Visits from Jim

Walking the dark, rainy streets alone tonight I saw something completely out of the ordinary. It was Halloween so when I saw weird things, I assumed it was just because of what day it is. But tonight, there was a clown. Not a happy circus clown but a terrifying, sad, pale clown. He was sitting straight ahead of me on an old park bench, just staring straight ahead. Right at me. Why were the people in the park not reacting to this clown, don’t they see the danger?

I see one man, look in the direction of the clown, I thought maybe that meant that he was finally noticing him. No. The man was just pointing out cute Halloween costumes to his wife. That’s the moment I noticed the strange woman hovering around the clown. She looked as if she was somewhere between human and monster. Green/yellow skin, stringy hair, angry eyes, nothing about her looked nice or safe. But still, no one noticed them.

I realized I stopped walking, I had just been standing there, staring at the clown. Suddenly, the clown slowly began to rise from his bench. The woman followed. As they reached entrance to the park, my palms got clammy and my heart sped up. Had they noticed my staring? What was going to happen? The pair slowly approached me and I felt my breath catch. I still hadn’t moved, I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed with fear but at the same time I was filled with curiosity.

Somehow, the couple knew my name. “Hello Jamie. You need to come with us.” So I did. I was no longer in control of my actions, it was as if I was taken over. I followed them, back through the park, and we ended up in an alley. The things I see in the alley were far scarier than the clown or the woman.

In the center of the alley there was a large fire started. Old crates and boxes sat around the fire, meant to be chairs. Sitting in these chairs were seven different people. All of them were different ages, and none looked similar in any way. How did they choose us? Why did they choose us? Without thinking, I took a seat. Next to me was a young girl, probably twelve years old. She was dressed as a cat, her skin sickly white and her eyes were glowing red. I reached out to her and touched her shoulder, needing my questions to be answered. Her skin was icy cold and as I touched her she slowly turned her head, it made a creaky noise, like an old rocking chair would make. As she looked at me she whispered “Don’t touch me. Don’t speak. The quiet will keep you alive.” Her eyes went from red to solid black. As soon as she finished speaking, the clown’s partner yanked her out of her seat and threw her into the fire. No one even reacted to this. I began quietly crying but no one else seemed to notice.

            The clown stands up and announces, “My name is Jim. You are all just part of my game. Do what I say and you may live. Try to save each other and you’ll end up just like our little friend just did.” He continues to just stare at us. He makes his way around the circle, introducing all of us. He knows every detail of our lives, from the time we were born until now. That’s when I realize hes been watching us for far longer than I knew. One question I cant get rid of is, why me? What did I do to deserve this? Am I going to live?

            Jim approaches me and that’s when he bends down, inches away from my face. His cold, pale blue eyes are staring straight into mine. I can smell his breath that reeks of cigarette smoke mixed with alcohol. I notice there is blood splattered on his face and his breathing is heavy. He whispers, “This can all be over if you’d just open your eyes.” Right after he says this, his eyes go black, just like the girl that now is in the fire. Bugs start crawling out of the holes where his eyes belong. Blood is running down his face from his nose and his mouth. As he opens his mouth, nothing but a blood curdling scream escapes. He screams and screams.

            Suddenly, I feel something jerking my body. I hear a faint cry, “Jamie! Jamie! Get up!”  The screaming cuts out. I sit up in an abrupt way and look right into my mothers eyes. She’s crying and yells “Oh Jamie! It was just a bad dream! I’ve never heard you scream so loudly!”

            I hugged my mother and told her it was all okay. She leaves my room and I think all is going to okay. I rolled over to go back to sleep and right before I close my eyes, I catch a glimpse of something moving in my closet. I know I closed that door before I went to sleep, I always do. I open my eyes and that when I see him. Jim is standing in the doorway of my closet, grinning down at me.

