I was practically walking into oblivion. Straight into it. Like the sunshine on this warm spring March day would do to the bottom of sea. It would try to reach the bottom, but it never happens. No matter how hard it tries.

So, animals that live that deep have adapted so that they can generate their own light. Why use the sun's light when you can use your own, right?

I wish I could do the same.

I am James. James Ignis. I'm in college, University of California Berkeley (go Bears) to study law and become a lawyer. I live in a world where human contact is limited. I walk the same route to and from classes. I sit in the same spot at lunch. I do the same things basically every day. And no one cares. It's like I'm an invisible person. In fact, I live alone in my dorm. And yet no one finds that odd.

Why? Well, both of my parents don't have the power to do anything, so to speak. My grandparents are the same. From both sides. The only relative that I have left to care is my Aunt Hannah. She raised me. She took me in. She let me be part of her life. Even if it meant to take three jobs and insist I don't help.

Aunt Hannah, she was one of the two children that my dad's dad and mom had. And me, I'm the only child that my dad and mom had.

So, you're probably wondering how I'm here. How is James Ignis in a college like Berkeley with basically no one who cares and who does care barely makes ends meet? How could he be here? It makes no sense. I don't even believe it myself.

Well, I have one word for you: Seventeen.

Seventeen. That's right. I'm seventeen. Eighteen in April.

Let's think this over. Let's say you're any other person going to college and starting a career. Let's say you're five when you start kindergarten, like any other person would. Most schools in Southern California start in late August to mid-September.

Yes, you're math is right. I'm a year younger than everyone else.

You're still wondering how it happened, aren't you? I'm not going to explain the story, maybe later. Yes. I'm only seventeen.

And I'm proud of it.

You think just anyone will just be seventeen, barely being able to legally drive survive in a strict and exceedingly demanding college like Berkeley?

Nope, not just anyone. My mind has gotten me here. And it's going to carry me as much as it can for four years.

Now, I'll admit it, I'll give it a day off here and there. Maybe rot it away with video games or useless knowledge (Watermelons are grown square in Japan so they're easier to stack and take up less space).

But it's my brain. And no one can touch it. No matter how long the pencil is that they stick in my ear. No matter who they are, where they are, or how beautiful, dorky, athletic, smart, or stupid they are. No one's touching my brain.

At least, until I donate it to science for the study of neurobiology.

But enough about my background and stuff. We'll get to that later. You're here to read a story. You're here to be amazed, saddened, touched (not like that), and utterly traumatized.

Maybe those reactions will never happen. And we all regret some actions we do and we regret the ones more we don't do.

So, just have fun. And don't forget. Dreams are like rainbows. Only idiots chase them.