The Branches of my Life By Jessica Reed
Branches of my Life By Jessica Reed
World of Fantasies Publishing Company Huntsville, Arkansas May 10, 2013
Part One The Logic in us All This first section of my writing, I would say, is debating topics. People have been debating these subjects for so long and there is still no correct answer to the topics. All you want to, you can debate with your friends about these topics. Lots of people will want to disagree with my opinions. But you still can’t change my writing. Maybe you will agree with me and maybe they will just make you infuriated. I know these will leave you thinking though.
The Outcome I don’t think that just one individual can affect a worldwide situation. On the other hand, one person can affect a decision that a group of friends make, or maybe even the county. But, then again, not one person has ever stood alone with an opinion. You see, someone else in this world has the same opinion as about that same subject, maybe not for the same reasons, but still the same opinion. I am not saying one person will always have the same opinion as you, but someone in this world has the same opinion as you about any random topic. For example, I might not like chocolate ice cream and Brad Pitt may not like chocolate ice cream either. I may not like it because it is deep brown, and cold reminding me of dogs going to the bathroom in the snow. Brad Pitt may not like chocolate ice cream because it does not appeal to his taste buds. The point of this being, I don’t know Brad Pitt so his opinion has no affect over me. But, we still could have the same opinion. That might not affect my friends’ decision but it will affect his friends’. No one person has the same opinion.
Our Masks We wear masks to fit into the crowd. If we did not fit into the crowd, society would be a mass of strangers wandering around. I do not think that would be a bad thing though. We all need a little spontaneous in our day and the groups we conform to take that fun of being spontaneous. Those masks are just the form we transfer into to fit in a group. We don’t need to do that though, but most people don’t see that it is not all good for them. Next, there are only a few select people in this world that don’t have to be in a group to, and when I say, this it is a compliment. I have never seen Katherine shape into any other person before and I have known her for four years now. She is very independent and I know she will do well in this world because she stands up for what she thinks is right. There is a piece of her personality that fits everyone because she doesn’t conform to just one set of people. She finds all sorts of people so she knows how to talk all sorts of languages that only few people will understand all of it. She is the type of person that I look up to. Being in a group doesn’t help you. It also will burden you in the future.
Love Love is the basis of all life. Love creates life. Love brings back the dead. Love is a daily pleasure that humanity is based off of. When you were little, I bet your mom kissed your cuts and owies. Then, when you got sick, she took care of you. She cared for you and loved you. She showed you love by taking care of you, just like the whole world and everyone in it has showed love at some time. I feel sorry for the people in this world that don’t know how anyone could ever love them. They don’t understand how anyone could ever love them. People show love all the time. For example, when you drop something and someone else picks it up for you, they just showed you love. Next, society was built upon the love of other human beings. If people didn’t love each other and feel compassion, everyone would have killed each other and not cared already. Also, some people don’t notice that love brings back people from the dead. Love has saved lots of people from dying in hospital beds. It gives the strength to those that are sick to come back. Love also saves people when they don’t want to go on in life. When people want to just not do anything and not try at all, another person loving them can keep them from ruining their lives. Love has saved people and still is. It kept humanity going and always will.
Justice Justice is what the government considers fair. If you killed your sister because she killed your best friend, the government would consider that to be cruel. That would be classified as murder and you would be put in jail. In my opinion, that was just fair. An eye for an eye. You were doing a service for your friend in honor of them. I think that is really what justice should be . Even though America does not see it like that.
Part Two Behind the Lines of My Life This is my life. This is what I feel like my whole life really is about. My life is not just what people see. My life is who I am. My fears and my deepest desires that no one can change is who I really am. These are samples of my personality, not just what people see on the outside or tell me what to be. This really is me. This is my life.