Halloween Questions

The best costume I ever wore was…

Last year I decided I didn’t want a normal costume, one I could just go buy. I got a little bored and started looking online for DIY costume ideas. I ended up finding one that I found interesting. A bubble bath. I immediately knew that’s what I wanted to be. My friend was having a Halloween party and the best costume won a prize so obviously I was determined to win. I love DIY projects and Halloween is by far my favorite day so this was the perfect opportunity for me. I went to Hobby Lobby and got all the stuff I needed. I went home and worked on my tutu, adding bubbles and rubber ducks as I went. After I had finished the tutu it just still wasn’t enough. I had to add a little headband. I took a normal headband, added some tulle for the water and a little rubber duck. The costume was a success. It was unique and I won a prize. The only downfall is Hannah’s yard slowly collected half of the rubber ducks that were from my skirt.

What are your favorite Halloween treats? What is the best one you ever received?

As much as I love chocolate, my favorite candy will always be skittles. Getting even one little bag of skittles on Halloween can make my night perfect. All of the people that live in the little neighborhood behind me always get full sized candy for the neighborhood kids. They caught on some point during the ten years that we have lived in that neighborhood that I love love love skittles. My favorite old couple gave me a huge bag of skittles one year and it absolutely made my life. My logic is, I can eat as many skittles as I want because they are fruit flavored, so they cant be that unhealthy. When it comes to my favorite chocolate Halloween 

candy, I love getting milky ways. Honestly now all I really want is to go trick or treating and get a bunch of candy.

Best Halloween I’ve Ever Had

I’m not going to write about one of my past Halloween experiences because honestly most of them have been lame. My parents are super strict and I don’t get a lot of freedom and this is the first year that I really am. I’m basically convinced that this is going to be the best Halloween ever. My bestfriend and I are still getting dressed up and we’re going trick or treating because why not? It’s free candy and eventually we wont even have the chance to go anymore. I have to work Halloween but as soon as I’m off we are going house to house just like we’re little kids. After we get a decent amount of candy we are having a scary movie marathon while eating all of the candy. Probably going to end up sick to our stomachs and scaring ourselves past the point of being able to sleep, but that’s half the fun. I love Halloween more than anything and I’m so beyond excited.

Falling to the Beat of The Music (Free write)

Falling in love to the sound of the music swelling around us

We've never felt quite as wonderful as we do tonight.

I can see the fear in his eyes

The fear of falling

The fear of not being caught

Broken hearts and broken promises make it hard for both of us to fall

He repeats over and over “You don’t see me.”

But I do, I see him, I see through him.

We talk for hours and hours and I see it all

All of the pain, all of the happiness, the stories, the dreams.

All of it.

As the night races on, we talk and laugh and fall deeper and deeper

The music picks up

Hearts racing fast

No matter where this night leads, I’ll never forget it

Falling in love 

Lyric Shuffle

Even when I was down on my knees,

When I was at my worst,

I was there for you.

So I wonder where you were...

You took me over, you were the magic in my veins

Oh baby why did you run away?

I like to think we had it all.

All the roads you took came back to me.

But I couldn’t make you stay.

But I’ll be alright.

Music Interview

I asked three teachers the same questions and surprisingly got very similar answers. Both Mrs. Abromovitz and Ms. Peck listen to 106.7 when they’re in the car. Ms. Peck always sings along but Mrs. A will only sing along when her kids aren’t with her(they wont let her sing.) I listen to the radio way too loudly when I drive. I listen to any station that plays music honestly. I get tired of hearing ads so I scan through channels and when I hear a song that has potential to be decent, I’ll listen. I always sing along, even though I can’t sing. 

Mrs. Peterson answered what kind of music reminded her of her childhood and she answered with 80’s music and heavy metal bands, which is also what Ms. Peck said. I think it’s funny that they think of 80’s music when they think of their childhood and I think of Jonas brothers when I think of mine.

When asked what music reminded her of someone you love, Ms. Peck had two different answers. For Josh, which is her bae, she said Miss You In A Heartbeat by Def Leppard. When she was thinking of her children she said Simple Man reminded her of them. She didn’t really give any reasoning. When I think of music that reminds me of people, I could list so many songs. My best friend and I jam out to so many songs regularly that any time I hear that song I immediately think of them. I think of my mom anytime I hear Blister in The Sun by the Violent Femmes because that was her ringtone for multiple years. She and I used to drive around blaring that and screaming the lyrics. Honestly my mom doesn’t have awful music taste, but I’d never tell her that. 

