On quiet nights in West Chicago, 14-year-old Jade Velazquez transforms her room into a world of imagination, typing away to create spine-chilling thrillers. Her latest idea? A protagonist so obsessed with her love interest that she skins him to become him—a story as gripping as Jade’s own journey through writing, cheerleading, and resilience

Velazquez’s most prominent passion is writing – specifically, she loves to write thrillers or anything that revolves around gore.

“All my stories are very like, romance-inspired, but then they like turn into gore,” Velazquez said.

For instance, her next thriller idea involves a protagonist who becomes so obsessed with her current love interest that she goes to the length of wanting to be him and eventually kills him – skins him and makes a body suit for herself in order to literally be him.

Velazquez does not often share her hobby with others.

“I really love to write and I do not talk about it a lot because, to me, it is something really sacred,” Velazquez said.

Another story Velazquez wrote consists of romance and gore as well, the protagonist goes through an excruciating breakup and realizes that she can’t be happy without her boyfriend, when she sees him with another girl she decides to kill him and drag his lifeless corpse around with her pretending as if he was still alive- until one day she gets tired of him and leaves him on the side of the road to be “roadkill”.

Although Velazquez loves to write about gore and all about death, she hates the concept of dying.

“I feel like I’m so scared of doing stuff because I don’t want to die. I think death is just an insane thing – and I don’t know why people go out of their way to do stuff that gets you in trouble.” Velazquez said.

Walking paradox.

Since she considers her writing a holy grail for her, only a few people know about these stories nor does Velaquez talk about them much. Later in life, she hopes to write- whether as a hobby, full-time or part-time job.

“I wanted to be an author..but money..but maybe write books about my past, like memoirs and whatnot,” Velazquez said.

To fit into her creepy and gorey aesthetic Velazquez also enjoys exploring abandoned places, including abandoned prisons/jails or schools and churches.

“My favorite time of the year to go visit the Joliet abandoned prison is in the summer when they have car meets there. My family and I participate with our cars and check out the prison while we’re there.” Velazquez said.

Perhaps writing complex characters provides an outlet for Velasquez, and allows her to explore what drives other people, subconsciously. Having struggled with mental health herself, Velazquez finds interest in analyzing others and evaluating them, really getting to understand why humans – specifically, those around her – act the way they do.

“Seventh grade was the worst year of my life…I was diagnosed with depression and social anxiety.” Velazquez said.

“I started not caring about school…I’m not that person.” Velazquez said.

Velazquez was an all-honors, straight-A student but when she was going down a dark path that all came crashing down as well. She was grounded and lost all trust from her parents.

Despite the heartbreak, parental troubles, academic difficulties, and friendship losses, she still clings to the saying “Everything happens for a reason.”

For a while after her diagnosis, she had trouble accepting it. Depression is typically seen as an illness that takes away any motivation and energy that one used to have, for some people that is very true. For Velazquez, it couldn’t be further from.

“What’s it called? High functioning depression…I’m sad, but I can get my stuff done. I am still going to get up in the morning.” Velazquez said.

Even after the tests came back positive and they gave her, her results she still hadn’t fully processed it and even went through a point where she thought she was faking it.

“I do not think Jade gives herself enough credit for what she completes in a day: in her mind, she is just doing what she needs to do,” Velazquez’s eighth-grade algebra teacher, Karen Rummel, said.

Velazquez has had a significant impact on those around her and continues to do so every day.

“Sometimes you’re like, ‘Oh my God, that happened to me, but it was not that bad.’ Just like, ‘I’m overreacting,’” Velazquez said.

Velazquez faced a difficult period in her life where she struggled to believe her challenges were as severe as others made them out to be. At the same time, her family was also experiencing significant turmoil.

“Yeah, me and my mom, we actually had a really bad relationship at that time. She kicked me out,” Velazquez said. “And everybody in my family just hated each other, because at the time, my brother was in trouble too.”

