The ceiling fan buzzed like it hated its own job.
It spun in circles above Tayven Vale's head, slower than time itself.
Third row. Fourth seat. Same spot. Same room. Same meaningless lecture.
> "Success," the professor droned, "is built on discipline, hard work, and academic merit."
Tayven's pen hovered over the blank page. Not a single word written.
He didn't even know the topic. Didn't care.
His mind was drifting, again—floating far beyond the four walls of this classroom prison.
Grades. Job. Obey. Die.
That's what they taught.
That's what he was told to chase.
He looked around.
Everyone wore the same dead expression.
Heads buried in notebooks. Eyes dull like recycled dreams.
And Tayven?
He was trying not to scream.
---
Back home wasn't much better.
"You're always wasting time," his father snapped.
"Why can't you be like other boys?"
His mother sighed, not even looking up. "He's not meant for anything special. Let it go."
They thought he didn't hear.
He did.
Every word.
And each one carved deeper than the last.
---
He laughed with his friends.
He smiled in front of his sister.
He nodded politely to teachers.
But inside?
> "I'm not okay."
Not when every day felt like a loop.
Not when every hope felt like a joke.
And not when even he started believing he'd never be more than this.
---
That night, under flickering streetlights and a sky without stars, Tayven stood on the edge of the city bridge.
No plans. No dreams. Just silence.
He looked down.
The water below whispered.
> "Jump... or change."
He clenched his fists. Tears didn't fall. They burned.
And that's when the pain hit—sharp, splitting, unnatural.
His chest lit up. His vision cracked.
The world twisted.
Something inside him broke free.
Something old.
Something angry.
---
> To be continued.....