Anima
By James Welch
Jack Asa was only fourteen; a freshmen in high school. Life for him was about to change. A new chapter of his life, a new era to begin. It was his chance to go further with his studies and become anything he anticipated.
After a summer of partying, drugs, concerts, and abuse, everything returned back to normality with a new school year. You could almost call it a different kind of a vacation. A vacation from a vacation. For this is what Jack felt. But it only took three weeks to change his attitudes.
Jack was a very handsome young boy. He had a feeling that nobody loved him besides his family (which he doubted most of the time anyway), so his goal for that school year was to get a girlfriend who could love and cherish him, and comfort him in times of need. He almost got it; almost. A lot of girls knew he was cute and would almost die to go out with him, but the fact that no girls came up to him at all told him otherwise.
With undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder, Jack would sometimes feel highly optimistic about anything; yet extremely pessimistic about anything when he was in a period of depression. Sometimes his depression would hit him so bad that he would get thoughts of suicide. With attempted suicide twice, he still needed medical attention which his parents denied him.
But, he would get many more manic-depressive swings during this school year. For he met a girl that would change his life. For the better or the worse is up to you, but it certainly changed his life.
The girl he met was in his last, fourth period, Geometry. A class that was highly rudimentary most of the time. But, this girl was a grade higher than Jack. Making it extremely difficult to get a hold of her when he wanted to.
But on the second day of school, he finally got the nerve to talk to her after school.
??Hey!? said Jack happily.
??Hey!? replied the girl.
??There is absolutely nobody I know in my math class so I guess I want to meet new people,? he said.
The girl mad a big smile and looked at him, a sign to him that he was with a peaceful, nice person.
??What??s your name?? asked Jack.
The girl responded saying ??Victoria?.
So they were both acquainted for a little bit. At least they met each other. The first step of his objective was complete.
But, when Jack got home, he sat at his computer, and sobbed. Constantly thinking of how he could never have a girl as awesome as Victoria was. Thinking of ways to break to her that he loved her put him in more depression constantly. Which was not only bad for him, but his family as well.
Jack??s parents constantly fought but they both didn??t want a divorce. This made Jack??s life very depressing. Even though his Bipolar Disorder was genetic, nothing but his family made it extremely worse.
Jack in a bipolar mood all the time, stopped eating constantly, and even did so much as attempt to pass himself out.
But that night after he was acquainted with Victoria, he got barely any sleep. Bipolar also made him an insomniac. He kept saying to himself :
??If I ever lose you, I??d get rid of it ALL! And wish it ALL away?
But, he did get to sleep eventually and had the most prophetic of dreams he has ever had. It involved a flood, and quite coincidentally Victoria. There were at school sitting next to each other in geometry class when water broke the windows and completely submerged the classroom. Jack could see all of his homestate, California, engulfed leaving many islands near the Sierra Nevadas.
He woke up gasping and unfortunately couldn??t get back to sleep
In the time that he couldn??t get to sleep he thought about Victoria. This was pretty much the only thing that was ever on his mind.
Attempts to talk to victoria and get her telephone number constantly failed due to Jack??s cowardly attitude towards females. But he eventually did speak to her. And he broke his feelings news out quite embarrassingly.
??Hey Victoria, do you mind if we talk?? asked Jack politely.
??Of course,? said Victoria clearing way for Jack to sit next to her.
??Well I don??t know how to say it so I??m going to have to come out with it; im head over heels for you, and even though you may have a boyfriend, I still want to be friends with you,? said Jack quite slowly, and solemnly. His knee trembled in nervousness.
Victoria simply smiled and said ??Awwww!? in adoration.
??Of course you can at least be my friend, im not shallow or anything, besides your really cute!? Said Victoria.
She gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek and Jack instantly blushed. Victoria giggled at his expression and gave him another peck.
??Can I have your phone number?? asked Jack.
She abruptly wrote down her phone number as the lunch bell rang, and they both needed to go to class. They hugged each other and left.
But Jack still felt depressed most of the time. For a period of 5 days, he kept having the same exact dream. Until, the message became crystal clear to him. The dream kept expanding to earthquakes, and hurricanes. And when he saw an image of a silhouette saying ??This will happen in a week or two?, he got scared and called Victoria.
??Hey Victoria!? said Jack frightened out of his wits.
??Jack its half past four in the morning; what do you want?? said Victoria tiredly.
??It??s an emergency, I have had many scary dreams involving the same thing and I want to run away with you!? said Jack abruptly and meaningful.
??Wait why?!? asked Victoria surprised.
??California will flood, trillions of people will drown in the depths of Arizona Bay,? he said sadly practically crying on the phone, ??We can??t move the whole population, but two people will be fine!?
??Jack I??m sorry, but I can??t do this,? she said sorrowful, ??Where would we go??
??I just made plans to live with an Australian family in Queensland, they??re paying for our tickets,? he said fast, ??We have the next flight Victoria, are you coming or not!??
??I??m sorry Jack but I need sleep! Bye!?
Jack called a late night taxi cab to take him to LAX, the closest international hub.
By 5 o??clock in the morning he was headed to the land down under. When Victoria didn??t see him in the math class she was alarmed. She called his cell phone, and got a message saying his cell phone was out of service.
Until, she got an international collect call from Jack after school.
??Hey Victoria, im gonna give you my cell phone number for international collect calls, okay?? said Jack.
??Okay ill write it on my hand with permanent ink!? she said.
She wrote the number down and hung up. She was so half-asleep that night that she could barely remember why he went to Australia.
But a week later, Victoria remembered why he went to Australia. And she soon wondered if what he said was true. Would California flood? Would she survive?
In fact while she was in Geometry, the event in question happened. An earthquake with a magnitude on the Richter Scale of 9.7. THE highest im human history. The same quake could be felt in Salt Lake City, and Seattle.
The Quake being so large created numerous tsunamis which flooded all of Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. It reached all the way to Imperial County, adjacent to Arizona, and flooded the Mojave desert and Central Valley.
The biggest Catastrophe in human history killed trillions of people.
Jack was watching this ??Breaking News? on ABC in Australia, Seeing many helicopters dispatched from the National Guard and the Coast Guard.
Many people were being saved, but not enough to make up.
Jack seeing this fell in to the worst depression of his life. This one was so deplorable, he felt no more need to live.
??Victoria is dead, and I could have saved her!? He said to himself.
Thinking of how he could have saved her, but didn??t; made him feel he had no reason to live.
In doing so he took out his silenced pistol and shot himself in the head, blowing out his brains. Jack was dead. His whole life, gone in one millisecond.
But, right after he killed himself the phone rang. Being as there was nobody to pick up the phone, the answering machine picked up the call and the message said:
??Jack, its me Victoria, I survived!?. . .
