Johnson 1

Jaden Johnson

Professor Martin

English 101A-02

27 September 2021

Everyone’s Friend
My Friend Damien is probably the best roommate, and friend a person could ask for. He

was and probably still is in really good shape. I was his roommate in high school for three years

and I’ve never once seen him leave to go to the weight room or do any work outs in our room but

he’s shockingly muscular. In all probability you wouldn’t be able to tell too, because he regularly

wears large band t-shirts and regular black jeans with either a large black hoodie or or a faded

black zip up jacket. His hair was naturally brown but he usually dyed it to a jet black color and

his hairstyle would vary between being really long and able to cover his eyes or it would be cut

into a short comb over. He had some high cheekbones, brown eyes, and he was quite tan. He

used to always use this one bottle of cologne every morning. It had a very intense smell and was

usually what would wake me up. While we were roommates he always had Heaven knows I'm

Miserable by the Smiths playing whether it was on a Bluetooth speaker or his earphones. If I had

to summarize his style in one word I'd have to say it was pretty emo.

It’s funny because at first glance you’d think he’s the type to ramble on about how life

is meaningless but once you get to know him well enough you’ll come to find out that he’s

actually very upbeat, funny and sometimes annoyingly sarcastic. He was quite the interesting

person, he would be there when me or my other roommate were stressed about something. He

used to just generally speak whatever was on his mind which also got him in trouble quite a lot.
 Johnson 2

He was really funny and would tell jokes a lot and the timing on his jokes were perfect. I

remember this one time while we were waiting on a trip to the local grocery store, two guys

were about to fight in front of us they were shouting in each other’s face but then when the dorm

staff who was gonna take us walked outside, we all got quiet then Damien said “so how about

that weather” it may not sound that funny but at the time hearing that after the awkward silence

from the tense situation it just made me start laughing. He had some kind of unspoken bond with

a lot of people, to where they don’t talk or hang out with him but respect him enough not to mess

with him.

Damien had a rough upbringing, He grew up in White River on the White Mountain

Apache Reservation during the early years of his life. For him growing up wasn’t easy because it

was just him, his older siblings and his mom by themselves. His father left his family before he

was born so his mother had to work two separate jobs in order to make sure that they had the

necessities to survive. After he was born they stayed on the reservation for a few more years until

they moved in with his aunt's family in Mesa,Az. He described living in White River as “the

most boring time of his life” he said that because the only things to do was go to school or stay

home and do nothing. He couldn’t watch Tv or play games because his family couldn’t afford

anything other than food and rent. He didn’t have many friends outside of school because the

nearest kid lived about 7 miles out. Once his family moved to Mesa his mom was able to share

the expenses with his aunt and he and his siblings were introduced to a whole new world as he

describes it. He described Mesa as a whole new world to him because it was his first time being

away from the Reservation so he was astounded by all the new cars, lights, and buildings.

However what he didn’t know was all the dangers that came with moving into the city.

After we went our separate ways when he dropped out of high school he managed to get a job at
 Johnson 3

IHOP, move into a new apartment with his family, save up some money to fly to his girlfriend,

and things were really looking up for him. At the same time he started talking to this shady guy

who lived a few blocks away from him. This guy really manipulated Damien into doing

recreational drugs like marijuana, Xanax, Wax pens and drinking alcohol but I suppose that

wasn’t enough because after only a few months they got their hands onto hardcore drugs such as

Cocane, and Meth. After doing these drugs he lost his job due to him missing too many days

from staying up all night partying, his family did not want to see him that way so they told him

to clean up his act or be kicked out so he ignored their warning and continued his reckless

behavior. He also ruined his relationship with not only girlfriend but his friends by cutting them

because he was paranoid that they were conspiring against him due to his new lifestyle. He truly

believed that he was all alone when in fact we were still there for him, we managed to get in

contact with his mom and she told us that she believed it was too late and that he was too far

gone but didn’t want to give up on him so we asked his mom to help us convince him to be

submitted into a rehabilitation program.

While in the rehab center me and my other friends wrote letters to him just so he knew

we were there. He even managed to fix things between his relationship with not just his

girlfriend but the rest of his family. He spent exactly a year and a half in the rehabilitation center.

After he was released we all talked in a party chat and he was telling us these stories of what

went on when he was a user and what the treatment center was like. He mentioned how he would

not want to wish what happened to him upon anyone else. Couple weeks after being out of

rehabilitation he took in a stray cat he named Toast.Toast was an orange tabby with white stripes

that had white underbelly. Toast actually played a big role in him completely staying away from

drugs because he gave a lot of his attention to him and made sure he wasn’t a stray anymore.
 Johnson 4

After his release I also asked him whether he considers himself a good person after what

happened and why he does. For his answer he actually quoted Paarthanax surprisingly when he

said “What is better, to be born good or overcome your evil nature through great effort”. He said

he liked to use this quote to describe the aftermath of him being out of rehab because previously

it was one of his favorite quotes. While he was out he was back to the way he used to be before

he was in, everyone was shocked but also glad that he’s better now.

Works cited

Damien. Voice chat interview. 27. Sept 2021.

Paarthanax. Quoted. 27 Sept. 2021.