Jeremy

This is based on a true story, and also Pearl Jam's song entitled "Jeremy"1

Some of the names have been changed in this story, and let me assure you, it is not pre-written.  I hope that it doesn't effect your judgment due to the absence of dialogue.  The story itself had no real place for dialogue, especially since it had to be of a reasonable length.  I had a hard enough time painting the picture of this kid's life in such a small amount of space, thank you, I hope you enjoy.  Crackertl822

It was 7:00 AM.  The alarm clock was buzzing loudly into Jeremy’s ear, only for him to press the snooze button once again.  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was out, the sky was blue, and the sounds of birds singing echoed through the damp morning air.  Morning time is rough on the majority of today’s youth.  The anticipation of long drawn out lectures, pop quizzes, and the everlasting desire for social acceptance is almost too much for some to bare.  Morning time was especially difficult for Jeremy.  Jeremy was a nice boy, he was a good student, as a matter of fact, he was an excellent student.  Unfortunately for us all, today’s schools have taken on a whole other identity.  An identity that causes education to cross the minds of these young adults on very few occasions.3

Jeremy finally woke up, and managed to crawl out of bed.  He wasn’t the most fashionable young man. He put on the same worn out blue jeans, and white t-shirt that he wore every day.  He walked out of his bedroom, to find his mother passed out on the living room floor.  His father had walked out on them a few years back, and since then, his mother has relied on alcohol to drown her sorrows.  Jeremy didn’t feel any pain when his father left.  His father used to beat on him and his mother unmercifully quite often when Jeremy was growing up.  His older sister, Kate, who was now living across the country with her fiancé, was often the victim of sexual abuse, and together, Kate and Jeremy were the primary targets during their father’s bouts of drunken rage, and random anger.4

With Kate gone, Jeremy was now a young man all alone.  His mother was not quite the parental figure a kid could hope for, and Jeremy was the subject of criticism and harassment from both students and teachers.  Jeremy was not athletic, and he was not outgoing.  Jeremy was the butt of every joke in school, and could not go more than a few minutes at a time without some sort of verbal, or physical abuse displayed towards him.  The teachers were of no help, for it is now common for even teachers to be swept up in the complexities of the social ladder in today’s high schools.  Jeremy dreaded the school bell.  This time was not a time for him to chat with friends, on the way to his next class.  It was a time of torment and emotional anguish.  Not one person could manage to pass him by without uttering a harsh word, or a slanderous comment.5

He had terrible hygiene, and he always wore the same clothes.  His mother couldn’t afford, nor did she care if he had a reasonable variety of clothing to wear to school.  He came across as feminine, or homosexual.  His father never paid any attention to him, and he was pretty much raised by his older sister. He had no father figure to look up to.  He was slightly obese, and he was the only senior in high school that still rode the school bus.  Jeremy had a job, but his depression caused him to spend his entire paycheck on video games and junk food.  He would come home, and go straight to his room. He hid away from the outside world, and lived through the fictional characters that were portrayed in his video games.  Jeremy was a seventeen year old boy, who had an imaginary friend.  He created this friend by the image in which he had always wanted to be portrayed.  Jeremy was a child on the edge.  There was no shoulder to cry on, and nothing to believe in. 6

Jeremy walked slowly along the school hallway, on his way to the bus.  The other children taunted him, and called him names.  Faggot, fat ass, loser, homo, queer, retard, along with many other random immature comments were all Jeremy ever heard while at school, or anywhere else for that matter.  Jeremy exited the school, and got onto his bus.  As usual, the entire bus ride consisted of harassment, threats, and punches to the back of the head.  Once again, the bus driver had forgotten to stop at his house, and Jeremy had to walk half way across town to get home.  When Jeremy got home, he found his mother sitting on the couch with her new boyfriend, eating hamburgers, and drinking beer.  There was no dinner for Jeremy, and his mother didn’t even acknowledge his presence.  Jeremy didn’t cry very often, for the emotional release from crying was something that Jeremy has never known.  Jeremy knows only one emotion, and that emotion is so horrible, and lonely, it’s hard for him to identify what it is, or how to deal with it. 7

Jeremy went into his bedroom, and locked the door.  Jeremy pulled out the knife that he hid under his bed, and began slowly running it along the veins of his wrist.  The blade began slicing into his wrist, not quite deep enough to kill, not yet anyways.  Jeremy closed his eyes, and with no regret, began to drag the blade over his skin with one last stroke.  One last dance in this miserable life. The life that has held him captive for the past seventeen years.  8

Jeremy didn’t commit suicide that day, and Jeremy never fell into the demise that took captive Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.  There was a knock at his bedroom door.  Jeremy opened his eyes, and snapped back into reality.  He lay there on his bed, with a light trail of blood running along his wrist.  He got up, wiped off his arm, and opened the bedroom door.  There stood a boy from school, his name was Justin.  Justin was one of the more popular kids at school.  Jeremy was shocked to see Justin standing there before him.  Justin shook his hand, and told him that he had enjoyed the poem that he had written for English class.  Justin had looked past the public portrayal of this sheltered youth, and found that he and Jeremy had something in common.  9

Justin and Jeremy became good friends, and due to Justin’s social stature, Jeremy didn’t have to forego the same harassment that he had endured for the majority of his young life.  Jeremy went on to graduate at the top of his class, go to college, and have his own successful business.  Jeremy fell in love, and got married. He also had a little girl named Beth, that he spoiled every chance that he got.  The one-year anniversary of Jeremy’s near death experience came along.  Jeremy called Justin, and thanked him for being there for him, and seeing the person that everybody else had overlooked.  That sad day, four years ago, was the beginning of a new life, and the end of a lifetime of torment and anguish.  Justin was not the type to cry, but the words uttered from Jeremy’s mouth that day over the phone brought him to tears, unlike ever before.  10

Life was beautiful, until one tragic day, when a drunk driver finished the job that the knife had started so long ago.  Jeremy was killed in a car wreck, and ironically, it was the first time in his life that he did not wish to die.  Justin still thinks of Jeremy every day, and prays to him at night, despite his somewhat tainted faith in heaven.  Justin wrote a song for Jeremy, a beautiful song, maybe the best song that he had ever written.  It is a song that would bring the most emotionless soul to it's knees, and to tears.  It is a song that no one besides Justin and Jeremy will ever hear.  The song, like Jeremy, will never be known, or truly loved by the outside world.  Justin keeps it to himself, because if nobody could ever see the beautiful person that Jeremy was, they don’t deserve to see, or hear, the beautiful song that he inspired…  The End              11