<big><center><big><big><big><big>The Right To Live</big></big></big></big>
Group Members:
Curtis McClelland
Cameron Morris
Baylee Kennington
Mason Kingery
<big><big>[[Begin|Box 1]]<center></big></big></big>
<img src="https://openclipart.org/download/241456/Family-Silhouette.svg">
For James, today was pretty much like any other day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, but there was one thing that was different. Today was the day that Congress would make their fateful decision to either pass or veto the Gun Reformation Act of 2016, which would significantly increase the amount of gun control across America. He already owned a [[glock-19|Box 2]] and a [[Remington 870|Box 3]]. He knew that if Congress passed the bill, he would be forced to turn in his guns. When James got to his house, after he greeted his wife, Amanda, and three children, Laura, John, and Jack, he immediately turned on his TV and heard the fateful news that…
[[Congress passed the Bill, increasing the amount of gun control in America|Box 4]]
[[Congress vetoed the Bill, keeping the amount of gun control in America lenient|Box 6.0]]
<img src="http://damagefactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/g19gen3.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="Glock 19">
[[Go Back...|Box 1]]
<img src="http://www.shoot.ie/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/r/e/remington_870_wood_finish.jpg"Remington 870">
[[Go Back...|Box 1]]
James let out a sigh of relief; while he knew that he would have to turn in his guns, James was content with the knowledge that everyone would also have to turn in their weapons as well. While he was contemplated what this decision would mean for himself and the country, he heard his wife say from the other room, “Honey, do you want meatloaf for dinner, or do you want to go out to eat?”.
[[“The sound of meatloaf sounds really nice, let’s stay in tonight”|Box 5]]
[[“I’m more in the mood for some Japanese food tonight, how about we go to Fire and Sticks?”|Box 50]]
[[“I don’t mind, we can do whatever you want to do”.|Box 64]]
After enjoying his wife Amanda’s wonderful meatloaf, James and his family decide to watch a movie. One of his daughters, Christina decides that the family is going to watch Inside Out, so they pop some popcorn and all enjoy the movie together. By the time the movie ends, Christina and Laura are asleep on the couch. James carries them sleeping up to their beds, Jack walking up and falling right into his bed. James and Amanda turn in for the night. About an hour or so after falling asleep, he is suddenly woken up.
[[Hearing a loud noise, James pulls his shotgun from underneath his bed.|Box 7]]
[[Awaking to the loud noise, James gets up and grabs his shotgun from his dresser drawer.|Box 7]]
After grabbing his gun, James runs downstairs to see an intruder dressed in all black going through the family’s entertainment center. The intruder has the family’s wii and other game systems underneath his arms. James quietly tiptoes over to the robber to confront him with his shotgun in hand. The robber stops in his tracks at the sight of James’ shotgun.
[[James lets robber go, screaming “Don’t even think about coming back around here or else I’ll put this gun to good use!”|Box 8]]
[[James has his wife call the police, and holds the robber down until police arrive.|Box 11]]
James puts his family’s things that were almost stolen back where they belong after letting the robber go. He still follows up with the police to let them know that he did have a break in but he dealt with it accordingly. He tells them how unfortunately the robber did get away but he is confident that they will be able to find the robber. He goes around the house making sure the doors are locked.
[[James goes up to go back to bed feeling accomplished that he was able to ensure that nothing was stolen.|Box 9]]
[[James goes upstairs to checks on his wife and kids.|Box 9]]
James is able to successfully defend his family from the robber. Being in possession of a shotgun and having it in an easily accessible area has ensured his and his family’s safety. Additionally none of their belongings were stolen and no one else was hurt in the robbers intrusion. James can go to sleep after dealing with the robber safely and calmly have no second thoughts about whether or not the robber will return.
[[Unbeknownst to James, the police from the night of the robbery let the town paper know about James’ heroism. James receives an award from the town for catching robber.|Box 10]]
[[Thankful for his quick acting and his possession of a shotgun, Amanda, Laura, Christina, and Jack give James a big gift for being a great dad and making sure they were all safe.|Box 10]]
James and his family, while a little bit shaken up following the break in, are safe and sound and deal with no more break ins following that one. Amanda even buys her own gun and James teaches her how to deal with it and use it the right way. They decide together that once Laura, Christina and Jack turn 14, James and Amanda will teach them how to use a gun correctly and if in the future, when they are old enough, they decide to buy their own they may. As a family, they are safer and happier and are smart about their use of firearms.
