A special shout-out to my readers that commented that they suspected bullying as the root of Maddy’s mystery.
Here is what happened:
Maddy’s mother brought her to the doctor, who also confirmed that he didn’t find anything physically wrong with Maddy. Her mother was confused, but was determined to find out what was going on with her daughter. When Maddy wasn’t home, her mother went into her room to looked for clues. She went through her drawers for notes and couldn’t find any. Then she turned on her laptop and reviewed her internet search history. She came upon her facebook page and noticed that someone by the name of Sierra had been posting foul things on her wall. She read, “You are fatter than the fattest woman in the world was at your age, you should just die.” When she tried to find out who Sierra was, she couldn’t trace her.
When Maddy got home, her mother told her what she had done. Maddy was furious. After several days, she confided in her mother that this girl had been cyber-bullying her for several months and the two of them tracked Sierra down. Maddy’s mother called the girl and her mother and went to their home to confront them. What ensued was not pretty.
Sierra agreed to leave Maddy alone and after several weeks, her stomach aches disappeared and her grades began improving. Sierra, it turns out, was in the other sixth grade class at Maddy’s school.