This is a story that i am in two minds about continuing so i would like some feedback to see if its worth me continuing. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.
Oh and may i add i am from the UK so some words may be spelled differently.
James sat there in his pale blue room, ironically the colour of his room reflected his mood exactly. James was blue, for lack of a better word, and he knew exactly why, he had been through a turbulent year to say the very least and at the end of it all he had nothing to show for it bar a piece of paper in his hand. In his life he had fought adversaries greater than him and came out on top. Now, however, it had been a single piece of paper, a small and unthreatening piece of paper that had defeated him. In his mind he saw himself fighting metaphorical monsters, ones he had slain with relative easy, and of all the huge monstrous enemies he had overcome, it was a single sheet of paper that had taken him down.
James remembered the year had started off like any other, all around him were full of hope and confidence that this year would a good one, little did any of them know it was to be a year no one could forget and one which no one ever wanted to fully remember. James sat in the living room of an old brownstone row house that belonged to his aunt and sipped champagne with his friends and family, everyone spoke of how lovely the Christmas had been just 7 days previous and what their aspirations were for the coming year. James on the other hand was quiet, James had lived his life different from all of his family, and to an extent differently from his friends as well. This wasn’t a quiet protest or was he trying to be different, no James was quietly and complacently watching the clock on the mantelpiece of his aunts living room waiting for the year of 1984 to finally come. The clock was very grandiose and luxurious but this wasn’t what interested James, no he was more interested in what the clock was telling him. As in two minutes and thirty-two seconds the year of 1983 would come to an end. James was never a fan of parties, in fact by watching the clock like a hawk it gave him the perfect opportunity to ignore the surrounding pandemonium that was New Years Eve 1983. James didn’t know what it was about the up coming year but he felt wary of it, in fact he had said so quite a number of times to close friends. 1984, which came in one minute and fifty-six seconds, had an aura of immorality to it, it was after all immortalised in writing, and not in a good way. As the clock ticked James became anxious as if as soon as the clock hit twelve, which was in one minute and two seconds, his whole reality would collapse, or something like that. He wondered, what was going to happen, was the world going to change, was Big Brother going to be implicated as soon as the clock chimed twelve? He knew the answer was no but he still couldn’t rid the thought that 1984, which arrived in twenty-four seconds, was going to be a unpleasant year to say the least. Everyone surrounded the television and watched as the presenter count down from ten, James continued to watch the clock. James sipped at his glass, 9, continuing to watch the clock, 6, not really knowing why, 3, but he knew he had to remember the exact moment this year arrived, 2 … 1! The room erupted in cheers, 1984 was here. James felt fine, of course he did nothing had changed, yet.
James was back in his room, he had made such an effort to remember every detail of that night that it felt like just yesterday. In fact that night had taken place 364 days previous, tomorrow would be exactly a year to the day that he had the first feelings that 1984 was a bad year. Looking back James’ anxiety was well placed as the year he had been through was a nightmare of epic proportions, and the piece of paper in his hand proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
James looked around his room, looking at every minute detail there was. Lucky for him he had a very plain room with no more than his bed, a desk and chair which he sat at, a tape deck and a drawer full of his clothes and other belongings. Even though James was but seventeen years old and still staying with his parents, he looked around the room like an old man taking one final look before death came calling. He stood up, the first time since the piece of paper he held in his hand was delivered to him. James walked around the room touching everything gently, every object in his room was significant to him, none more so than the sheet of paper in his hand. He felt like a blind man able to see life for what it was, incomprehensibly beautiful. James lay back in his bed and let the piece of paper drop from his hand for the first time since he received it, James watched the ceiling and wondered where his life would go from here, all his plans had come to an abrupt halt as soon as he read the piece of paper and what it had proclaimed to him. He imagined himself in his thirties, a successful business man with a successful love life, ironically that is what would halt this fantasy from ever coming true as on the floor laying face down was a letter to James that read.
“Dear James Brown Junior,
We have the unfortunate and sad duty to tell you that your results came back positive. It is with a heavy heart that we have to tell you that you are HIV positive. We shall do everything in our power to help you through this time but due to it being a relatively new disease we know little about it. I am sorry that we had to write to you about this but we failed contact with you on several occasions, both through telephone and personally. We wish you the best and if our surgery can do anything for you all you will have to do is contact us.
Dr Cash
Brooklyn, New York”
James started to weep as he lay on his bed thinking of nothing but his life which seemed so short and yet was coming to a close. As bad as 1984 was for James and his family, 1985 would be much, much worse.
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