Music Post

I don't think I have a favorite song. I have a playlist of songs labled "favorites" and theres literally hundreds of songs there. I'm way too indecisive to have one favorite. I do have favorite artists, including Kodaline, SWS, He is We, and Ed Sheeran. I just really like all of those because all of them have some major memories that go along with them. I dislike music as easily as I fall in love with music. If a song has a bad memory connected to it, I automatically hate it. Honestly most songs that I hate are songs that are fairly popular with my friends. I'm picky about how I think things should sound and I really don't like songs that are too repetitive or have no meaning. I say I dont like repetitive songs but I really love the song Heal by Tom Odell which is just the same few lines sung over and over, but the song is gold.

My taste in music has gotten so much better the older I get. I used to listen to just whatever everyone else listens to, but I finally learned to find my own kind of music. My music taste is extremely wide spread. I don't really have a type of music I listen to, I just have certain artists and songs I like. I like music that has deeper meanings or music that can be interpreted however I want it to be.

My friends don't listen to the same music as me which can lead to problems during long car rides or parties we're hosting together. Hannah and I have recently butted heads on this. She refuses to listen to anything but country music, and don't get me wrong, that's fine. But sometimes I need a break from songs about trucks and alcohol and girls. I have a small obsession with Cold Play, and by small I mean extremely large obsession. None of my friends will listen to Cold Play and I honestly have no idea why. I love love love Ed Sheeran and I could listen to him forever, but it seems like no one else that I hang out with is as in love with his voice as I am. There's just something about how passionately he sings that makes me love him even more. I'm really open to new music and artists and will listen to basically anything, but some of my friends are so close minded. I don't think listening to different kinds of music really means anything. People like different things and that doesn't change anything.

I honestly think music has the power to heal. Sometimes people can hear one chorus or lyric and it can totally change their perspective of everything. I know that music can change my mood in a matter of seconds. I also have heard so many stories of music helping heal people not only emotionally but physically. Sometimes music is all they need to pull through and be strong. I think music has a lot more power than most people realize.

I am absolutely awful at singing but I also love to sing. I'm loud and obnoxious but it's so fun. For the longest time I actually wanted to play my violin professionally but I lost interest in that solely because of teachers. It's also so hard to go anywhere with that kind of music because there are so many great players. I stopped caring and eventually even quit orchestra. The fact that I have major stage fright is also a huge factor as to why I could never sing or be a musician. That and the lack of talent.

Movie Post

My favorite movie is Peter Pan and it has always been that. To be honest, I used to have a huge crush on Peter even though it was just an animated character. I think it’s just a super cute movie and I’ve always been crazy obsessive over it.
I don’t really care for action movies because watching the constant movements and loud sounds hurts my eyes and my ears. I find those so incredibly predictable too. Most plots are basically the same, there are bad guys that get shot or killed by the good guy. Normally there’s some girl involved and always a lot of cursing and blood and guts.
I watch movies frequently because I basically have no life outside of work. Han and I watch movies every time I’m at her house, we just normally don’t actually watch them. We play them for background noise.
SURVEY
YOU ARE 42% EXTRAVERTED.You are moderate in activity and enthusiasm. You enjoy the company of others but you also value your privacy.
YOU ARE 25% AGREEABLE. You are hard-headed, sceptical, proud and competitive. You tend to express your anger directly.
YOU ARE 50% CONSCIENTIOUS.
You are dependable and moderately well-organised. You generally have clear goals and are able to set goals aside.
YOU ARE 25% EMOTIONALLY STABLE.
You are sensitive, emotional and prone to experience feelings that are upsetting.
YOU ARE 58% OPEN TO NEW EXPERIENCES.
You are practical but willing to consider new ways of doing things. You try to seek a balance between the old and the new.
My life would be such a boring movie because I wouldn’t feel comfortable enough to share my whole life story with the world or even a few people. Only my closest friends even know much about me. My thoughts and feelings and drama could all be extremely interesting in movie form. It would be a drama movie with lots of happiness but also some sad points. I don’t know if anyone would actually want to watch that movie though.