[[Start Over...|Home]]
James puts his family’s things that were almost stolen back where they belong after letting the robber go. He still follows up with the police to let them know that he did have a break in but he dealt with it accordingly. He tells them how unfortunately the robber did get away but he is confident that they will be able to find the robber. He goes around the house making sure the doors are locked.
[[James goes up to go back to bed feeling accomplished that he was able to ensure that nothing was stolen.|Box 12]]
[[James goes upstairs to checks on his wife and kids.|Box 12]]
James is able to successfully defend his family from the robber. Being in possession of a shotgun and having it in an easily accessible area has ensured his and his family’s safety. Additionally none of their belongings were stolen and no one else was hurt in the robbers intrusion. James can go to sleep after dealing with the robber safely and calmly have no second thoughts about whether or not the robber will return.
[[Unbeknownst to James, the police from the night of the robbery let the town paper know about James’ heroism. James receives an award from the town for catching robber.|Box 10]]
[[Thankful for his quick acting and his possession of a shotgun, Amanda, Laura, Christina, and Jack give James a big gift for being a great dad and making sure they were all safe.|Box 10]]
“Alright, I’ll get started on that in a few minutes”, said James’s wife. James then packed his guns in his truck and headed to the local police station to turn them in, the last he wanted would be to get arrested at a time like this for owning illegal firearms. After he had turned in his weapons, he headed home to enjoy some meatloaf. Then, James and his family sat down on their couch to watch some TV. While they are all relaxing, James hears the sound of shattering glass. Amanda gives him a worried look.
[[James get up to check out the noise.|Box 5.1]]
[[James ignores the noise.|Box 46]]
James feels himself starting to get a bit of a cold sweat. He slowly and nervously walks over to the room where the ominous noise occurred. He prays that this isn’t what he thinks it is, after all James tends to lean on the pessimistic side. He hopes it was some freak change in pressure or something outlandish like that that caused the glass to break. His heart dropped as he walked into the room and saw exactly what he had prayed wouldn’t be there: a masked figure crawling into their home through a broken window.
[[James yells to his wife to take the children upstairs and hide.|Box 5.2]]
[[James goes the silent approach and tries to sneak over to the closet to grab the bat.|Box 47]]
James yells, “ AMANDA, TAKE THE KIDS UPSTAIRS, NOW!!” The intruder looks up in surprise to see James run up to kick him solidly on the side of the face. The intruder lets out a scream of pain which gives James an increased sense of determination. James can feel his heart almost beating out his chest, he sprints to the closet to take out the bat. James feels like he’s Rocky fighting Ivan Drago, and he’s winning. James actually feels incredible at the thought of him successfully defending his family. When James turns back to the intruder to continue his beat down, he sees the intruder kneeling the one hand over his face and yielding a gun that’s pointed directly at James.
[[James sprints at the intruder with his bat in hand.|Box 5.3]]
[[James drops the bat and puts his hand in the air in a surrender.|Box 48]]
“How does he even have a gun? They were banned today,” James thought to himself, “I can’t just do nothing to even try and stop him.”He started to sprint at the intruder with all his might releasing a mighty roar. James felt almost a feeling of serenity while doing this. He knew no matter what, it would not end well for him, but if he could keep this guy from this family, it would be worth it. Before James even got his second step in he heard a deafening blast and bright light come from the intruder. James didn’t feel anything, but he fell to the ground. James couldn’t process what happened, his ears were ringing and he had acquired a splitting headache. He noticed an amorphous blob move past him, what James could only assume was the intruder.
[[James tries to crawl after the intruder.|Box 5.4]]
[[James stays where he’s at.|Box 49]]
James tries to inch his way towards the intruder, who is now working his way up the stairs. Whenever James tries to move at all, his entire right side is seemingly lit on fire. He looks at what’s causing the pain and sees a hole just below his right chest muscle with a lot of blood coming out of it. “My entire family is at stake here, I can’t let a little poke in the ribs stop me”, James whispered to himself. He tries to fight through the pain and slowly inch his way up the stairs, but his adrenaline that was keeping the pain at bay has started to wear off.
[[James fights through the pain and continues up the steps.|Box 5.5]]
[[James gives up.|Box 49]]
At this point the effects of the adrenaline had all but worn off. This made every movement that James took feel like he crawling through a bed of white hot knives. “God, I hope Amanda hid the kids well,” he said to himself as despair started to creep over him. As soon as he said that, he heard a high pitched scream followed by three gunshots and a very abrupt stop to the screaming. “No, no, no, no, no”, James thought. At that point James had given up, and the incredible pain finally knocked James out.
