Instinct

Instinct’s Origin

I, Benjamin A. Jones, or Ben as my friends call me, was a normal boy growing up in the big city. I live with a normal family with a normal dad, a normal mom, a normal sister, and a normal brother. I was the middle child. My dad, Mark, is a scientist at a big corporation, but more on that later. My older brother, Rocky, is a cop. I look up to my brother. I consider him a positive role model. My brother was the best officer in town. He cracks down hard on the criminals and brings them to justice. I thought he could bring justice to the world, but I was wrong. A few years ago, while I was five, my brother was reading me a story while he was getting ready for his big honor he was supposed to receive. Rocky is getting an award for his work on a case. I wanted to go, but my parents said I was too little to go. “When I come back, I’ll tell you the rest of the story,” said Rocky. So I went to bed, and Rocky and my parents left. It was getting late at night and I was looking out for my family to come back. Then I saw the car’s lights and jumped out of bed to meet my brother. My parents came in through the door, but my brother wasn’t around. “Where’s Rocky?” I asked. My parents seemed upset. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Ben, your brother isn’t here, because…” a pause from my dad. Then he burst into tears saying, “He was killed at the banquet. Someone came and shot your brother. He died instantly.” I was in shock to hear that my brother is dead. I began to cry and then I ran up to my room. I jumped onto my bed. Put my face onto the pillow, and cried that whole night. The next day, the police I.D. the killer and started to track him down, but with no luck. As I got older, the city changed for the worst. Crime was spreading, chaos filled the street, and cops stand no chance against the growing crime. The city became a difficult place to live, but I kept faith that something good will eventually happen.

I’m now 18, in my senior year in high school. There I’m considered a geek, loser, freak, or whatever you want to call me. I had three friends on my side. Hector, my New Yorker friend, moved to the city when I was six. He stands up for his friends, because he is the only strongest of the bunch. Ken, he’s been my best friend since we first met years ago, he is just like me. His brother is the founder of the corporation where my dad works. He hopes to be a scientist. Ritchie, also my friend, is kind of self-centered. He gets mad easily, because of that, he gets into a lot of trouble. Sometimes he gets into fights and gets beaten up. They are the most honest, hardworking group of friends you’ll ever meet. High school isn’t all that it seems to be. There’s two bullies beating up people and getting what they want from anyone they want to pick on. Chester and Mike are the worst of the worst. They have no remorse for what they do; they pick on anybody they want, no matter where they hide. In addition, every time someone gets them in trouble, they always find away out of it with no punishments. They love what they do. I hate them, because I was always the one they go after, because they say I’m their favorite punching bag. Every day of my high school life, they come to beat me up. I wanted to do something about it, but I know there’s no way to keep them in trouble. My dad knows some of the troubles I go through and tries to help me out. “Son, I know things are rough for you now, but you can’t let those guys get to you. If you fight with them, then you’re no better than they are. Just avoid them and tried to avoid confrontation.” After hearing my father’s advice, my life will change forever.

The next day was normal, everything was fine, and Chester and Mike weren’t around. This could be my day; I can make it to chemistry class without them finding me, Ithought. I made it, unharmed, to chemistry class, where my friends waited for me. The bell rang and the teacher walked in. “Good Morning class, we have a new student coming in with us. She is from Japan and is part of the Foreign Student Exchange Program. Please Welcome, Maylu Okinawa.” I was surprised to see this girl. I felt as though as I died and went to heaven. “Now class, let’s get into partners and work in the lab today. Maylu let me find you a partner to work with.” I was hoping not to be chosen. “Ben, you will be Maylu’s partner.” Crud, Ithought. I’m not your sweet-talking person. I can barely speak to cute girls without stuttering. Try to remain coolIthought. “Hi!” said Maylu. “H-h-hi, well lets get this project st-st-started. O-o-okay.” “Are you okay?” asked Maylu. “I’m f-f-fine. Lets get started, sh-sh-shall we.” I said. So much for a first impression, I thought. After working with her for a while, we were running out of chemicals for our project. “I’ll get some more,” said Maylu. As she left, I was working with our remaining chemicals when, “Hey Ben,” said a deep voice. It was Chester and Mike. The teacher left temporarily while both of them came. I just ignored them. “Hey listen to us,” yelled Chester. I just stayed quiet and didn’t look at them. “Listen to us, Jones,” said Mike as he grabbed me. Maylu came and said, “Leave him alone.” “Get out of here girlie,” said Chester while he pushed her. She fell and the two of them were laughing at her. After seeing that, it just made something snap inside of me. I can’t let them do that to her, I thought. I tap them on the shoulder; the two turned and I said, “Leave her alone.” “And what are you going to do about it?” said Chester, and then they started to laugh. That just made me madder, so I made a fist and swung a punch hitting both of them, and I broke Chester nose and hit Mike in the jaw. When they saw they were bleeding, they picked me up and threw me into chemicals on a table knocking them down. Chester and Mike laughed, and then the chemicals spilled over and got into my body. I started to have a seizure. Chester and Mike stopped laughing and saw that they could be in big trouble, so they ran away. Maylu went to get the teacher and my friends went to get the nurse. Before I knew it, I blacked out.

While I was in a coma, I was told that I was sent to the hospital. My dad came to see if I was all right. The doctor came and told him there was a 99.9 chance I wouldn’t make it through the night. My dad became upset and began to cry. My mom and little sister came to see me. Dad told them the news and she began to cry. They came into my room to see me, and then my dad said, “It’s my fault, I gave him some bad advice. If I didn’t say anything, he will be with us eating dinner.” He began to cry and mom said, “It’s not your fault, those kids did it. They should be arrested for killing our son.” Then the nurse came knocking outside the door with a police officer. “We caught the kids that did this to him.” While my parents taking to the cop, the nurse gave me a chemical pack that supposed to help, but she thinks it won’t because of my condition. My family stayed in my room with me, my dad couldn’t sleep, he was thinking about what happened to me, and thought how I was just like my brother trying to do the right thing. Then I felt a strange tingling inside of me, then a strange dream of my brother, some dark shadow, and Maylu in trouble. Before I knew it, I woke up gasping for air, and then I started to cough up some of the chemicals in my body. My dad saw me and called the doctor and woke up my mom and sister. The doctor came in with a surprise on his face. “I can’t believe it. He’s all right. This kid is lucky to be alive right now. You can take him home in the morning, but I recommend you keep him at home for a week. While he recovers, let him get his body working again just by letting him walk the streets of the city. Then he can go back to school.” The next morning, I came home as if nothing happened. I was to stay in bed the first day. My dad came to me to see how I was. “Son,” he said. “I’m sorry for what has happened to you. I shouldn’t have given you that advice.” “Dad, if anything, your advice would have saved my life. I just saw Chester and Mike picking on someone who have done nothing and try to stand up for her and ended up where I am now. I couldn’t ignore them just pushing innocent people around.” My dad couldn’t help but cry. “Son, you’re just like your brother, you care too much.” Then the phone rang, I saw mom get it, after she hung up, she came into my room and said, “Good news, Ben, those two kids who attacked you are arrested. They won’t bother you or your friends anymore.” I heard that, and I knew that justice has been served on them at last. “Get some sleep, tomorrow, you can walk the town and get those bones and muscles into shape.” So I went to sleep, not knowing that tomorrow will be very different.