Dan in Real Life Questions

2. Some tips that parents need to take into consideration are simply to remember what it’s like to be a kid. That could be branched off into so many pieces of advice. Kids are going to make mistakes and sometimes parents forget that and expect us to be perfect. This means parents need to try and be patient. Yelling doesn’t help the situation at all, it just makes things tense and uncomfortable. Freaking out about everything is just going to push your kids away. But a final tip is that parents need to be the parent, not a friend to their kids. Don’t be overly protective and strict but also don’t be too relaxed that your kids are going to take advantage of you. The best tip is to find a happy medium of strict and relaxed.
7. I don’t think that you can love someone in three days. I believe that in three days you can develop feelings for someone but love is a little extreme. In order to love someone I feel like you’d need to know a lot about a person. Three days isn’t long enough to figure out all of somebody’s little quirks and annoying habits. Until you can know a persons faults and still want to be with them, I feel like it isn’t love. Three days is basically throwing yourself into a relationship and I feel as though there should be a friend/getting to know each other stage. Three days is long enough to care, but not love.
12. Illicit love is so much more appealing to most people but it also depends on the person. Illicit love is exciting and rebellious. Some people love the idea of something predictable and easy and that’s why they don’t like the idea of “forbidden” love. I think I like the idea of illicit love just because its something unpredictable and exciting. You never know what’ll happen and that’s fun.
27. Teenagers are hard on their parents, but it’s because parents are way too hard on their teenagers. Parents are constantly expecting way too much of us. We struggle to balance school, work and a social life and our parents cant seem to understand that. Things are different now than they were when our parents were teenagers but they don’t see it that way. Anything that goes wrong seems to be the teenagers fault and in retaliation we tend to freak out at our parents. I understand our parents are just trying to keep us safe and be the best parents they can be but sometimes they just go about it all wrong. We don’t mean to be so hard on our parents but sometimes all of the stress just builds up and we can’t handle it anymore.
28. I will admit to being someone that tends to get way too attached way too quickly and that leads to me struggling to move on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not obsessive over my exes or anything. I’m really bad about moving on from old friendships. If a girl and I stop talking, I still feel like it’s my job to check up on them and make sure they’re okay. That ends up hurting me anyway because I care and they don’t. I care too much and that’s the issue. I definitely struggle to get over things.

Georgia O'Keefee

Georgia Totto O’Keffee was born November 15^th, 1887. She was born in Wisconsin. Her parents Francis and Ida were both dairy farmers. Georgia had six siblings. She had decided what she wanted to do with her life by the time she was ten. She wanted to become an artist. She took art classes from a local woman named Sara Mann. She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from in 1905- 06. Then in 1907, she went to the Art Students League in New York City. In 1908, she won a large prize for an oil painting called Dead Rabbit with Copper Pot. She painted a lot using water colors as well. She actually took a break from painting for four years kind of just to take time to find herself. In 1912 she began again.

O’keeffee did all kinds of art. Most of it from what I found seemed to be of flowers or nature. She used a lot of water color and oil paints but she also used charcoal. She had many exhibits and there is a museum in her name. O’Keefee married an artist as well, just a photographer instead of a painter. He took many images of Georgia. Georgia was extremely influential in the art world.

Pillow

I’m your average teenage girl. I have an amazing best friend, I drive, I work, I have crushes. I am different too though. So very different. It’s hard for a girl to have a normal life in New York, a city that comes alive at night, when I can’t force myself to stay awake half of the time. I have a disorder that doesn’t allow me to stay awake. It’s like the opposite of insomnia.
Tonight was different for the first time ever. I actually woke up, and I decided that I was going out. I had let this disease, if you’d even call it that, control my life. I gave up trying honestly. But not anymore. I deserve a normal life. After high school, I want to be remembered as more than just Addison, the girl who sleeps all of the time. From now on, Im going to be fun. Im going to try new things and have new adventures. In thirty years, I can always just lay in bed and sleep, but I won’t have high school and all of my teenage years back in thirty years, so I need to stop wasting time.
As I got out of bed tonight, I looked back and saw the mark my head left on the pillow. I smile, and realize tonight really is a new beginning.

