During the Narrative Unit, I was given the opportunity to express our creativity through telling a story and being able to deliver the story through different platforms. To start off, I wrote short stories in English and developed them throughout a few weeks. After writing the story, I had projects in both Design and in Digital Media which reflected these stories. In Design, I created a creature that represents the main character in my story. In Digital Media, we had several different projects but the one that connected to our narrative the most was creating an audio recording with an album art cover to go along with it. Overall, I learned a lot during the Narrative Unit and I was able to improve in a variety of different skills throughout the whole unit. I created a lot of work that I am proud of and happy to present on this website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In English, I wrote my own narrative short story based around the relationship of two sisters. In the story, one sister is sick from an illness, while the other sister struggles to support her sister and follow her own dreams at the same time. There is emotional tension throughout the story until the climax, but is eventually resolved in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pulling Distance <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a plain, dull Tuesday morning. Through the reflection in the foggy mirror, I fix my un-brushed, dark brown hair into another messy half-bun with a few yarn-like strands hanging past my sprinkled freckles. I shuffle down the stairs of my small townhouse apartment with my keys jingling against my sweatpants, wave bye to my sister, and speed out the door. As I hop on the ragged, jet black motorcycle I bought from a flea market, I calculate the time it would take me to get to school. Class starts in 5 minutes and it\u2019s a 9 minute drive but if I speed, I can make it in 4 minutes and have a whole extra minute to walk to my class across the campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJazmine! You forgot the receipt for the medication! Don\u2019t forget to go there after school before work,\u201d my mom yells from the steps of the porch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have the receipt on my phone mom. Everything\u2019s online these days,\u201d I reply with the same tone. \u201cPlus, when have I ever forgotten to go to the pharmacy? Sometimes it feels like I do all the work around here,\u201d I add, this time under my breath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My birth name is Jazmine, but I always go by Jaz. Mom calls me Jazmine whenever she wants to get my attention in the most annoying way possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n School days are pretty much the same every single day. They consist of me being a minute or two late to at least one class a day, going to work at the local coffee shop after school, and picking up medication for my sister before heading home at around 7 pm. Senior year feels dull, and I have a solid group of three friends, although I don\u2019t hang out with them as much anymore. Most of my time goes into spending time with my sister and doing things for her that she isn\u2019t really able to do anymore. On top of that, college applications are a burden. They\u2019re just another useless stressor in my life, especially since I\u2019m not sure if I even want to go to college anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My little sister\u2019s name is Abby, but I like to call her Abs. She\u2019s eleven now. And she was diagnosed at seven. The problem is, the doctors don\u2019t know exactly what <\/em>she is diagnosed with. She gets symptoms that are similar to a tumor or some sort of blood disease, yet she doesn\u2019t have a tumor growing inside of her. She\u2019s what they call their \u201cmystery case\u201d, which is a lot more scary than it is cool. But she\u2019s pretty much been either in hooked up to life support or lying in her bed at home for the past four years. Hospitals have become a regular thing for us. I\u2019ve never missed a single appointment, although sometimes it feels like Abs doesn\u2019t even want me there. Too many times I\u2019ve sat in the waiting rooms painted in beige and hopelessness, staring at the blinding, flickering fluorescent light. When the doctors deliver the news, it\u2019s always the same: first the good, then the bad. Something like: Your sister woke up, but she can\u2019t move out of the bed for at least three weeks. <\/em>Of course, I would be happy she made it out alive, as anyone would be, but it\u2019s not the same. It\u2019s more like she\u2019s half-alive. Every hospital visit kills a little bit of her soul. The real <\/em>her. I\u2019ve started noticing it does the same for me too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I leave school, my phone rings. Miranda, my best friend, is calling. I think to myself: Jaz, don\u2019t even bother picking up. You know she\u2019ll just ask you to hang out or go get coffee and you know you don\u2019t have time. Again. <\/em>It\u2019s pretty much like this all the time. I haven\u2019t really been able to even talk to Miranda for longer than our 30 minute lunch periods at school, most of which I spend making up tests anyways. I let the call ring out and text her a quick \u201csry gtg!