Never Give Up

Never Give Up

David Martin sat in the back of math class, dreading the moment that his teacher would hand him back his exam.  Mrs. Franks was a very persnickety teacher, always looking to take off points for the smallest of questions. For the past three quarters David had done poorly. It was an AP class, and so far he had one of the lowest grades. He’d gotten to the point where he could guess his grade accurately, a fifty percent. David had worked hard this time, but he expected no different…he was wrong.

His test score had dropped twenty points lower than his usual, leaving him with a thirty percent. Mrs. Franks made it a point to sneer at him as she walked by, and made sure he saw her complimenting the other students on their supposedly outstanding job.

“Sorry David,” a boy in front of him said, “you should have dropped when I told you to. You aren’t getting anywhere with a forty percent average. The local college didn’t even accept Gina, and she had a frickin’ 85%. Good luck.” He turned around and smiled to his friends who smirked at David’s abysmal performance.

Left with no comeback, verbal or academic, David sat silently, staring at his marks…anticipating the reaction from his parents at home. As he did so, his heart thumped faster, and his face felt hot with embarrassment. His father had always been the top of his class, passing with 98% marks to the Ivy League school of his choice with a wholesome scholarship. His mother owned a business and was making 100 thousand dollars a year. His brother was a neurosurgeon. His sister…an architect. But David…He failed again and again, each time expecting it more than the first.

The bell rang, shaking David from his trance. He stood up; shoulder’s drooping, and began to walk out of the classroom. But Mrs. Franks would have the last word.

“Don’t worry so much honey, we can always put you with the special kids!” she cackled, and was joined by a few other students.

This was the last class of the day for David, 20 minutes closer to the tirade waiting at home. He reluctantly packed his bags and boarded the bus, sitting in the back and staring out, utterly depressed.

The drive was 10 minutes and David slumped out of the bus, trotting over to the front door. He didn’t even have to ring the doorbell. His mother and father were at home, waiting. They opened the door; each with a smile across their face both of which David knew would not last long.

“So Dave how was the math test? How’d you do?” His dad asked. He never asked how he felt, how his day was, or anything else…that is other than his marks. He didn’t even welcome him in.

“It…it was…you know…” David stepped into the house, and kept his eyes down.

“It was what David?! It was what?! Tell us!” His dad roared instantly.

“Again David?!” His mother whined almost as support. “How many more times?! We’ve tried every college here…even the community college. What’s the point?!”

“Mom I failed! Okay, I failed!”

“Okay! I failed!” his dad mocked. “No shame whatsoever, look at you. When I was in school I used to score top marks every test. I went to Harvard with a scholarship. Now what am I going to say…oh everyone look at my son…an underachiever, an idiot, a duffer.” His dad grumbled. “Whatever, it’s not like there’s much that we can do about it…I mean, you’re going to go where you’re going to go. If it’s a community college then it’s a community college…right honey?” he turned to his wife, frowning, who nodded back in approval.

“Whatever, go do your homework. Not that it’s going to make much of a difference. What’s your average? 50 percent? 35? 20? I’m not trying to discourage you here…it’s just that we need to get a good idea of which college you’re headed off to. If Harvard accepts a 20 percent, that’s fine…I’ll be more than happy to send you there.”

“Why don’t you just get me a tutor Dad?”

“A tutor?” his dad scoffed, “David, what do I do for a living?”

“Business.”

“Good, at least you’ve got that right. And what is important in business?”

“Uh…”

“Forget it, you wouldn’t know. Investment. Investment is crucial. So, here’s how I see it. If I invest in your education what am I getting out of it? A 50 percent? David, in the real world, which you aren’t in touch with, it’s all or nothing. Your siblings gave it their all, and that’s why it was worth investing in their futures. But you…sorry. Don’t make the team.”

David had no choice but to bend his head down and shuffle to his room, where his brother and sister had sat, overhearing his entire conversation.

“Screwed dude. What did you say you wanted to be? A lawyer? Dude…even a fine arts school won’t take you in with these grades. Just saying.” His brother grinned. His sister smirked in the background.

“Why didn’t you drop when you had the chance? I’m sure someone knew how bad you would be.”

“Guys…just…please leave me alone.”

“Leave you alone? Last thing we’re going to do. We are going to drill it through your skull, that you really don’t have it in you.” His sister laughed.

So the rest of the night went on, with David’s siblings reaming him up and down. Bedtime came, not that he looked forward to it. His spirit had been crushed a semester ago. He had wanted to be a lawyer, and have the power to change the world. Better the way people treated each other. Probably even pass a law against foul language. But that was over a semester ago. His life had lost its purpose. He felt like an empty egg shell, with the yolk squeezed out of it. On the surface he looked like a teenage boy, but on the inside he was drained. David contemplated and contemplated and finally made the decision. He would kill himself.

The school building was four stories high.  Even a well calculated jump would at the least result in a broken bone. David was on his free period, and decided that the time had come. He said no word to anyone, and strode to the Janitor’s door leading to the roof. He tugged on it, and surprisingly it was open. Inside was a dark, spiraling stairway with a door-less doorway at the top, streaming in the light from outside. With a deep breath, David walked up the staircase. He did not shed a tear, he did not look back. This was what he wanted to do. After all, it was all he saw deemed fit to do.

