Jimmy's Extreme Ending

by Raine

Jimmy wasn't the most popular kid in school, hell, he wasn't popular at all, I was his only friend. He was the strongest person I knew, nothing could break him, or so I thought. . .

I guess we were always kind of different, we always tried to be induviduals. I know you're thinking that everyone says they're expressing themselves and trying to be different all end up looking the same, but we didn't. We didn't even look like each other.

See, when you're a child things like this don't matter, so we were all friends, until jr. high. This is when all the narrow mindedness starts to set in. THis is the time when MTV and fashion magazines take over and everything goes to hell. This is when we started to become social outcasts. Suddenly all the friends we once had stopped talking to us, and snickering at us as we walked down the hall. So just as quickly as we had all became friends, we were enimies. I'm not saying everyone was mean to us, all the time. But even the people who were nice to us were either too embarassed or too scared of their other friends to talk to us infront of them.

Then in our senior year things got their worst. When Jimmy walked down the halls at school, he'd get yelled at, shoved against the lockers and even spit on, but he'd just keeep on walking and not even look up. Nearly everyone in our school hated him, but hardly anyone knew him. They all hated him because he wasn't exactly like them and because of rumors they'd made up and heard so many times they actually started to believe them. But then again, what do you expect from a small town in West Virginia.

Well, around every spring all seniors have to do a senior project. It's a report on any topic of your choice and it counts as eighty percent of your final grade in that class. Jimmy did his on suicide. I didn't think anything of it because sometimes he liked to do things sereotypical of what people thought about him. Besides, he was Jimmy, mellow, laid back, and happy.

The day finally came for us to give out oral reports, he was as happy and carefree as ever. We were sitting in class and he volunteered to read his report first. He ignored the taunts and got up there and began:
"Suicide is the second largest cause of teen death today."
"We wish it was the cause of your death today!" some one commented.
The teacher just said, "Oh really!" in a mockingly disiplinary tone.
Jimmy cleared his throat and continued.
"There are many ways to commit suicide, some of the more common ways include over dosing, slitting you wrists or shooting yourself in the head, which goes a little something like this!"
As he finished these last words he pilled a gun out of his jacket and shot himself in the head. Everyone was so stunned we didn't even move to wipe the splattered blood off of us, I know, I was in the front row. Infact, I'm not sure antone even took a breath until some other teachers came running into the class room.

About a month has passes since that day and you'd think things would have changed, but they haven't. No on talks about Jimmy, or even misses him here. School didn't even let out early that day, no on even mentioned his death, not a student, not a teacher, no one. . . Except of course for the occasional rude comment.

When something like this happens it's a tragedy, but no one seems to care, and when no one seems to care it makes you realize that people in Jimmy's situation are truly victims of society. Socociety dragged him down his whole life, then when he was at his lowest it killed him and didn't even glance back, except for the occasioal laugh!

It's truly sad to know that when some one as insignificant to their school as Jimmy was kills themselves no one sheds a tear. But let's say the head cheerleader killed herself, school would be one big memorial. Yes, it's be just as big a tragedy, but the point would be that society made her mean something, so we were all aloud to mourn. But as far as Jimmy, who was just considered an eye sore to out school even though no one came out and said it, they were glad for his death, just one less 'freak' to deal with.

It's a sad, sad thing that we're judged on how we dress and the music we listen to, because if the same cheerleader I talked about earlier was to dress 'goth' for one day, her friends would act like she completely didn't exsist.

I'm not saying that everyone 'preppy' is a jerk. I'm saying we shouldn't have any labels, we should all just be people! But that would be a utopian society and since I am a realist, I cant say that this weill never happen. We live in a society of models, holy rollers and pop music. There will never be induvifuality without consequence, only conformity with praise.