His brown eyes scanned the story for important details and as he read on, he felt complete shock. He felt heart broken, confused, and disbelief. How could this happen? He thought to himself. It looked fake, well at least he hoped it was fake. All he could do was drop everything in his hands, and run. Thinking at first that it might be a lie or a misunderstanding, James didn’t care as he sprinted out of the store and straight to her house. Even though it was a few miles away, he would run because he loved her. He loved her with such a great passion that it boosted his running speed almost 100%, it felt like. He ran as fast as he could down the streets past houses and around cars. All James could think was that he lost her.


The headline said that Jessica Robinson had been drugged, and strangled at a party late last night. It looked bad and James was invited to that same party, but decided not to go because he was too busy making a poster for Jessica. On that poster he wrote: Jessica, will you go to prom with me? James was falling in love with her more and more every minute. He thought about her day and night and couldn’t believe this happened. James was crazy about Jessica, they had been best friends since they knew each other, in the sixth grade. Everything had happened so fast today it was all kind of a blur for him.


It was probably a bad time for James to burst through the front door of the Robinson’s house, but he did it anyway. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson were sitting on the couch holding each other in plain silence. When James came up the stairs Mr. Robinson looked at him with teary eyes. That was when James lost it. He saw her certificate of death right there on the table, there were brochures for funeral arrangements everywhere. Every single picture of Jessica from when she was a baby, until now were laid out on the coffee table. James couldn’t take in the thought of losing her, it was too shocking. He slowly sat down against the wall, eyes wide open and filled with tears. He pulled his knees to his chest and started to cry. James sat there rocking back and fourth like a baby. Mrs. Robinson sat next to him to comfort him, but she started crying too. He had so many questions, he didn’t know what to say. But that was when he saw Jessica walk upstairs with her pajamas on, and teary eyes.


Mrs. Robinson saw the shock on James’s face, and said to Mr. Robinson, “I think we should tell him.” James sat up totally confused. Mrs. Robinson told James that Jessica had a twin sister who lived in a different state with their actual father. She came back to visit last week and was invited to a party by some of her old friends. It wasn’t Jessica who had died, it was her twin sister Ali.


It took James a while to process everything, his brain was over occupied with so many things, that he had a lot of trouble even coping with the situation. He had so many questions, but he knew nothing could be answered. Everyone was too depressed. Months had passed since Ali’s death and they all moved on, but were still very depressed. Jessica and James became really close friends. They became so close that, Jessica started having bigger feelings for James. James and Jessica were at James’s house one day. James went to go get that same poster that he was planning on presenting to her months ago and brought it into his room. “Here Jessica, I have something for you.” James showed her the poster and she said yes. They went to prom together and have been dating for about eight months now. They were both in senior year of high school, even though the shock of Ali’s death haunted everyone in that town, but as soon as people would start to forget it, the thought of that night scared everyone.


One day in the late afternoon James went over to Jessica’s house and they decided to go hot tubbing. When they walked outside James saw an unfamiliar birthmark on Jessica’s body. He knows that the birthmark wasn’t there about a week before Ali died. When they went swimming in PE Jessica was in his class and he knew that the birthmark wasn’t there before. Jessica saw the confused look on his face and asked, “What is wrong? Are you okay?” James said, “No I am fine, I was just thinking.”


The next day James decided to go to work with his dad because his dad works at the funeral. It happens to be the same funeral that Ali had her reception at. James got curious and right as his dad left the room, he started looking through every one of the files in the cabinets. He knew that the girl he has been with for months isn’t Jessica, and all he needs is proof. James knew that he would have to look through hundreds of folders to find the proof that he needed, but he would do it for Jessica because he loved her.


After looking at hundreds of folders for about two hours he finally found it. The death certificate dated about eight months ago, and the name printed was Jessica Robinson. He knew the person he was with all the time wasn’t Jessica. Her personality was meaner and she didn’t really act like Jessica. How am I supposed to confront Ali and the Robinson’s? James thought and thought, until he finally just decided to say it to them. He knew that after he finished working with his dad, he would go straight over to her house and confront her.


James left the funeral house around six o’clock pm that night. James knocked on the door and Ali answered. James was furious, and he couldn’t even look at her. He was just angry and depressed. For almost a year now he has been so close with this girl he barley knew. They were all sitting down in the living room watching television. James just said “What is your problem?! How could you let your own daughter die, and just replace her with her twin? I loved Jessica but this, this is just terrible!” Mrs. Robinson turned around and looked a little shocked. She said “Oh honey, this is all a big misunderstanding. Why would you think that this is true?” James replied, “Because I saw Jessica’s birth certificate at my dads office. You people lied to me.” James had enough. He knew that he needed to cool down and think this through, instead of acting like a psychopath, he turned around and started walking towards the door when Mr. Robinson said, “James stop. If you walk though that door things will not be very pretty.”


James took his hand off of the handle, spun around slowly on his feet and met eyes with Mr. Robinson. “What?” James asked. Mr. Robinson had a gun in his hand, a pistol it looked like. James knew that he had to get out of there. This family had way too many secrets that he could handle, and it looks like he just found out the deepest one. Mrs. Robinson was staring at Mr. Robinson with huge eyes, and in shock. “I don’t want to have to shoot you James, but you can’t tell anyone about this.” Mr. Robinson said with hatred in his voice. James knew he couldn’t keep this to himself. He had to tell his dad and get out of this house. James replied, “I’m so sorry Mr. Robinson, but this isn’t right. You can’t keep a secret like this.” He turned and grabbed the door handle, and thats when everything went black.


James never liked to remember that day, hearing the gun shot and then falling to the floor with a bang was too traumatizing. After he heard Mr. and Mrs. Robinson run out the door, he heard sirens. He woke up in the hospital after a long ride in the ambulance. He couldn’t feel anything, his arms were broken, and so were his legs. All he could see were bright lights, and people all around him. Rushing back and forth through hallways and into rooms. James was announced paralyzed at the hospital after he had undergone many tests. It truly was a miracle that he had survived, after having three bullets go into his back and not kill him was a mystery to all of the doctors.


His parents had rushed to the hospital the minute that they got a call. James had been in a medical induced coma for two weeks, breathing with a machine and a monitor by his side. Once he did wake up he cried for hours, knowing that he was just trying to save a girls life, but ended up effecting his in a great way. The police hadn’t found the Robinson's since that day, and everyone was losing hope that they would. James found that life was a mystery, it comes with great costs more that it does with happiness. Forgetting about Jessica was one thing that he was never going to forget. That whole tragedy messed him up in many ways. As much as James wished that he had Jessica back, he wished more that she had never came into his life.


After months of interrogation and questionings by the police, James was finally left alone to have his own peace. He was now 22 years old living with his parents, but sometimes going over to his girlfriends house when he was bored. He needed help with everything, and he couldn’t do any of the hobbies that he wanted to just a few years ago. At this one point in times James finally felt lucky, he felt wanted by his family and his friends. He had decided to put the past behind him and totally forget about Ali and Jessica, knowing that it was all natures way of teaching him a lesson. But this lesson he would never forget.


Having to push himself around on a seat with wheels was a big challenge for James, but he had the help of his friends and family to help him through this time, but James, he was still shocked.