He walked out onto the roof, which was gray with cement. He laid his backpack down, knowing he would never use it again, and traversed to the ledge, which he climbed. As he peered over the edge, a slight change came over him. The desperation and depression turned to fear. His legs began to shake, as he stared down at the ground. He looked around frantically. However, he felt he had made his decision, and prepared to jump.

“So that’s it?! That’s all you’ve got?!” a voice yelled from the back. David spun his head around, shocked.

“There...there wasn’t supposed to…to be anyone here.” He said to the man dressed in a suit, much like a businessman, with a suitcase in his hand. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” that’s the important question. “So, answer me. Who are you?”

“Ddddavid. David Martin.” He stuttered.

“What year are you…David Martin?” the man asked.

“I’m a Junior.”

“So you still have a year left?”

“Yeah. I do. Not that it matters much.” David muttered.

“Oh. So your senior year doesn’t matter much? Why?”

“Yeah, colleges only look at the first semester grades. Not like it can make up for the bad grades I got this year.” He caved.

“Makes sense. But why are you standing on the ledge?”

“Why do you care? What’s it to you?!”

“Well, because I am a human being and I think that it is my duty to help another human being. Is that a crime?”

“Just go home man. This has nothing to do with you.” David grumbled.

“This has everything to do with me. Now don’t stall, and answer my question. What are you doing on that ledge?” the business man pressed.

“I said, go home!”

“Well, I have no plans of doing that. So just answer the question!”

“W-“

“Just answer the question.”

“Because my life sucks, okay?! My grades suck! My parents suck! My siblings suck! Everything sucks!” David yelled out, frustrated.

“Hm. How is standing on the ledge going to solve that?”

“I was going to jump…” David yelled, but his voice died down.

“You were going to jump? What are you, training to be a skydiver? For starters, you need a parachute.” the man in the suit chuckled

“So you think this is funny? Piss off.”

“I’m not picking on you or anything, I don’t think this is funny either. It’s just strange. I just am curious what you think jumping is going to accomplish.”

“It’s going to kill me, and then I’m done with all these problems.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that!”

“You’re not even going to try to face them?”

“I’ve been facing them for the past 3 years. Look where it’s got me!”

“To the edge of this ledge?”

“Very funny.”

“You said your grades were bad, and you were tired of school tests and things like that right?”

“Yeah.”

“You know, there’s one test you probably haven’t thought of.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been taking it all this time.”

“Cut to the chase man.”

“I’m talking about life. Probably the biggest test one can ever take.”

“What in the world…”

“You know, what do you do when you don’t know the answer to a question on a school exam?”

“I don’t know…guess. Hope I get it right.”

“See, life is just like one big question. You don’t know the answer to it. You don’t know where it will take you and you don’t know how it will take you there. But if you choose to give up and not even try it…well, you fail inevitably. You guess, you got a chance. You don’t guess, well you missed the bus…big-time.”

“So, your point is, I should not kill myself.”

“Precisely, for many reasons. Grades aren’t everything. They are something. They do mean something, but they don’t tell anybody who you really are. Newton was a flunker in school, look at what happened to him. Now we read science theories that were written by a dunce. Well, that’s what others thought he was anyway. What I’m saying is, this isn’t the end. You’re losing a lot more than your life when you jump off this ledge.”

“I have to put up with my family, my teacher, my classmates.”

“Yes, you have to put up with them.”

“My grades.”

“Of course you have to put up with that. I never said the question was easy. If it was easy, you’d come up with an answer like that.” The man snapped his fingers.

“So I basically have to be depressed a little longer, and then there is hope.”

“I never said depressed. I just said you had to put up with it. How you put up with it is in your hands. Death is not a solution pal. So do yourself a favor and step down.”

“How do I know you’re not just trying to pep me up with a lie?”

“What if I told you, that I knew a kid that was exactly like you?”

“I’d think you were crazy.”

“He was very depressed, lonely. Family hated him. He thought he wouldn’t make it. He wanted to kill himself…but something changed his mind. Something told him that if he did that, he’d never meet his bright future.”

“So…”

“So, he kept going. Guess what?”

“What?”

“He became the CEO of a multimillion dollar corporation. He’s minting money. Now his parents can’t call him a duffer-“

“How do you know what my parents call me?”

“His brother and sister can’t tease him about his grades in Mrs. Frank’s class-“

“How do you know her?”

“Nobody can touch him. He’s happy now. He guessed on that question, and looks like he guessed right. So, why don’t you step down from that ledge, and take a guess.”

In the shock, David immediately stepped down and strode towards the man.

“How do you know all this about me?”

The man merely winked and said,

“Don’t give up kid, never give up.” He turned and strode into the door-less doorway, into the dark stairwell. 

“Wait! What’s your name?!” David yelled, and tried to run after him, but stepped on something. He turned and saw a small, palm sized business card on the ground. He picked it up, and turned it over in his hand, and it read.

David Martin

CEO of TECH ENTERPRISES 2023

Building the Future…

 Never Give Up in Life, there is always more for you around the corner...