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Adam Moore
1989-2005
A Tragic Loss…
read the next grave. A tragedy indeed.
Seize the Day
Today is the day… she thought as she strolled into her chemistry class. Today I’ll tell him how I really feel.
Everyday it was the same routine: walk into class, sit at her assigned desk and wait for the bell to signal the beginning of class. Then she would get out her binder and begin to take notes before looking to her left and seeing the boy who sat two desks down and get lost in his eyes. Of course, when he looked back, she would whip back to her notebook and begin a flustered sort of scribbling so as not to look suspicious, but she couldn’t hide the color of her face, now a red that would make apples jealous. She couldn’t help it; she’d seen the boy around the high school, and he’d been in her chemistry class this year. If that wasn’t enough, she ended up being lab partners with the boy. Finally, she decided, she would tell him how she felt. He had to know before summer came and he was gone, lost once again amidst the crowd of students jammed into the hallways and cafeteria.
“Jamie,” the teacher asked, snapping her out of her daze, “what is the positive ion found in salt?”
“Sodium, sir,” she answered. Of course, once her question was done, it was back to her imagination.
Today is the day… she thought, Today I’ll tall him how I really feel.
He shrugged and smiled as he returned to the notes. He still wasn’t quite sure why he even bothered to come to school today, but something made him. One more chance to change his mind, he guessed, but there was little chance of that. His mind was already made up.
“Jamie, what is the positive ion found in salt?” the teacher asked. The boy looked at Jamie, watching her shake her head and look up.
“Sodium, sir,” she answered before returning to her notebook. After a few seconds though, she glanced over at him. Of course, he was already looking at her, so Jamie quickly whipped away and buried her face in her notes with a small smile on her face. She was cute, and he enjoyed working with her in class. She was one of the few he was going to miss. He couldn’t tell her that, though; it would just hurt her too much. The boy gave another small shrug of his shoulders and turned to the next page in his spiral.
“Adam,” the teacher continued, “what is used to speed up a chemical reaction?”
“I don’t know, Mr. Sanchez,” he replied.
Mr. Sanchez gave him a skeptical look. “You don’t know?”
“No sir,” Adam said.
Mr. Sanchez sighed as he turned to the boy between him and Jamie. “Can you help out your friend here?”
“A catalyst,” he answered.
“Correct,” said Mr. Sanchez. “Hopefully you’ll do better on Monday’s test.”
Adam could only smile. Monday’s test would be a piece of cake, mainly because he wasn’t going to take it. Monday was never going to come.
Today’s the day… he thought to himself, Today’s the day it all ends.
She finally emerged from the hallway, although emerged is rather light for the scene that transpired. It was like the hallway was giving birth to her, and the other two triplets behind her helped push, shoving her out into the real world where she flopped to the floor and lay stunned for a second. Once she realized that she had finally escaped the jungle of students that clogged the passage, she jumped up and started to run after Adam, only to see that he was standing in front of her when she fell. If her embarrassment wasn’t seen before, there was no missing it now.
“Oh, hey Adam,” she quietly mumbled as she brushed some stray hair behind her ear. “How ya doin’?”
“Not too bad,” he said as they began walking. “Just glad the day’s over.”
“I know me too!” Not wanting too seem overly excited for no real apparent reason, she cleared her throat and went back into non-caring teenager mode. “So, you doin’ anything this weekend?””
Adam shook his head and stopped at a nearby locker. “Nope. Not a thing. You?”
“I’m just gonna study for the test. Besides that, just relax, maybe head for the mall. I’ve been needing to get some new shoes,” she replied.
“Sounds nice,” he said as he closed the locker and turned around. The two of them walked for the back door of the school, but Jamie stopped when she saw the weather outside.
“Aww, when did this start up?” she asked. According to the weatherman, there was a 15 chance of showers, but no one said anything about a thunderstorm of biblical proportions. Okay, maybe not biblical, but while she didn’t mind walking home in the rain, this was too much.
“Looks like the weatherman screwed up again,” Adam sighed with a smile.