[[James wakes up.|Box 5.6]]
When James woke up, he found himself in a hospital bed feeling very dizzy and confused. He was hooked up to several machines that James had never seen before except in the movies as well as having a very large patch over his chest. Soon after James’s examination of himself, a doctor walked in and said, “Hello, I’m Dr. Smith, and you sir, are very, very lucky to be alive. Jack and Christina are also doing fine, physically at least. That’s unfortunately where the good news ends.”
[[James asks about Laura, his daughter|Box 5.7]]
[[James asks about Amanda, his wife|Box 5.8]]
[[James asks about Christina and Jack, his other children|Box 5.9]]
“So, what happened to Laura?”, James asked fearfully. Dr. Smith sat down and looks at James with a grim look of sadness and sympathy. The doctor didn’t have to say anything, James knew exactly what happened. “I am so, so sorry,” said Dr. Smith, “the only consolation I can give is that she didn’t suffer.”
[[Ask another question|Box 5.6]]
[[James asks about himself|Box 5.10]]
“My wife, where’s my wife?” asked James in a panic stricken voice. “According to the police reports, when the intruder walked into the room where your wife and children were hiding, she shrieked and ran towards the intruder in an attempt to protect her children, he shot her three times. I’m very sorry,” said Dr. Smith.
[[Ask another question|Box 5.6]]
[[James asks about himself|Box 5.10]]
“ Physically, they’re just fine. Mentally, some part of them will be scarred forever, most likely, but I’m certainly no psychiatrist,” said Dr. Smith, “They witnessed the murder of their mother and sister directly in front them.” James knew that they would most definitely need therapy for several years to even be able to cope with a mental and emotional trauma of this magnitude.
[[Ask another question|Box 5.6]]
[[James asks about himself|Box 5.10]]
“You suffered a very serious injury to the right side of your chest cavity, resulting in a collapsed lung and massive bleeding. If your child hadn’t called 911 when they did, you would’ve most certainly been dead by morning” said Dr. Smith. James, while physically being in pain, emotionally felt nothing to his immense surprise. But it was more than that, it was like a feeling a lack of anything at all. He was emotionally broken. Even the knowledge that two of his children were still alive didn’t lift his spirits. James suspected that much like the adrenaline masking his pain back at his house, his body was doing something to protect him from the massive amount of depression and grief he should be feeling. And just like the adrenaline, James also thought that this would soon wear off.
[[James leaves his room to reunite with Jack and Christina|Box 5.11]]
[[James continues to contemplate the situation he’s in|Box 5.12]]
James walked out of his room to see Jack and Christina, who are only 7 and 9 respectively, sitting on a couple of chairs, quietly talking to each other. James let out his first genuine smile in what seemed like an eternity. His kids look up and yell out a cheerful, “Daddy!” He gives them a big hug when they ask him a slightly unexpected question, “So where’s Mom and Laura?” Dr. Smith said that his kids might be too young to be able to comprehend the full scale of what had happened.
[[James says, “They’ve gone on a little trip, I’m not quite sure when they’re coming back”|Box 5.13]]
[[James explains what happened|Box 5.14]]
“Why us? Why did this have to happen to us? Why couldn’t we have just gone out to eat? How the hell am I going to be able to do this alone? How the hell are Jack and Christina going to be able to do this? How are any of us going to be able to just waltz back into society like nothing happened?” All these questions raced through James’s head a million times over as he stared blankly at a wall. He could start to feel his emotions coming back to him, and he knew that this was the beginning of some very dark times. “But just sitting here wallowing in own self pity isn’t going to solve anything, I have three- (James’s voice breaks a little) two kids that are probably worse off than I am. They need me more now than ever” James said to himself sternly.
[[James leaves his room to reunite with Jack and Christina|Box 5.11]]
James wasn’t sure exactly how long he could keep up this charade, another couple of days, maybe even a week? He knew that they would eventually catch on and that the news would absolutely destroy them. James had also begun to fear for his own sanity, which is tested every night. He tears himself apart over what he could have done differently that fateful night; James keeps seeing that man kneeling down on the ground with the gun pointed at him. As the days turned into weeks, it became harder and harder to James to pretend to be even a little happy in front of Jack and Christina. Eventually they walked up to James and bluntly asked, “Mom and Laura have been gone a really time on this trip. Daddy, please tell us the truth. Where are they?”
