actually hated it because everybody said it her parents “I’m here for you” her therapist “I’m here for you” everybody she ever talked to “I’m here for you” and they rarely ever meant it. And the worst thing about having ocd is that people assume it’s just lashing out if something untidy but it’s much worse than that. I also can’t handle germs sometimes all I can think about is the germs in every body. I feel most comfortable around Eddie because his mom is very overprotective and he understands the feeling of being “different” because of his asthma,when I was little my OCD symptoms were seen as a little childhood quirk but when I was 10 I started to wash her hands so much that they would start bleeding to feel safe that’s when my parents took me to a therapist and I was diagnosed with OCD. One of the things that people don’t see in me much is my harm ocd sometimes when I’m holding a pair of scissors, I think that I will stab someone or cuts someone’s hair which I never do, but it’s scary. The thing about having ocd it will always tell you you’re a bad person. She parents were so scared because I was a very happy kid but then suddenly she was worried all the time. One of Maddy’s biggest fears is get C. diff. But recently it had been getting worse with school getting harder and high school a year away. She therapist dr. Singh wanted to put me on a higher dose of my medicine it felt like I was 10 again and washing my hands like crazy. And when my ocd says that head washing isn’t enough this is going to sound crazy but I drink hand sanitizer I know i know I could die of that alone but that’s only happen like 2 times and the only people who know about that is dr. Singh and Eddie ( I don’t know if dr. Singh told my parents) Eddie was the one convinced me to tell dr. Singh ( he was so worried) and it also makes my stomach hurt. But sometimes she wants people to treat her like a normal person! ( this story should have the same vibe as turtles all the way down )

Maddy McGraw

navigating 8th grade. She is anxious, introspective, and resilient. Maddy struggles with intrusive thoughts and rituals related to cleanliness, symmetry, and harm. Her friends support her, but she feels misunderstood. Her therapist, Dr. Singh, helps her cope with her condition. Maddy fears germs and contamination, especially C. diff., which affects her daily life. Despite challenges, she seeks normalcy and understanding from those around her.

Eddie Koburg

understanding, and cautious due to his own health concerns.

Isadora Quagmire

outgoing, and supportive. Isadora is part of the closeknit group that surrounds Maddy during difficult times related to her OCD.

Maddy

13yearoldgirl

Brownhair

Blueeyes

8thgrader

OCDsufferer

Symptomsinclude:

Intrusivethoughts

Ritualsrelatedtocleanliness

Ritualsrelatedtosymmetry

Ritualsrelatedtoharm

Resilient

Anxious

Introspective

Unnecessarilyguilty

Sometimesafraidtoreallybehuman

I am Maddy, and this is what it’s like to be inside me.

I know I’m not different from everybody else.

I mean, technically everybody else has things that are unique to them—things that make them them.

And I guess, in a way, this is what makes me me.

Not the brown hair, not the blue eyes, not being 13, not being in 8th grade—although all of these things are true.

But this other thing.

This thing that only the people closest to me know.

Only my parents, my therapist, and the small circle of my closest friends are aware of it.

It’s not something I like to hide, but something I wish I could hide.

Something I wish I could show somebody.

But nobody really gets it—not even the people who are supposed to.

So here it goes.

I have OCD.

Not just the "I’m a neat freak" kind or the "I like stuff orderly" kind or even the "I like symmetry and get annoyed when things are off" kind.

Although all of these things are true.

But they’re only half of it.

The other half is darker, deeper, more sinister and unhuman.

It’s the intrusive thoughts that come from nowhere and everywhere at once.

The ones that tell me I’m a bad person, that I’m going to hurt someone.

The ones that make me wash my hands until they bleed, or drink hand sanitizer, or check the stove for hours to make sure it’s off.

The ones that make me count the number of steps it takes to get to school, or the number of times I have to tap my feet before I can walk through a doorway.

The ones that make me leave class in the middle of a lesson because I can’t stop hearing them.

Like last week, when we were learning about germs in biology class and I had to leave because all I could think about was how if I touched anything, I would get C. diff.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s not something I can control.

And it’s not something that goes away easily.

Sometimes it gets worse, like when school starts getting harder and high school is just around the corner.

And sometimes it gets better, like when summer comes and there’s more time to relax and do things that make me happy.

But no matter what, it’s always there.

It’s always talking to me, always trying to convince me that I’m not good enough.

And sometimes, when I’m feeling particularly weak, it wins. During lunch period, I sit alone at my usual table near the window.

I like sitting alone during lunch because it gives me time to think and reflect on the day so far.

Sometimes my friends join me for a few minutes before they go back to their own table, but today they’re all busy with club meetings or homework or whatever else they have going on.

As I open my containers of food—leftover chicken stir-fry from last night’s dinner—I notice a girl sitting by herself at the next table over.

She has long black hair and is wearing a bright yellow dress with white flowers on it.

She looks familiar but also kind of out of place here in our cafeteria full of rows of Formica tables and fluorescent lights overhead.

I realize that she’s Amy Chen—the new girl who joined my biology class this week.

I’ve seen her around school a few times since then, but we haven’t really talked yet except for a brief introduction from our teacher during roll call yesterday morning. She catches my eye and smiles shyly at me as if she knows exactly what I’m thinking about her sitting alone at lunch too.

"Hey, Maddy, right?" Amy says, her voice soft but clear.

"Yeah, that's me," I reply, trying to sound casual despite the sudden flutter of nerves.

"I noticed you left class last week during the germ lesson... I do that sometimes too, when things get overwhelming," she confesses, her eyes meeting mine with a knowing look.

I watch as her fingers fidget with the ridges on the top of her lunch tray, tracing them over and over again.

It’s a familiar motion, one that I do myself when I’m nervous or anxious—like when I’m tapping my pencils on my desk during class.

My hands start shaking slightly as I gesture to the empty seat across from me.

"You can sit here if you want," I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

Amy hesitates for a moment before sliding onto the bench and arranging her containers of food into a precise line on the table in front of her.

Each container is exactly parallel to the edge of the table, and even her water bottle is adjusted three times until it’s aligned perfectly.

I recognize that need for order, that compulsion for alignment.