Reading/book inspired

This feeling of guilt may never go away. I’ve tried so incredibly hard to forget about the accident. Forget that it’s all my fault. Maybe if I would just admit to what happened, some of this guilt would go away. Maybe I’d be able to eat and sleep again. Maybe I’d be able to close my eyes without seeing the scene of the accident. Maybe then I would be able to look at myself in the mirror and not hate what I see. But how can I admit to this? How can I admit that it’s my fault that four innocent people are dead? Who wants to be known as Courtney, the girl that accidentally murdered her best friends?

                I shouldn’t have been driving the night of the accident. It was storming and I was a new driver. I knew I wasn’t comfortable with the weather but all of my friends wanted to go to the party. I wanted to feel cool for once so of course I took them. Mistake after mistake. I couldn’t legally have four extra people in my car. But I didn’t care. The party was fine I guess. Some of my friends had way too much to drink and I thought I was okay after a few small drinks. We decided to leave the party around 1:30, which of course was past my legal curfew. I was driving around just trying to sober up I guess. The storm was still as strong as before. I couldn’t see. I hit a sign and knocked it over. I didn’t think anything of it. I didn’t know what it was and I didn’t think it would be important. I kept driving around and around. Going on the same roads over and over again.

                I drove down Lincoln road at least six times earlier that night, little did I know, the seventh time would be the last time I’d ever take that route again. All of us were laughing and listening to music, talking about anything and everything. We were all best friends. Claire, Courtney, Cassidy, Catelyn and Casey. The five C’s. Always together, always having such a great time. I drove through the intersection without stopping, there was no sign so why would I stop? That’s when my entire world stopped.

                I heard the most horrendous sound. Glass shattering, metal bending, screams, cries, and then the scariest of all, silence. There was nothing but the sound of my own shallow, quickened breathing. That’s when I realized what had happened. I had wrecked my car. But how? I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Why was my car upside down? Why aren’t my friends talking? What was dripping down my face? Later I would find out the answers to all of that.

                That sign I knocked over earlier that night? It was a stop sign. That intersection I ran? Another car was turning while I continued to go, speeding of course. None of my friends had their seatbelts on which was normal for us. I for some reason decided to wear mine that night. Which is the only thing that saved my life after my car flipped three times. The stuff dripping down my face was blood. Not my own either. I turned around to see Casey and Claire. Claire was unconscious, and Casey was looking at me with so much fear in her eyes. I could tell she was struggling to speak to me, tears running down her face. She opened her mouth but no words came out. Her eyes closed and that was the last time I ever saw my best friend alive. I remember that’s when I started screaming. We needed help. I couldn’t see Catelyn and Cass was already gone just like Casey. I tried so hard to get out of the seat. I couldn’t move. My seatbelt was stuck and I couldn’t help them.

                After what felt like years, I finally heard sirens. I saw the police and ambulance drive up. All of them ran the opposite way. I kept screaming, wanting them to notice me. Help me. Help Casey, Claire and Cass. That’s when I watched them cover a body up, hundreds of yards away. I couldn’t process that it could be Catelyn. How would she get that far away? No. It couldn’t be her. Finally they came to help us. I could feel myself fading in and out of consciousness. I vaguely remember hearing “we’re gonna need more body bags over here.” That’s when I faded out.

I woke up in a hospital bed. I was surrounded by my family and a few of my friends. The first thing to cross my mind were the girls. I needed to find them. “Daddy. Where are they? I need them.” He just looked down and slowly shook his head.

“NO DAD. NO. YOURE LYING. THEYRE FINE. WHERE ARE THEY?”

I tried to jump out of bed. I was hysterically crying, screaming, trying to understand. My dad and brother held me down. My mother cried watching me struggle and left the room. My dad just kept repeating “its okay Court. Its okay. I love you.” Over and over again. It isn’t okay. How can someone love a murderer?

To be continued…

Newspaper

“Feelings Still Raw”

Four years after the accident and it still feels like it happened yesterday. I remember that call, the call telling me that I’ll never see my husband alive again, I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. Our story ended up in every newspaper around the area. John, my husband, would have loved that. He would have loved being a local celebrity. I only wish he was around to experience it. All the papers said he was a hero, which I always knew to begin with. He was always my hero. Four years, and I’m still struggling to figure out how to live without him.

