• The following links are links to prior chapters in this selection:

    Part 1 Prologue

    Part 1 Ch. 1

    Part 1 Ch. 2

    Part 1 Ch. 3

    Part 1 Ch. 4

    Part 1 Ch. 5

    Part 1 Ch. 6




    I had a dream last night.

    Of course, I always had dreams every night, but when I woke up from this one, it was still a vivid movie in my head.

    I was jumping off a cliff, for whatever reasons, innevitably about to plummet into the rushing, cold water.

    I heard a scream from behind, and I quickly looked up. There was Mary, as she reached her hand out, and quickly grabbed mine.

    I struggled to hold on. I did, but only to pull down Mary with me. And when I looked to my right, there was Mary, looking at me as well, not screaming, but mouthing something...

    It was at that moment my alarm went off, and my head jolted upward immediately. My hands clasped onto my chest. My heart was rocking the rib cage in there, but everything was still there, and I reassured myself it was just a dream. I tried to decipher it as I thought, what had she mouthed? It was difficult to tell in a dream, but I was almost sure it was "I forgive you".

    I decided to shrug it off. It was just a dream after all, and so I got out of bed, got dressed, and scurried down stairs.

    I scoffed down some Cheerios, walked over to the door, and before opening it, I turned to my mom, and said,

    "Mom..." I stared down at my shoes, glanced up, and continued a little nervously, "Bye." She looked shocked. I had never associated with her like that at my own will. She quickly got over it, smiled, and said,

    "Bye, Tom!" And with that, I was out the door, and heading towards the bus.

    People on the bus stared at me, probably fearing the worst as I bit my lip nervously. For good reason, of course, seeing I had never looked nervous before.

    "Tom..." a kid at the seat next to me started, "are you...are you all right?" I stared at the window, closed my eyes, and said uncertainly,

    "Yeah...I--I'm fine."

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    Science came quicker than I expected, and when Mary came into the room with a typed, final draft of the project, I had an unrelenting feeling of relief. But when I got up to announce an apollogy to her, she had already left the room. What had just happened? So I sat myself back down in a heap, butterflies fluttering in me as I stared at the unrehearsed project on the teacher's desk.

    Of course, I was first up to talk through my project, being that Mary had the first letter last name of the class. I just...walked up to the front of the class, took the papers, and started to read.

    "The--the human anatomy..." I looked at the class, terrified. 26 pairs of eye balls were watching me. I turned to the teacher, shook my head, and softly stuttered,

    "I'm sorry--I--I can't," to which the teacher replied, trying to sound encouraging,

    "Sure you can. Try again." I looked back at the class, and began again,

    "The human..." I trailed off, shook my head, and handed back the report to the teacher, scurrying back to my seat without saying anything. The teacher had a worried look on his face, but ignored my actions and called up the next group.

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    I was kind of worried about going out the door at the end of the day. My teacher was right there, and I was worried about what he might say. I started to creep out, but to my dread and regret, he called out,

    "Tom." I turned my head, and shuffled my feet towards him.

    "Y-yes?" I stammered, eyeing the door.

    "Your project...I was reading it well everyone else was presenting. ...It was magnificent." I wasn't surprised by that. After all, it was written by possibly one of the most intelligent people in the school. But nevertheless, I felt a feeling of relief surging through my body. Then I remembered: I hadn't contributed anything. In fact, I had destroyed the rough draft she made for me.

    "But..." I objected, "I didn't do anything. That whole report...everything was done by her. I don't--I don't think I deserve anything higher than an F." The teacher looked at me, his eyes with remorse as he replied,

    "You're probably right. But there are times--there are times when even us teachers give a little mercy. Tom, I'm giving you the A+." I felt an overwhelming heap of joy rush through as I replied,

    "Th-thank you." He just smiled at me, and said,

    "You're very welcome. Now, run off! You'll miss the bus." I did, and as I sat there on the bus, I thought to myself, How'd I ever hate those people?

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    I came home that day, not hesitating to tell my parents about the A+ I got on the project. The house seemed to parrade for just a moment, as my astonished mom attempted to lift me up and twirl me around, but of course, failed.

    And that day, I told my mom something I never told her before. As we hugged close, our tears wet and dry, I whispered into her ear,

    "I--I love you."

    But I would've never expected that the very next day something terribly tragic would traumatize my life...forever.