What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen

by Kate Fagan

In a backward way, the worst thoughts actually calmed her. They were reassuring, like knowing that there was a secret escape route in case the room caught fire.

But there is no one thing. There are rivers that merge and create a powerful current. And we can’t fully know why they all merged, right then, right there, around Maddy. Still, we can try to analyze each one, the way it bends and curves, what it turns into when it blends with another. We can do this, learn everything we can, how to talk to others about their pain or our own, in the hope that fewer people get caught in this same, fierce swirl.