“I’m gonna kill you.” The words echoed through his mind like an old record playing in the distance. The words haunted him endlessly, it was only one of six messages he’d received on his John Lennon fan website. The only purpose for the site was to tribute his favorite singer and yet he was still attacked by a nameless face in the shadows of a dark room barely lit with the dim light of the computer screen. His mind exploded with fearful thoughts and anxiety. His head hurt so bad it felt as if he’d been kissed by a Louisville Slugger held by Babe Ruth. His name was Ed Jackson; he was just a kid in the school, drifting from class to class in the black cloud of the axe body spray and dull roar of profane laughter. He remembered the day like it was nothing he’d soon forget. He’d gone to clean out his email and that’s what turned his life upside down. 3,000 emails deleted but six, all with the same subject line (though sent by different people) remained. He opened the first one; it was submitted with his name and email address, confused he glanced down at the message. And there he saw the four words that changed his life forever… “I’m gonna kill you” Confused and petrified his lip began to quiver and worried for his life he closed the message in the hopes of forgetting all about it. But then, like a freight train on a roller coaster it hit him; this was not the only message! Slowly and cautiously he opened the second one. Now Petrified he read the filth of the second message. Though it did not threaten his life, he went into an angry rage as he read the words aloud, “I’m gunna subscribe to a ton of porn mags and send them all to your address… Peace n luv <3” Blindly tearful and angry he gathered up the courage, moved the mouse and clicked “reply”. Slowly but surely the words poured out and in the most profanely worded message he’d ever sent he said “I don’t know who you think you are but I am underage and this is bull crap will get your butt in trouble if you send me one more god dang message!” He got up, stormed out of the room and after calming himself down he returned to the computer screen and opened the third message. He calmed his mind and opened the message in the hopes that this nightmare was over. He read those words and screamed in rage! He could handle the first two messages but this one was not a threat, nor anywhere near as obscene as the second one all this message was, a huge waste of time! “I like moist towlettes” He couldn’t understand what was going on but cautiously he opened the next message. His heart beat rapidly as he read those haunting words “Ed Jackson often likes to pinch a loaf into his right hand and toss at a random person. T*****S!” Now he was in an almost uncontrollable rage, unable to react without screaming aloud he opened the fifth message. “You didn’t wash your hands after you wet the bed last night…>:)” Now almost in tears and desperate for this nightmare to be over he clicked the final message which to him was the worst! “The Beatles are cool, but you’re not. Nobody likes you. You’re ADOPTED!!! You jew. Now that i know ur address ima stalk yo foEVA.” Infuriated he wrote out an email describing to situation to the main website that he’d created his on (one of those “Free Website” things)describing the situation and desperately hoping for this all to end. The next day he received a reply; there was nothing they could do. He reported the messages to his school and parents, but nothing was done. He deleted his John Lennon website and thought nothing more of it (aside from the wicked fear for his life). He went on and over the next few weeks he avoided his email and refused to talk of the incident. But then one day he stood up and said “How can I get over this if I don’t move on?” So he logged on to his email and then he saw it, in big red flashing letters bolded, underlined, and in all caps it said “INBOX FULL!” As he opened email after email and read them message after message he realized that every single one of them was just like the first six. “You’re stupid”, “DIE!”, “Nobody loves you”, “Fa***t” And finally after reading about 5,000 emails he hung his head, and sobbed. Feeling more alone and depressed than ever before he cried himself to sleep. The Next day he was desperate not to go to school but didn’t want to get into trouble so he walked his usual mile walk to school without a fight from his parents. When he got to school, everything seemed normal, at first. No one bothered him more than usual and nothing seemed out of place. When he arrived at his locker (Number 0) he spun is combination (0-39-26) and as he opened the locker door thousands and thousands of little papers fell out, every single one of them was full of hate comments and an ad for a website (www.KEJ.com) he cleaned up all of the papers and threw them all in his bag and moved on. At lunch time Billy Betson (His former best friend) walked up to him smiled and hacked a lugie in his eye and then everyone laughed at him. Dave Barrens smashed the bathroom mirror during 6th period and then blamed Ed for it. His day continued on the same path until 8th period gym, where it seemed like everything was fine. People were nice to him (or so he thought) until his dodge ball team punished him in the showers for their loss. They took turns whipping him with damp towels and spitting on him. Ed grabbed his things and ran all the way home, where he sat alone and cried while reading one by one the hate messages placed in his locker. It seemed as though the whole world was crashing in on him. Finally he finished the notes and decided to check out that website that they’d all mentioned. He sat at his computer and typed it in, (ww.KEJ.com) and then he saw it. KEJ stood for Kill Ed Jackson! He reported the emails to the police in the hopes of finding out who started the mess, and after another week of pure torture in his hellish life he got the phone call. It was Sherriff Deputy John Mason had told him that the one who sent him the first six messages and started the hate attacks on him was, Adam Jacobson. Ed and Adam had been best friends since they were in diapers, but for some reason Adam decided to send those messages. The next day Ed confronted Adam who laughed and claimed it to be “just a joke” but yet every time they bumped into each other that day Adam would taunt Ed saying things like “ima stalk yo foEVA.” and “I’m gonna kill you.”. Ed went through the rest of the day taunted more and more as the time past. And finally when the last bell rang he ran all the way home in tears, As he arrived he saw the mailbox was full of more hate mail and the word “DIE!” was spray painted on his bedroom window. Unable to stand it anymore, Ed Jackson (sophomore at Wheaston High School) went into the garage and found a 12 foot rope. He carried the rope into his room and wrote out his note. He hid the note and fashioned a noose. He stepped on a chair and tied the rope to his ceiling fan; he placed the noose around his neck and kicked his chair over. His mother came home with the great news that Adam had been taken into police custody for what he’d done, she was too late. She dropped to her knees and cried for hours, she had lost her only son 15 years old and gone too soon. Adam and the other kids all showed up at the funeral claiming to be sorry, but one by one as they passed his casket once again they each spit in his face. Ed was cremated in the end and his mother still has his remains today.
Two years after his tragic suicide, his mother finally built up the strength to clean out his old room. She packed all of his things neatly into boxes and carried it all to storage. When she returned for his desk, she disassembled it. Then, out of the corner of her eye she saw it, a small white piece of paper. She began to unfold it and realized what it was.
“To whoever still cares,
The world has hated me and my time has come. If you are reading this note then I must be long gone. I really love you mom and I’m sorry I had to do this. I’m ok though I promise, I’m floating around watching you and I’ll always be there if you need me (though I doubt it)
Simply Hanging
Ed Jackson”

Ed Jackson committed suicide at the age of 15 due to the real life effects of bullying. Don’t let this story happen to the people around you, Don’t be a bully.