What I Plan for 2013 My New Year’s Resolution personally is to try to be nicer to the people around me. In the past, my friend, Katherine, and I have always had the same classes because we are on the same level for education. We were good friends at first. That started getting sour when we both took up being dedicated to school as our talent. We started competing to have higher grades than one another. Then we just had to throw our friendship away when it got rotten because I started going out with her ex-boyfriend, and I still am for more than a year now. We never got over it and still say stuff behind each other’s backs. I wish to stop this. My plan is to not talk to her, leave her her own space, don’t mention my boyfriend, and pretend that nothing ever happened between us when we do talk to each other. I want to start over all fresh with her if I really can. Then, academically, I wish to be able to understand science more. I have never had a problem with school before, but this past semester of science has been challenging for me. I do however wish to improve. I will achieve my goal by taking it more seriously, making sure I miss no more school for any reasons, and try to study ever when I don’t think I need to. Last, for our community, I have not ever volunteered before. I do not know how to start that, but I don’t wish to just be in a “club”. I want to motivate others during their day. I want to hang posters that are motivational around the school. These posters will say things like “Have a good day” and “Remember that someone out there loves you”. I will hope that will help them get through the day easier. This might not seem like much of an effect on the community, but I know a happy child can change everyone’s day.
The Abstract I think that if I was a symbol of something, it would be abstractness. I am that one extremely weird person in the crowd that everyone laughs at, and I am okay with that. For example, today I dressed up as Green Lantern’s cat. I wore a green mask, fuzzy cat printed slippers, and very tall striped socks, with a jacket that had ears on the hood. I was perfectly fine when people laughed at me today and told me I was weird. It makes me happy to know that everyone else is having a good time with it and not just me. Everyone was smiling and I was enjoying the joy they were having and my own laughs. I am the symbol of awe-inspiring weirdness in our school. I show that it is fine to dress eccentric one day, and not like what the “fashion trend” is now. Maybe the fashion I like now is old or futuristic. But, I really couldn’t care less what other people think of me. I am the symbol of the abstract and proud of it. If there is the fact that I am happy and others are also happy, why wouldn’t I like being this symbol?
Leaving Me “So, as you have learned,” the English teacher started the closer of her lecture three minutes before the senior class’s last school bell. But it was already too late to teach them anything. No one was listening to her lecture on how all subjects relate to each other. The teacher either already knew that, or she let Emily keep reading her favorite novel, Tuck Everlasting, because she is a teachers’ pet. As the bell rang for the last time for those seniors, some stared inside their lockers and others sat outside talking with friends, not wanting to leave the haven they have created. There are then the jocks and other popular that only show happiness while running outside and racing off campus. Emily though, doesn’t know what to think. All of her friends told her that she couldn’t skip into senior English. Now she is very sad being in all advanced classes with only seniors. All of her closest friends are now leaving her. Next year she would have to come back to school to take all the elective credits she had skipped out on to get into those classes. That was the only other bad part about double stacking all of her classes these past few years. She missed out on all of her electives. Now she is missing out on all her friends. She loved them. Even the pestering people that she got stuck with in groups sometimes she would miss. They were amusing sometimes at least. But she will remember them as a great class that she was once a part of.
What No One Believes Why cant anyone see That I am right? Why does everyone Feel That I can’t be right Based on just A personality? I am right. I am tired Of all This! I will Be successful. I will Persist. But everyone still doubts Saying, “You can’t”. Everyone sees A little girl, Innocence. Which I No longer have. I have seen Pain. I am seeing Pain. I feel This tormenting Pain. Every day. I know It isn’t easy. But I am ready For any challenge.
Part Three My Fantasies These have not happened. But they are where I, and everyone else, wish to be during the day. Fantasies, day dreams, and nightmares all put into one. Fun laughs will come out of them. Childhood nightmares might arise. My deepest day dreams that I can never stop from coming are next. I bet you can’t stop them from coming either.