[[James explains what happened|Box 5.14]]
James first asks the kids what they think happened on that night. They explained, “Well, the man in black walked in and said that it was time for bed. Mom didn’t think it was her bedtime yet, so she started throwing a bit of tantrum. He gave them a couple of sleeping pills from that thing he was holding, but we didn’t like it. It made a really loud noise, and it was scary. For some reason though, Mom wanted to sleep on the floor after she had a couple of pills. Then Laura wanted to to sleep too.” The last thing James wanted to do was destroy the blissfully ignorant world they were currently living in, but he knew that he had to tell them the truth. James explained what happened from what the police report said as well from what he remembered despite being not being think straight from all the blood he lost. “And that’s what happened. We just gotta stick together and we can make it; it’ll be hard, but we will make it.” James said with a fake smile.
[[[James can’t fight it|Box 5.15]]
As time passed, James couldn’t act even slightly happy in front his kids any more. His yearning to at least see Amanda and Laura again had completely consumed him. The piece of him that had been ripped from him that night had left a big hole that had become infected with horrible depression. He discovered that the one thing that could alleviate this pain within was the warming embrace of alcohol. He swore to himself years ago to never touch the stuff again for he knew the path that it would lead him down, but he simply couldn’t keep his demons locked up any longer. James had also noticed that his constant state of drunkenness or depression had taken a very serious toll on Jack and Christina. James knew that they were the one thing that was keeping him from doing something unthinkable. He would have to at least try to change something.
[[James goes to therapy|Box 5.16]]
[[James can’t bring himself to do anything|Box 5.17]]
“You made a very good choice with coming to see us”, said Dr. Kelly, James’s therapist, “Now, I understand that you have had a very difficult past few years. Now, this will be hard for you, but we have to do it in order for you to be able to take hold of your life again. So, with that being said, please tell your story from the very beginning.” So James told his story again, and felt a little better for being able to vent all of his anger, frustration, and depression that had been building up inside him for years. As the months past, and James continued to tell of his hardships to Dr. Kelly, he noticed that he was actually getting better. James no longer heard the voice. For the first time in years, James actually felt happy again. This also caused Jack and Christina’s attitude to improve as well. James saw a potential future ahead of him that might actually be halfway normal. Who knows, one day, James might even feel good enough to try and love again.
[[Start Over...|Home]]
James could feel his state of mind deteriorate almost every day to the point where he would even think that he hears voices. When he would inevitably have to sleep, he would sometimes hear, “Having trouble sleeping honey, don’t worry, it takes me a while to fall asleep too,” an Amanda-esque voice said. What surprised James even more is when he would respond. “Yea, I don’t know what it is, just haven’t really been able to sleep lately.” James would then turn over to continue to talk to his ‘wife’ to only see the darkness looking back. Alarmed, James would run to his sink to splash water on his face and look in the mirror. The thing that was looking back at him looked worse than the Red Viper after his fight with the Mountain. “My God, what’s happening to me,” James fearfully said to himself.
[[James goes to therapy|Box 5.16]]
[[James still doesn’t do anything|Box 5.18]]
As the weeks passed, what turned into James occasionally hearing something that sounded like his wife turned into practically having a second voice in his head all the time. At first, the voice was calm, and it comforted James. Eventually, the voice turned into something malicious, something evil. “Why couldn’t you save me,” the voice said, “You just sat there and let me die.” “No, I didn’t, I did everything I could to save you,” James muttered to himself. The voice got to James and changed him. It was now almost completely in control over him like the Borg. James forced himself to stay up for days, sometimes even an entire week at a time in an effort to avoid sleeping and resist what the voice told him to do. If the voice during the day was bad, it was terrible when he was trying to sleep. He would see a ghostly apparition of Amanda, except she was horribly decayed with three gunshot wounds. He was terrified of her and more terrified if he didn’t do what she told him to.
[[James resists the voice and goes to therapy|Box 5.16]]
[[James gives in to the voice|Box 5.19]]
At this point, James was completely indifferent to everything in life except to the voice. He had lost his job, his house no longer had electricity and would be foreclosed on in a few weeks, and child services had taken away Jack and Christina, while James did nothing. He did nothing, not because he didn’t want, but because he was told not to. The voice said, “The only thing that matters now is avenging me, that will make up for your incompetent failure that even got us into this mess. Get revenge on those who sat idly by and did nothing to help me. You know what to do” James was guided by the voice, unable to think for himself. He left the house one night and illegally purchased an assault rifle from an underground gun trafficking ring. “You have what you need, tomorrow you will get your revenge,” the voice maliciously told James. He hated having to do this and didn’t want to with every fiber of his being, but who was he to tell the voice no. So James set out to get his revenge on all those who ‘wronged’ him.
