Living With JORA

Chapter 1

On one summer day at the University of the Philippines, the wind blew often. Dark clouds were in the distance rolling closer and closer to where a college student was sketching his subject on a piece of paper.

It was outside on the patio of a museum. There were white tables and chairs scattered there from where an old café used to serve cakes and shakes before running out of business.

It was the afternoon, Azimuth (aka "Ronnie") sat on his chair sketching and sometimes looking at Nicole sitting right across from him.

Azimuth always constantly swiped away his long hair from covering his face while he sketched. It didn't help that his hair sometimes stained his glasses as well from time to time. He didn't mind it. He was busy making sure his subject was well drawn and pleased with his work.

"So, how's the sketch going Ronnie?" she asked as she shifted her hand to touch her face.

"Almost done!"

"Already?" she stood up to peek at his drawing. "Wow! You got my lips and my eyes there!"

"You think so?" he asked timidly.

"Yeah, you're getting better already," she said as she gathered her bag from her chair, "And what you've only been in fine art classes for two months now?"

"Three actually," he replied as he showed her the final sketch.

"Well, I better get going now to my writing class," she said waving goodbye to Azimuth.

"See you after 3 P.M. later for a snack?"

"Sure thing Ronnie!"

Nicole walked away from Azimuth and into the arts and letters building just behind a few trees and huts placed as hangouts for the writing school organizations.

Azimuth stayed behind at the abandoned outside café to make a few adjustments to his sketch.

A small orange leaf floated down from above and landed on his head. He felt it and grabbed it to have a look.

That's strange. He said to himself.

This prompted Azimuth to look up to see where the orange leaf came from. He held up the leaf to see if it matches one of the leaves from the surrounding trees, but to no success. He packed up his things and went around the small forest just around the museum to see where the leaf could have come from. None of the leaves around matched the leaf in his hand.

This must be a special leaf then. He said as he put it on his sketchbook and closed it with the leaf inside.

Azimuth started to hear voices whispering in his ear about what he was going to do next and commands to get to the social sciences building.

"Did I forget to drink Abilify again?" he said out loud as he started to walk.

The stroll to the social sciences building was a short one. He walked in front of the building where Nicole had her writing classes and only a short pathway that led behind a parking lot. The social sciences building entrance was across the road from the parking lot.

Not much happened the rest of the day. He had a few classes from 11:30 A.M. - 2:30 P.M. before meeting with Nicole again at 3 P.M. at a food kiosk.

Azimuth ordered some noodles with fish balls and Nicole got two orders of squid balls. After eating they spoke for a bit before heading home at the jeepney stop. Azimuth had a worried look on his face.

"What's the problem?" she asked.

"I think I forgot my medications yesterday," he said while cleaning his glasses.

"You're hearing those voices again?"

"Yeah."

"I hope someday you'll figure out why you hear them."

"I hope so too."

Nicole was able to get a jeepney ride home first. It wasn't long after that Azimuth himself got a ride home.

The walk home was always a long one for Azimuth. He often felt a sight weight on his right shoulder while walking home to his home on the 6th floor of the Apartment complex.

While on the elevator, Azimuth started to hear those voices again. The voices told him how great he was while others said how terrible he was that day. One voice just said to leave him alone.

Azimuth started hearing these voices on his 13th birthday five years ago. First, it was only one voice that talked to him, but over the years it multiplied to maybe two or three voices whispering and talking in his ears.

Doctors told him he was having auditory hallucinations, and even gave him some medications as he turned 18 to stop them from happening.

They never went away.

Azimuth opened the door to his apartment where he lived with his parents and two sisters. Only his mother was home at that time. He told her he had arrived home before going to his room to change clothes.

The voices continued to talk while he sat on his bed still finishing the sketch of Nicole he made from earlier that day. They kept talking about how he was ready for something he couldn't understand.

He felt a small hand tugging on his leg from the side of the bed.

Azimuth looked down to see what was tugging him from the side of the bed. To his surprise, he saw four shorter than a foot human shape creatures all standing together with each of them having a unique color combination of clothes.

"Oh my gosh!" he said as he flailed backward onto his bed, "You're all so cute!"

"Don't be afraid," said the blue-clothed small creature. "Now, we shall show you our human forms."

"Human forms?"

All four of the creatures flicked their fingers and they were all engulfed in white smoke before unveiling they had all grown to be human size. They weren't just human-sized versions of their smaller selves, but they looked like humans instead of the cute little creatures he had seen just a few minutes ago.

The blue one was now wearing a blue suit and had blonde hair and blue eyes.

The violet one had a violet beret and skirt and had long red hair.

The red one wore a red flannel shirt complete with brown pants and brown hair.

The green one had spiky black hair and wore no shirt but had a green cape and a full beard. He also had green eyes.

Azimuth was shocked and started to use his sketchbook to block his face from them.

"C'mon now Azimuth," the blue one's voice said, "We're not gonna hurt you."

"Then," he said while taking a closer look at all four of them, "why are you all here?"

"We're here to help you of course!"