John was a firefighter. He grew up wanting to be one, and right before we got married he became one. I always knew how dangerous the job was, just never wanted to think something would happen to him. He was a healthy, strong, young man. Totally invincible. Or so I thought. He managed to go eleven years without incident. Who knew his first incident would be his last.

We sat down for breakfast that morning and everything was fine. Then he got the call. I wish he would have ignored that call. He was off duty. He didn’t have to go. But John always took every call. There was an apartment complex on fire right around the corner. He went to help of course. It was what was supposed to be a normal job. Apparently they didn’t thoroughly check the building. A woman came running up to John that day. She ran a daycare in her apartment and all seven of the children were trapped inside. The building was so close to collapsing, everyone knew that. John had to save those kids though, and he did. He got every one of them out, he just didn’t make it out in time.

The apartments fell. Crashing down on my husband, the love of my life. All while I sat at home drinking my room temperature coffee, reading a book, wishing he’d hurry up so we could go furniture shopping like we had planned. About eleven is when the phone rang. “Mrs. Gray, there’s been an accident.” That’s all I needed to hear. Four years later and I still cringe every time the phone rings. Four years later and the feelings are so incredibly raw.

A Strange Day in July -Harris Burdick

               Jenna and Nathan had been friends for practically forever. They shared the same birthday and had always celebrated together, their tenth birthday was no different. Being ten, the two couldn’t really do much on their own so they did what they always did, explore. Having little adventures and finding new secret places was their favorite way to spend their time. Out of every place they had ever found, a little pond on the outskirts of a lilac field was there absolute favorite.

               Jen and Nath had stumbled upon the pond one day on the way home from school. They had loads of homework so they figured they could stall by adventuring. When they came to the field full of lilac, Nathan immediately wanted to turn around. He claimed if any of the guys saw him there that he’d be made fun of for the rest of his life. Jenna convinced him by batting her crystal blue eyes at him and twirling her blonde ringlets.  Jen always got what she wanted. They began their adventure.

               The second they started their trek through the lilacs its like they entered a brand new world. The sky that was dreary before was suddenly bright and sunny, the hot thick air was suddenly cooler and delightful. A symphony of birds began chirping and hundreds of butterflies began flying around. The mood lightened and Nathan was no longer concerned about who saw him. The two began to run through the field, screaming and laughing. After running for ages they stopped abruptly, almost running straight into the pond. The pond was a clear blue color, so clean, the same shade as Jens crystal blue eyes. Small gold fish swam near the surface, not even phased by the two children peering down on them. The pond was pretty yes, but nothing too special. Jen for some reason however was convinced that it was magical. Nathan always believed she was crazy…until their tenth birthday.

               The day had started off boring and they couldn’t think of anywhere to go except their little pond. As the raced through the field like always, they started to notice there were large footprints everywhere. Not large as in adult, large as in a non human creature. At first they just blew it off, not wanting to ruin their birthday by worrying about it. They began noticing bare patches in the lilac field. That’s when the concern turned to anger. Who else knew about their secret place? Who would ruin such a beautiful field? They sat by the pond while pondering this. Nathan angrily threw a pebble into the pond. Less than three seconds later Jen cried out. “NATHAN WHY WOULD YOU THROW A PEBBLE AT ME?” Nathan of course had no idea what she was talking about, considering he threw it directly into the pond. “Jen, I didn’t do anything. I threw it in the pond, just like this.” He threw a second pebble in the bond, and this time, it came back and hit HIM. The two were so confused and Nathan decided to try one more time. He threw with all his might, but the third rock came skipping back.

               That’s when things began to change. The July sky turned black, the pond began to bubble and the lilacs began to wilt. The two ten year old ran as quick as they could to get away. As the ran they heard a deep, raspy laugh coming from deep within the pond. Pebbles whizzed past their heads and bodies, missing them by centimeters. The two returned the next day to see what had happened, when they reached the spot the field had always been, there was nothing. A parking lot was sitting there, the pavement crumbling from old age. The two never saw the pond again and never knew what actually happened that day.