After that whole debacle that was her seventh-grade year, although it was a slow process, it was still a process of getting her grades back in good shape and getting back to being a good student.

After the challenges of her seventh-grade year, Velazquez slowly worked to improve her grades and get back on track as a student. However, everything came crashing down again in eighth grade when a new group of friends made her life miserable.

“I met the worst friend group of my life. Oh, my God, it’s a cult,” Velazquez said.

She explained how they excluded her, and her attempt to address the issue led to rumors that destroyed her friendships. On top of battling depression and rebuilding her grades, Velazquez now had to navigate typical teenage drama, making her eighth-grade year equally challenging

Even though her eighth-grade year was a little rocky she managed to get her life back on track, little by little.

Her relationship with her mom, even though it’s not rainbows and butterflies, had gotten much better.

Velazquez had and still has a very mature way of viewing the problems around her and tries to understand or empathize with her family.

“Seeing my family as, not just my family. Like it makes you think oh they’re actually people too, they’re going through stuff too,” said Velazquez.

Others around her explain time and time again how mature Velazquez is.

“She has a very mature ability to look at school and life and make the decisions that will best fit her in the future,” Rummel said.

Academics are not the only area in which Velazque thrives.

“She is incredibly intelligent, not just academically but logically and emotionally. She truly understands people for who they are,” sophomore Nick Ojeda a close friend of Velasquez, said.

Although she has a strong passion for her writing and philosophical thinking, there are man

y layers to her other than her unique taste for gore and never-ending existential thoughts. Most of Velazquez’s spare time is actually taken up by cheerleading practices and tournaments.

“I am definitely a cheerleader…like at heart,” Velazquez said.

She started cheerleading when she was in seventh grade and has done it ever since. As a freshman, she began participating in competitive cheer. Despite its challenges, Velazquez finds joy in cheerleading, viewing it as a source of happiness worth pursuing. She is a base for the flyer, with her height at 4’11 she sometimes has trouble working out the citation when the flyer is very tall or when the other bases are taller than her it is harder to coordinate.

“Yeah, but you know what? You have to really do it for you,” Velazquez said.

Her experiences in cheer have taught Velazquez many valuable lessons that she can use in the real world, as well. From tough teammates to the struggle of academics and athletics.

“It’s definitely something I had to deal with and learn. You’re not always going to like who you work with,” Velazquez said.

Like any sport, cheerleading has its ups and downs according to Velazquez: nonetheless, she loves cheering, and she hopes to keep doing it.

“I don’t think I could be as good as anything…like if not cheer, I definitely like- sports-wise, cheer is what I am good at,” Velazquez said.

On the outside, Velazquez might not seem like the most talkative and outgoing person, but once others get to know her, she can be quite the opposite.

“I try to get done what is due first and really refrain from choosing past times that block my attention, so rather than being on my phone I try to do my work first,” Velazquez said.

As an honors student and, at heart, a bit of a goody-two-shoes, Velazquez strives to excel in her academics, knowing her future depends on it.

“I think what drives her is almost a fear, a fear of not being prepared for her future,” Ojeda said.

Although Velazquez once struggled with her grades and went through a period where school felt unimportant, she has since pushed through that challenge. Now, she works every day to maintain straight A’s and stay on track to achieve her dreams.

“I wanted to be a journalist… I wanted to be a psychologist too. I want to be a psychologist,” Velazquez said.

Velazquez has had a profound impact on those around her and continues to do so every day.

“Jade gave me my life. I simply wouldn’t be here if she had never come into my life. It’s probably odd that one person could have such a major impact on another person’s life, but it’s true,” Ojeda said.

Many of the people around her – friends and teachers alike – believe in her potential and admire her determination.

“Keep your head up, Jade. Keep working hard and maintaining such a strong, positive outlook. There is nothing you cannot accomplish with your impeccable work ethic. Keep reaching and leveling up in all aspects of life,” Rummel said.