Lost She was bending over a little creek that ran along next to the cave. This situation kind of reminds her of the Hunger Games novels. Someone more powerful than her took her and put her in an arena with electrical fencing around. “I am doomed!” she shares with the air furiously. Wow. I really am hopeless if I am really talking to myself right now she thought. “Either you have very sensitive hearing, or you weren’t talking to me,” a boy calmly says as he comes out from behind a bush. He doesn’t look very startled at the small BB gun she points toward his right eye. That was so far the only type of civilization she could find other than the electric fencing. And, of course, this boy standing in front of her says there is civilization near. She had found the gun with two packages of pellets, eight packages of BBs, and a short bladed, easily concealed, pocket knife. “I assume by your brutal staring that you think I am dangerous,” the boy says breaking the silence. “You must be the new person here then. Finally. I miss talking to people. My name is Andy, and let me guess that your name is Shelbi. You look like a Shelbi,” he spoke peacefully. She observed him carefully, making sure he hadn’t planned anything tricky. His shirt clasped his body tightly and she could see a tuned body like he had been working for his whole life. His shoulders were broad and covered with layers of muscle. He was not big enough to be considered a body builder. He was very skinny, with calves of an Olympic runner. Her mind was connecting the dots floating around her. She had to ask. “How long have you been here?” she asked timidly, while lowering the gun only slightly. “I have…,” he slowed his speech and paused, “I have been here for…” He then started murmuring numbers and counting of his fingers rapidly. Still not taking any concern in the BB gun still pointed at him. He finally finished calculating, “I have been here for 815 days. In simpler terms…” “Two years and seventy days,” she interrupted as her mind comprehended the numbers. Realization came to her like a flash of lightning that she was probably missing math class right now. Andy interrupted her train of thought, “Fast computation. But wrong. I have been here for two years and eighty five days. You know, you still have not told me your name.” This comment makes her defensive again, making the gun rise and the gun point to his eye again. She observed his face more closely. His coal-black hair hung down to the tip of his ear, with soft skin that was eagle-feather brown. He looked about sixteen with his probably shorter statured Hispanic heritage. His eyes were tree bark brown, and women would envy his long black eye lashes. His eyes looked like they were smiling and filled with innocence. She lowered the gun down to the side, while clicking the safety trigger back in place. Trust flooded out of her. “You have also gotten something
wrong,” she slightly smiled as he looked confused. “My name is not Shelbi. You are way off. Angelica. My name is Angelica. “Very pretty,” Andy considered. “I had a friend once with that name. I have always loved it,” his voice trailed off and was absorbed into the leaves. The silence fell over the forest Angelica and Andy observed each other closely. Andy saw the trusting on Angelica’s face the first time he saw her. He also had seen that she would never be able to hunt. She doesn’t know how to walk carefully through the woods, thorns scare her, and her bright red hair stands out like the stripes on the American flag. Andy had been observing her since she was found, by him, lying beside the electrical fencing “high voltage” sign. Angelica’s eyes were near black, but still brown, her eyes lashes and brow were nonexistent with them being blonde. Her hair was pulled tightly back into a pony tail on the back of her head and he had thought it uneven from the back, but now it looks straight from the front. Her head must have had a gash in it at some point during early childhood and it never formed evenly. Andy’s voice rattled the silence of the forest, “If you were wondering, you have been here for two days. You were unconscious half of the first day you were here,” he plainly spoke. “Have you been following me?” Angelica accusingly asked. Then she looked around worried. That means I wouldn’t have noticed someone else following me either. They could be looking at me right now and I wouldn’t know it. “I was making sure you didn’t do anything insane. You seem to do really well though with finding shelter,” he said as they both looked toward the now inhabited cave. “I also noticed,” he continued, “that you found water close to your shelter, which could easily supply you with food. When you first saw me, I assume you were looking at the deer hooves and opossum tracks in the sand. Education is the key out here.” Angelica thought for a moment. “You must be educated if you have been here for two years then.” “I see. You are one of those people that look at all the small details first, so when it comes to it, you really don’t have to ask,” Andy pointed out in impressed monotone. “I was wrong. You are very educated. Even out of here.” “Why thank you,” he said slightly smiling. He motioned toward the ground so they both sat down on the creek bank. “Well, I was a straight A student in eighth grade. I was leaving eight grade with the record for highest grade anyone has ever gotten in math.” He continues on with his explanation, “I challenged myself to keep my mind educated here, so if I ever get out, I will still be top in my class. What about you? Blurting out wrong answers like that, I really don’t think you were the most advanced.” Angelica put a mask of hurt on, but is clearly smiling underneath it. Fake sobbing then says, “Well then. Just be. Just be mean like that.” The Angelica looks at him and asks the dreaded question that he knew would come out of her mouth, “Where are we?”