[[Start Over...|Home]]
“Fire and Sticks sounds great, I’ll go and get the kids,” Amanda replied. Soon enough their family enjoying some nice hibachi at an authentic Japanese restaurant. After they had left, it seemed rather nice outside so they decided to take a walk through the city. As they were walking around, they were just about to pass an alley when a shadowy figure walked out with a gun pointed at the family. “Listen, I don’t want any trouble, just do as I ask, and nobody gets hurt,” the shadowy figure said in a deep, menacing tone. The robber had on a big black hood, so James couldn’t see his face very well. The robber told James to give him his and Amanda’s wallets as well as her jewelry.
[[James gives the robber their wallets and jewelry|Box 51]]
[[James tries to grab the gun from the robber|Box 54]]
James took Amanda and the kids quickly back to the truck and drove home, with their peace of mind shattered. “What are we going to do, all of our credit and debit cards were in those wallets?” Amanda asked James with a concerned tone. “What other choice did we have, refuse and have possibly one or both of us be killed, not to even mention the kids?” James responded in a slightly annoyed voice. James knew what he said hurt Amanda, but he was just as shaken up from that encounter as Amanda. He wondered what effects this would have on their kids, James could only imagine how long they would have nightmares for. Back at their home, Amanda walks into their bedroom and asks James, “So seriously, what are we going to do about this whole mess?”
[[James tells her that they will call the cops|Box 52]]
[[James says that he doesn’t know what to do|Box 53]]
“I guess we’ll just have to call the cops and let them take care of it and call the bank to cancel the credit and debit cards.” James says. He doesn’t know how long it would take to get new credit cards, and he doesn’t have any cash. “God, these next few weeks are going to be a real fiasco with no means to buy anything,” James told Amanda. So James called the police and the banks to get everything sorted out with them. The banks were able to cancel the credit cards and told James that the new cards would be at his house in three to five business days. He was able to get a loan from his parents while he waited so he could buy the essentials. It would be a tough couple of months, but they would eventually be alright.
[[Start Over...|Home]]
James let out a sigh of relief; he would get to keep his weapons. While he was contemplated what this decision would mean for himself and the country, he heard his wife say from the other room, “Honey, do you want meatloaf for dinner, or do you want to go out to eat?”.
[[James says,“The sound of meatloaf sounds really nice, let’s stay in tonight”|Box 6]]
[[James says, “I’m more in the mood for some Japanese food tonight, how about we go to Fire and Sticks?”|Box 17]]
[[James says,“ I don’t mind, we can do whatever you want to do”.|Box 26]]
The family cheers at the sound of the suggestion of Fire and Sticks because they love that Japanese place. They all love Japanese food and can’t wait to get some because they are all starving. James directs everyone into the car and they drive to downtown where Fire and Sticks is. James struggles to find a parking place because everyone in town loves Fire and Sticks, but finally after a few minutes of driving around he is able to find a spot at the edge of the parking lot, near a dark alley. As they are all getting out of the car, suddenly a loud noise comes from the alley way. The noise shows itself to be a man dressed in all black looking to jump the family. James, prepared for an awful occurrence like this one…
[[Grabs his hand gun from the backseat of his car.|Box 19]]
[[Grabs his hand gun from the underneath the driver’s seat.|Box 19]]
James lets the man who tried to jump him and his family go. After taking a good look at the man, he realized that he may be homeless and there is a possibility that this man had no other options left, and unfortunately James and his family were just the first people that the man saw. Seeing this and thinking it through James realizes that sending the man to jail would not be fair.
[[James gets back into the car with his kids and wife.|Box 23]]
[[Watching the man run away, James stands there for a moment in parking lot holding the gun, thinking about how thankful he is to have a gun to defend his family with.|Box 23.1]]
Using his handgun, James is able to hold the man back from attacking him and his family. The man puts his arms up in fear. James doesn’t shoot the man but keeps him from doing anything else. He tells Amanda to get back into the car with the kids. Amanda, Laura, Christina, and Jack all quickly rush back into the car and hope for the best.
[[James, deciding to show the man some mercy, lets him go, but not without first screaming “Don’t even think about coming back around here or else I’ll put this shotgun to good use!”|Box 20]]
[[As she’s getting into the car, James calls for Amanda to contact the police, and keeps man that tried to jump them at bay until police arrive.|Box 22]]
James lets the man who tried to jump him and his family go. After taking a good look at the man, he realized that he may be homeless and there is a possibility that this man had no other options left, and unfortunately James and his family were just the first people that the man saw. Seeing this and thinking it through James realizes that sending the man to jail would not be fair.
