4 College Life

Jack was immensely shocked that he had survived that. Getting hit and run over by a truck that big? He was a goner. But he somehow held on. That didn't matter though, he's safe now. Getting in their car, the family drives back home, going to spend the day peacefully.

The next day, Jack took a look at the calendar; it's a Wednesday. At least he didn't miss much. Picking up his old bag, since his recent one just got demolished, and put all his salvaged stuff into it, before going downstairs.

Downstairs, he finds a note on the table, as well as some bacon and eggs. The note said "Hello sleepyhead, your lunch is in the kitchen. Love you! -Mom." Huh, guess she had to leave early. Eating his food, Jack grabbed his lunch, and walked outside.

Outside his house, Jack took in the fresh air, and walked out the gate. He's lucky the school is only a few blocks away. Maybe this time he'll survive the trip. Walking down the road, he took some time looking around the place, taking in the sights. Stopping by a nearby electronic store, he took a look at the TV by the window. It was currently broadcasting the news of a miracle. "Wait a second, they're talking about me!" Jack exclaimed to himself, seeing that the news were talking about his miraculous recovery. The doctor must have talked about it a lot. News spreads fast.

Jack once again hit the open road, and reached the accident area. The spot was cleaned up, and it was generally just fine. But there was one thing: The same woman was standing at the opposite end of the crosswalk he was at, just staring at the area. She... didn't seem to notice he was there. When the crosswalk light turned green, Jack started walking towards her. That's when she noticed him, and ran away. Confused, Jack decided to leave her be, and continued walking off to school.

Soon enough, Jack reached the school entrance. Some people would chastise him for not getting a dormitory in college, or for living off of his parents. But he knows that once he graduates, he's going to leave them. After all, it's not like he's going to live forever; he needs to spend the most time he can with his parents. Walking up to the front door, Jack goes in.

College was relatively normal for Jack. He was just a normal college student, living as normal a life as he could. First subject was Artificial Intelligence Development. Walking in, everyone that wasn't near asleep from exhaustion looked at the door open, and stared. The room went from talkative, to silent in a split second. Then, someone quipped with "Hey, you're alive!" All of a sudden, people came rushing towards him, asking a plethora of questions. He... didn't really have time to answer all the questions. "Guys, c'mon, just sit down. Class is about to start," Jack said, wading through the crowd. Getting out of the crowd, Jack went down the stairway in front of the door and sat next to his friend, Michael. "Yo, dude, I heard what happened to you from your parents. The hell happened?" Michael asked. "I just did the thing that seemed right; saving another person's life," Jack responded. "Yeah, but dude, you could have died!" "I knew I could have died. I just did it on impulse," Jack replied to Michael, ignoring the now large crowd circling them. Just then, the professor walks into the room, silencing everyone just by walking in. The other students suddenly rush to their seats quietly. As the professor walks down the stairway, he stops by Jack. "Good morning Mr. Leslie. I'm glad you could make it," the professor said, smiling at him. Jack replied "I wouldn't miss your lesson unless I needed to, professor." The professor then walked down to the blackboard, and began the lesson.

AI Development was over quickly, and so was the next class. Soon enough, it was break time. That was when Jack was bombarded with questions by other students. He was suddenly the most popular student, known for the fact that he got run over and somehow survived, and perfectly recovered. He was constantly hounded by people all throughout the school day. Eventually, he and Michael found a place to sit down in peace. "Man, all these people just hounding you is getting annoying." "Yeah, I'm like a celebrity, but for all the wrong reasons." "Yeah, it's just like 'get out of the way, have some respect,' y'know?" "Yeah, I just want some space. What if I died?" The two of them sighed, and laughed. Michael then said, "Well, at least you've got someone who understands. Me!" "Hah, yeah. You sorta understand. I just don't get why I'm suddenly the center of attention. I don't understand how people get popular for things like this. It encourages a bad message," Jack replied. After a bit, the two of them packed up to head back to one more class.

Their last class was about Graphics Design. Upon entering the room, it was different people, same questions. "Did you see God?" "How did it feel?" "How did you get into the accident?" Same stuff, still annoying. And like clockwork, the questions magically stopped when the professor enters. When she arrives by the blackboard and the usual 'Good Mornings' are done with, she announces something. "Now class, one of you may have noticed, Marie is not with us right now. She had an unknown attack recently and had to be rushed to the hospital. Let us hope that she is not in too much danger. In other news, welcome back, Jack!" the professor announces. Some of the girls in class were talking to each other about how this girl had to be rushed. Jack replied to the other statement, saying, "Glad to be back Ms." The class did then resume normally, and things were going okay, with the class learning about the importance of graphics.

Soon, school ended. Everyone packed up and left. Jack and Michael were able to avoid being surrounded by paparazzi, and left through the school entrance. "Jeez, poor Marie. Heard she was pretty nice," Michael said, while the two of them were walking. "Bad things happen to good people," Jack said in reply. "Y'know what, Jack? I think we should go and visit her." "What? Why?" "Y'know, because! Just in case she won't be feeling well, we can tell the others!" "Uh, sure."

After a good few back and forths, Michael reaches his stop, and the two split ways. Walking back through what the two now dubbed "The Deadly Crosswalk," Jack saw the woman again. She was again just staring at the spot where the incident happened. And once again, once the crosswalk light goes green and Jack starts walking, the woman just runs away. "What is up with her?" Jack said to himself. Was it because she was partially responsible? Did she think she was seeing a ghost? Whatever it was, he hopes he wasn't scaring her.

Walking back home without a hitch, Jack opened the door. He couldn't wait to get some rest. However, he probably wasn't going to get some rest after seeing what he saw after he opened the door. As he walked in, two scientists were seen inside, talking to his mom and dad. "Oh, Jack! These scientists came here to talk to you," his mom said. "Something about testing your body or something," his dad added on. The scientists turned to Jack, and the one to Jack's left, wearing these thin glasses and a green polo underneath their lab coat, told him, "Hello, sir. I am Dr. Ben, and this is my lab partner Penny." The other one, a girl wearing thicker rimmed glasses, and holding a clipboard, said, "Nice to meet you. We heard about you from your local news." "Wow, news really does spread fast," Jack said sarcastically. "Well, we are here on behalf of a local lab, as we would like to run some tests on how you were able to survive the collision," Ben said. "Yes, a 28 ton vehicle running you over at 50 miles per hour? You'd be dead without immediate help. But somehow you survived without any. And in such a pristine condition!" Penny added, her eyes absolutely glittering with scientific giddiness. "So, we would like you to come with us to help research your sturdiness. We promise it will be humane," Ben said. "Of course, if you don't want to, we understand," he added on. Jack thought about this for a moment. Go with these people? Is what they're doing really legitimate? Jack took a look at his parents, who just smiled at him. The look on their faces - that was the look they gave when they would approve of a choice he would make, no matter what. So, with the intent of furthering the ability of everyone's survival, Jack said, "Sure. I'll do it, only if it's humane as you say." The two scientists simply smiled, before Penny says, "Great! Follow us." And the three of them walked out the door, going to who knows where. Maybe Jack can finally get used to living without parents, wherever they're going.