“The frightening thing is,” Andy’s voice disrupts the quiet the question brought, “I really, don’t know.”
Stuck In Wonderland There are sandwiches everywhere. I have already been here for half of my day in Jared’s eyes. I could have never imagined that he literally sees like this. The people that walk past me are made of white meat turkey slices, and their clothes are whole-wheat bread. The slices in the sidewalks are the endings of the American cheese that they are made of. The windows in buildings are also made of cheese. The leaves of the trees are made of pickles. The grass has disappeared and lettuce grows in its place. The bricks on the sides of buildings are made of all the condiments you could possibly imagine. Then, sandwich-rain hails from the sky, without hitting anyone of falling apart, and it is still a sunny day. Every three feet, sandwiches appear from the sky. Next, Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings started past me. He was riding a unicorn. Well, Jared’s mind was enlightening, but my time is up. I say goodbye to Gandalf, his unicorn, and all the delicious looking sandwich people. I leave Jared’s mind knowing that I am not the only interesting person in this world.
The Angels
I couldn’t have asked for a better day! Here I was cheering on my favorite unicorn team; what better way can you spend an afternoon? There I was! I was sitting in the front row of the Angels and Stars game. The Angels looked like they were doing quite well with this game of flowsenhimer. The Stars were doing very well at spinning, but they seemed to be getting more leaves. The Angels were doing must better at dancing. If only they would have stopped flying higher. My unicorn seat, Bob, didn’t like going that high. I can’t see the game as well this way. But luckily, the game ended right when I couldn’t see as well. The Angels, my favorite team, won with the best glitter poses and dance moves in the end.
The Storm I should have noted The darkening sky But it was too late. When I got to school I stood in my usual, A lit alleyway. But that day It was darker Than my usual. The sunrise, The only reason I loved getting to school To early, Was drowning In a vat of Bark-brown and Dead-leaf green. Since I was there Extra early, And the halls were outside, There was no place to hide When the attack Rained down. I heard a pop, But that wasn’t Necessarily unusual. I figured Sammy was on the roof Like other mornings When a fright was in order For the helpless hiding. But, The pop Had company.
Lightning Cracked the sky open From all directions, And echoed Through the alley. Then, Through the sliver The lightning left in the sky. The sun shone Down in rays. All around me Pops came again More thunderous. The light Fluttered away. And pops Engulfed me. Rain came pouring And ice broke All around me. I crouched Under my thin jacket And the little awning That did protect Only slightly From the vial Attack. Hail fell And ice shattered All around me. Pain encases my ankle, And liquid Falls down my leg. Glass shattering echoes But is barley heard Over the stomping Of the enemy.
Ice doesn’t shatter Directly on me, But the shards Jump through the air And plummet into me. Rain trickles down The little ditch That usually never Gets wet. It trickles playfully Without a care. Wind is echoing Against the building I am facing. A ramp is created To channel the wind Right toward me. Then is rattles The cracked glass Behind me. Blowing it backwards, With shards Flying into me. The thuds succeed Suddenly. I look above And no rain Falls to me. I am In the eye. With only a minute To spair. But I am Locked with disaster Because running To no where Doesn’t help The pain succeed.
I call for help And my screams Echo Like a falling Feather. I hear car horns In the distance Because of the Disaster That still Strikes them. I see survivors Running far away. Then try To escape the Wrath The storm blunders Apon them. They seem to escape where The sun should be. But my time is up. The minute I had Escaped me. Drums pound All around me.