[[James gets back into the car with his kids and wife.|Box 23]]
[[Watching the man run away, James stands there for a moment in parking lot holding the gun, thinking about how thankful he is to have a gun to defend his family with.|Box 23.1]]
Holding the man down, James waits for the police to get there. He speaks with the man and tells him that if he or anyone else ever tries to come at him and his family again there will be a lot more consequences than just having a gun held to them. At that point, James hears the sirens, realizing that the police have arrived. The two police officers jump out of the car and pull out their handcuffs, arresting the robber and reciting his rights to him. As they are leaving, the police compliment James on protecting his family and using his gun appropriately.
[[James gets back into the car with his kids and wife.|Box 23.1]]
[[Watching the police take the man away, James stands there for a moment in parking lot holding the gun, thinking about how thankful he is to have a gun to defend his family with.|Box 23]]
James is successfully able to protect his family using his gun, ensuring that none of their belongings were stolen and even more importantly, no one was hurt. Furthermore, no one around them got hurt either, making the fact that James had his gun on him even more crucial. Through his possession of the gun, James was able to do a world of good and ensure everyone’s safety.
[[A few weeks later, James is approached by the NRA to become a speaker for them. He spends the next few years speaking for the NRA about his experience and how he was able to protect his family using a gun.|Box 25]]
[[Following the awful incident, James receives thanks from his family for keeping them safe, in addition to his three kids asking him for lessons on how to use firearms following the incident.|Box 25]]
James is successfully able to protect his family using his gun, ensuring that none of their belongings were stolen and even more importantly, no one was hurt. Furthermore, no one around them got hurt either, making the fact that James had his gun on him even more crucial. Through his possession of the gun, James was able to do a world of good and ensure everyone’s safety.
[[A few weeks later, James is approached by the NRA to become a speaker for them. He spends the next few years speaking for the NRA about his experience and how he was able to protect his family using a gun.|Box 25]]
[[Following the awful incident, James receives thanks from his family for keeping them safe, in addition to his three kids asking him for lessons on how to use firearms following the incident.|Box 25]]
Even though they are a bit shaken up, James and his family are safe. They have no negative aftereffects following their awful experience. After the attempted jumping, the family all piles back into the car and drives around until they find better parking space closer to the entrance of the restaurant. Before eating that night they all take a moment to be thankful for James, his ability to act quickly and smartly, and how well he protected them.
[[Start Over...|Home]]
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” James tells Amanda reassuringly. As they continued to watch TV, James heard rustling in the other room. While Amanda continues to give him increasingly worried looks, James feels a pit slowly growing in his stomach. He’s no longer paying attention to the television, only to the noises coming from the other room.
[[James get up to check out the noise|Box 5.1]]
James carefully moves as to be as silent as possible. He steps back into the family and mouths to Amanda to take the kids upstairs very quietly. He then tiptoes to the closet where he gets the bat. It’s almost hard to grasp with all the nervous sweat that’s accumulated on James’s hands. He then goes back into room the room where he saw the intruder coming in to only see shards of broken glass on the floor. In a panic, James scans all the rooms on the bottom floor of his house in a search for the intruder. Just when James believes he’s searched all the rooms, he turns around to go up the steps only to see the masked figure standing across from him.
[[James sprints at the intruder with his bat in hand|Box 108]]
[[James drops his bat and raises his hands in a surrender|Box 48]]
James knew that charging the intruder would be suicide. There’s no way that James could cover the 10 feet separating him and the intruder before the intruder could pull the trigger. James carefully placed the bat on the ground and raised hands. “How the hell did he even get a gun? They were banned today,” James thought to himself. Then James put two and two together. “Wait a minute… He doesn’t care if guns are banned or not. If anything, this helps him. It would have been easy to stop him this morning, when I still had my guns,” James continued to think to himself. Before James even could entirely asses the situation, he heard a deafening blast and bright light come from the intruder. James didn’t feel anything, but he fell to the ground. James couldn’t process what happened, his ears were ringing and he had acquired a splitting headache. He noticed an amorphous blob move past him, what James could only assume was the intruder.
[[James tries to crawl after the intruder|Box 109]]
[[James stays where he’s at|Box 49]]
“How does he even have a gun? They were banned today,” James thought to himself, “I can’t just do nothing to even try and stop him.”He started to sprint at the intruder with all his might releasing a mighty roar. James felt almost a feeling of serenity while doing this. He knew no matter what, it would not end well for him, but if he could keep this guy from this family, it would be worth it. Before James even got his second step in he heard a deafening blast and bright light come from the intruder. James didn’t feel anything, but he fell to the ground. James couldn’t process what happened, his ears were ringing and he had acquired a splitting headache. He noticed an amorphous blob move past him, what James could only assume was the intruder.