\u201d as I hop on my motorcycle and speed to work. The five hours at the coffee house go by slower than my treacherous math class. Of course, before heading home, I stop my the pharmacy to pick up Abs\u2019s medication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s gotten cold outside and the sun gone down, and of course, I forgot a jacket. I check the mail before going inside my house. It\u2019s empty, as usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAbs! I\u2019m home!,\u201d I yell as I\u2019m submerged by the warmth of our small apartment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJaz!,\u201d her frail but excited voice yells back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I strut to her room and find her laying in bed, reading the book I bought her last week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow\u2019s the book? You like it?,\u201d I say as I place the new bottle of medication in the drawer of her nightstand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s awesome! But you don\u2019t have to keep buying me things like this, you know,\u201d she replies, looking at me straight in the eye. Sometimes she gets so serious out of nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know Abs.\u201d I definitely won\u2019t stop buying her books though; they barely cost anything and they distract her from her illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abs and I have always been close. I tell her everything going on in my life, even though there isn\u2019t much because my life is basically based around her. I sit on her bed next to her and right before I\u2019m about to start telling her about my day, she cuts me off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJaz, I have something for you,\u201d she tells me and hold out a letter. It reads \u201cUniversity of Oxford\u201d on the front of the letter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh my god. I completely forgot,\u201d I whisper to myself as I quickly take the letter from her hand and carelessly stuff it in the pocket of my sweatpants. Today is the day when Oxford sends out their early decisions. There\u2019s really no point in me even looking at it anymore, even though I\u2019m pretty sure I didn\u2019t get it in the first place. It doesn\u2019t really matter how badly I want to go there. My dreams have been replaced by Abs and her illness, which comes first above anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know what that is, you know,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, um, it\u2019s whatever. No big deal, I don\u2019t really even wanna go there anymore,\u201d I lie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJaz, I\u2019m not stupid. You\u2019ve talked about Oxford since you were like seven years old. This is a really big deal,\u201d Abs says while putting down her book. \u201cIn fact, I already opened the letter. Only because I knew you wouldn\u2019t do it yourself. I know you\u2019re all wrapped around with my illness and you prioritize it over anything, but don\u2019t you think I see how much it\u2019s taking away from you doing what you <\/em>actually want to do? Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love and appreciate all your help even if I don\u2019t always show it, but I don\u2019t want you to do it anymore. You got in Jaz. You got into Oxford and you have <\/em>to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My face is frozen and fragile, like a porcelain doll. Speechless. Stunned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI.. I got in?,\u201d I manage to stutter through the cracks in my voice. I feel my eyes starting to water as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah Jaz, you did. And you deserve this more than anything. I know it\u2019s in England, a far away from me and mom, but we\u2019ll manage. My disease isn\u2019t going away anytime soon, so it\u2019s not like you\u2019ll miss it,\u201d Abs replies with a little giggle at the end. I hate it when she tries to make jokes in a serious moment, although I admit it makes me feel a little better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still incapable of producing sentences longer than a couple short words, I move closer to Abs and give her a long hug. \u201cI love you, you know,\u201d I whisper while wiping away my tears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I wake up to an autumn breeze and the smell of crisp leaves and dewy grass. The sunlight dances into the room from the dorm room window. Before walking to my 9 am class, I look up at the wall where I hung up each letter Abs has sent me. It\u2019s been two years, and I\u2019m now starting my third year at Oxford as a design major. This place has exceeded all my expectations, but not a day goes by where I don\u2019t think of my sister. We do also text and call, of course, but the letters have a more special meaning. She sends me a letter each time after a doctor\u2019s appointment or a checkup, and I send her letters back whenever something really important happened in school. It\u2019s become a routine. Her and mom are doing pretty good, and I facetime Abs every Thursday night to update her on everything that I haven\u2019t mentioned in the letters. People always say distance pulls people apart, but I still feel as close with Abs as I did before, if not even more. The distance helped me appreciate everything while allowing me to pursue what I\u2019m passionate about, and I can\u2019t thank Abs enough for giving me that.
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