“Yeah… now I gotta call home.”
“You walk?”
“Yeah, both my parents work, and I hate the bus,” Jamie explained. “Always have. Mom should be coming home in about a half-hour, so I’ll just leave a message.”
“Why don’t I just give you a ride?” suggested Adam.
Jamie looked up at him in shock. Did he just…
“Is that okay?” he asked when no answer was given.
“I… yeah, is, is that okay?”
“It’s no problem,” he replied. “I got plenty of time on my hands. Where do you live?”
She was paralyzed. All she could feel was the frightened, rapid beat of her heart and her bottom lip begin to quiver. It was sad, really. How am I gonna tell him how I feel if I can’t even answer him now? she thought to herself. And am I really this pathetic?
“Jamie?”
“Yes!” she yelped, snapping out of her thoughts. “Yeah, that’s fine. I live on Cherrywood.”
“That’s pretty close. I live across the bridge on Thistlebrush. Now, we’re gonna have to run to the car, alright?”
Jamie tried to answer, but she again had trouble getting any words out. She simply nodded her head and put her hand on the school door.
“Let’s go!”
And so the doors flung open and the two made a mad dash to his Nissan in the parking lot and jumped in after he finally unlocked the doors. The two fell into their seats, shut the doors, and looked at each other, both a bit damp from their sprint to the car. The two of them burst into laughter, and Adam started the car while Jamie tried her best not to make anymore eye contact. She didn’t realize how hot he was like that.
When they finally made it to her house on Cherrywood, Jamie put her hand on the door and pulled the handle.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you later,” she said rather quickly. “Thank you for the ride.”
“It’s no problem,” replied Adam. “Have fun studying for the chemistry test.”
“Oh, you too,” she chuckled.
With that, she shut the car door and stood in the rain as Adam drove off. She stood there watching, shaking, and hating herself. Why couldn’t I… he was right there…
And then, against all common sense, she threw her backpack underneath the porch and ran after him, down the street and across the bridge to Thistlebrush. She ran through the rain, her blue t-shirt turning a dark shade of midnight as it stuck to her body. She was soaked to the bone, but for some reason, she didn’t care. Only one thing mattered at that moment, and that was finding Adam. She knew the street, and she knew the car, so it wouldn’t be hard to find the house. She was caught by surprise, though, when the car she was looking for was found pulled over on the other side of the bridge, and a familiar figure was standing on the edge.
“Adam?”
He stood, looking down off of the bridge, but this was not a stop just for the scenery. He was too close for comfort, and she wanted to know why.
“Adam!” she shouted. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He turned around and shouted back. “I give you a ride home to keep you from getting wet, and look at you now!”
“Adam,” she repeated, “what do you think you’re doing over there?”
Cars were whizzing past, scaring the living daylights out of her, but she didn’t want to move. Something was wrong, and she was going to find out what.
“Don’t try and stop me, Jamie. I have my reasons.”
And then she knew. He was going to jump. But one question remained: “Why?”
There came no answer. “Adam, why are you doing this?” she shouted in desperation.
“I have my reasons!” he yelled back. “There’re a lot of things right now, and I can’t deal with it all, alright!”
“But I can try to help you!”
“No!”
Jamie was stunned. She wanted to say something, but no words could come out. It was as if she was in a trance. Her hypnosis broke, and she finally said it: “I love you!”
This time, Adam stood still.
“Adam, I’ve been trying to tell you all year. I love you, and I know I don’t know you, or what’s going on, I wanna help you. And I don’t care if I only know you through Chemistry, I don’t wanna see you die.”
Her voice trailed off, but Adam heard what he needed to. His mind began to race a mile a minute. If someone he barely knew cared for him, then maybe there were others out there too. It was hard not having any close friends, but knowing that there were people out there that did care for him, maybe he did have someone to lean on when things were down like they were. He turned around, and for that time, it was only the two of them; just Adam, Jamie, and the road between them. Adam jumped off of the bridge, and landed on the street, deciding to give life one more chance.