[[James tries to crawl after the intruder|Box 109]]
[[James stays where he’s at|Box 49]]
James tries to inch his way towards the intruder, who is now working his way up the stairs. Whenever James tries to move at all, his entire right side is seemingly lit on fire. He looks at what’s causing the pain and sees a hole just below his right chest muscle with a lot of blood coming out of it. “My entire family is at stake here, I can’t let a little poke in the ribs stop me”, James whispered to himself. He tries to fight through the pain and slowly inch his way up the stairs, but his adrenaline that was keeping the pain at bay has started to wear off.
[[James fights through the pain and continues up the steps|Box 15]]
[[James gives up|Box 49]]
Whenever James tried to move at all, he entire body screamed at him stop. He questioned whether or not it was worth to try and climb up the seemingly endless amount steps. He concluded that there was no way that he could get up those steps in any meaningful amount of time. It would most likely take him a minute or two to get up each step, with the amount of pain that movement brought him. Eventually, as the adrenaline wore off, the pain consumed him to the point where it knocked him out.
[[James wakes up|Box 5.6]]
At this point the effects of the adrenaline had all but worn off. This made every movement that James took feel like he crawling through a bed of white hot knives. “God, I hope Amanda hid the kids well,” he said to himself as despair started to creep over him. As soon as he said that, he heard a high pitched scream followed by three gunshots and a very abrupt stop to the screaming. “No, no, no, no, no”, James thought. At that point James had given up, and the incredible pain finally knocked James out.
[[James wakes up|Box 5.6]]
Amanda responded that she had been really looking forward to cooking again. She had recently gotten into watching those cooking shows on TV and wanted to try to make the meatloaf that Bobby Flay had made the other day. James found it somewhat amusing just how easily Flay made it look but how difficult it was for some people to do, but not his wife, definitely not her.
[[James says, “Yeah honey, meatloaf sounds amazing tonight.”|Box 5]]
[[James says, “Actually, I wanted to go Fire and Sticks tonight.”|Box 50]]
James was not going to let this guy just simply steal of his hard earned money, or his wife’s precious jewelry. He could just imagine how impressed everyone would be with him if he could stop this guy right now. James tried to quickly take the gun out of the robber’s hand before he would have a chance to react. Unfortunately, James wasn’t as fast as he was expecting. The robber jumped back and pulled the trigger three times in a panic. The only thing that James could think was, “Well, that’s probably not very good, now is it?” James fell down to the ground as the robber ran off. “JAMES!” Amanda shrieked as she tried very quickly to pull out her cellphone to call an ambulance. As the ambulance took her and James to the hospital, while she was desperately hoping that they would be able to make it to the hospital and James would be fine, she had begun to contemplate their potentially dark future.
[[James wakes up in hospital bed|Box 55]]
As James awoke from a strange dream, he felt very hazy from all the anti-pain medication he’d received. He saw a warbled image of something come up to him and started poking and hugging him. He thought it was all very funny while still being as high as a kite. As he turned to try and see focus his vision on whatever was touching him, he remembered exactly why he was in there. It felt as if a blacksmith had just sunk a white hot sword into his right side. He had to bite his lip so hard to the point of it bleeding quite badly to prevent from screaming like a banshee. Not even all his pain meds could keep something like that at bay. He looked to wear this searing pain was coming from and saw a big patch with lots of red. The immense pain had once again blurred vision.
[[James just doesn’t move for a bit|Box 56]]
[[James tries to move to see who had touched him|Box 57]]
After that delightful experience, instead of feeling like being on the clouds, James felt like he was on the Hindenburg while it was crashing. “I think I’ll just stay still for a bit longer,” James thought to himself in a strained voice. That got him thinking why the voice in his head would talk in a strained voice when it couldn’t it even feel anything. Or could it? James started pondering random things like that. The poking and hugging stopped while James was going through Hell and back but now it was right back at it. James somehow found this soothing and relaxed to this strange sensation, despite still being numb everywhere except for where he actually really wanted to be numb. “Okay, time to try this again,” James thought to himself again.
[[James tries to move to see who had touched him.|Box 57]]
James once again, but this time much more carefully, moved up to see who was poking him. The blob that was touching now turned into three blobs. His vision was now returning to him and he saw Jack, Christina, and Laura still poking him with ear to ear grins on their faces. “Daddy you’re awake!” they all cried out in unison. He also saw Amanda sitting in a chair with a steady stream of tears coming down her face, with a doctor standing in the corner of the room near the door. Amanda requested the kids to leave the room while she, James, and the doctor all talk.
[[James gets ‘the talk’|Box 58]]
“Hello James, I’m Dr. Smith. You’re quite lucky to be alive right now, but that’s pretty much where the good news ends. The robber you encountered shot you twice and missed once. One was in the leg which was relatively easy to remove.” The doctor took off his glasses and gave James in a very serious look. He continued, “The other bullet went through your liver causing massive damage. The silver lining is that the bullet went clean through and there isn’t any fragmentation of the bullet lodged in your liver.” James felt worse than when he tried to move that first time. He couldn’t comprehend the thought of just having a hole through him, but right now, having a hole going through him was the least of his worries.
[[James asks about how to fix it|Box 59]]
[[James lets the doctor continue talking|Box 60]]
“Well,” Dr. Smith said bluntly, “It’s quite simple: you get a liver transplant, that’s really the only way to effectively fix this with you having even a halfway decent life.” James responded with, “Huh, that sounds pretty expensive, please tell me that insurance covers this…” The doctor said that it costs over $550,000, and the insurance doesn’t cover it. “I’m going to leave right now to let you two discuss things. I’m very sorry about this whole situation,” Dr. Smith said genuinely. “Alright,” Amanda said sadly, “I’ve crunched the numbers, and we can do it. But we are going to have sacrifice almost everything to get it. We would have to sell the house and downsize to a two bedroom apartment, as well as getting rid of the car and using public transit, and even taking the kids out of their school and placing them in a public school. Even then, we’d still be in debt for years.” At this point, Amanda was trying her hardest to keep from completely breaking down and sobbing.
[[James asks about any other options|Box 61]]
The doctor continued, “While the impact wound was all that severe, the exit wound caused significant damage. Your liver, assumed it goes untreated, will only be able to work at approximately 30% of its previous capacity. You won’t be able to consume alcohol anymore, and you will have to severely limit how much sugar you consume.” James was completely speechless. Just one simple pull of a trigger has turned his entire life upside down. He also knew that dwelling on the past was not going to solve any of the problems he was about to be facing.
[[James asks about how to fix it|Box 59]]
“The only other option we have,” Amanda continued, her voice breaking more and more with every passing word, “is that we simply don’t get the operation. But the doctor said that that would kill you in just a couple of months.” James believed it immediately, he knew how important the liver was in every aspect of his life. Without the majority he really couldn’t do anything. “The decision is ultimately yours,” Amanda said, quietly sobbing, “but please remember, your children need a father.” And with that she left him to contemplate two massive options.
[[James gets the operation|Box 62]]
[[James doesn’t get the operation|Box 63]]
James ultimately made the decision to get the operation. While costing the whole family an arm and a leg, James would get to live a good life after a few months of physical therapy. He decided that his kids having both a mother and father was more important than being in a nice neighborhood or his kids being in the preppiest school. Unfortunately, this left the family in debt for almost half a century, since the operation literally cost more than most houses. Amanda was forced to start working again, with James not being able to work for some time. But, he knew if they could survive that as a family, they could survive anything.
[[Start Over...|Home]]
James ultimately made the decision to not get the operation. This would mean that Amanda would eventually be forced to work again, but he had saved enough money that she and the kids would have several months to live off of before it came to that. The life insurance would extend that time to a few years. He decided that the children’s education, and potentially getting into a better college, with good, trustworthy friends, was more important than himself. He spent his remaining days spending all of his time with his family: whether it be walking through parks, going to see movies, or just sitting on their couch, watching tv. While he knew his time was ending on this Earth, this was the happiest he’d been in all his life.
[[Start Over...|Home]]
“You know, honestly, I just don’t know what to do. No matter what we do, we’re still gonna be like a fish out of water. Yea, I’ve considered calling the cops, but exactly what can they realistically do about it?” James said to Amanda with an almost helpless tone in his voice. He knew that he didn’t get a good look at the robber and saying ‘he had a deep voice’ isn’t exactly narrowing it down any. And even if they could somehow miraculously track down the robber, the money would already be spent and gone. Just thinking about it infuriated James. “Listen,” said Amanda in a very calm yet stern voice, “we have got to do something. If we just sit here, then we let that man win. How about we just call the banks to cancel the cards and take it from there? Okay?” James agreed with what Amanda said, despite feeling skeptical about how much anyone could really help them.
[[James calls the cops|Box 52]]