New Delhi is the capital state of India. It is a place where people from all over the country come to live, some hoping to become successful while some wanting to have a new start in life.
All there is to say that this seemingly small state, slightly bigger than the Vatican City, holds a population of about 35 million people.
In that vast sea of people, a particular young boy was currently commuting via the metro, his eyes hooked in his smartphone.
He was currently in the midst of writing the first chapter of his very first novel 'Content Control'. Suddenly, a notification came prompting him to halt his writing and opening the message icon.
It was from his institute. The boy looked at the message with annoyance but still opened it while thinking
'Why the fuck do they have to release the answer key just after i exited the examination hall? Why can't they leave me alone peacefully for some time?' he lamented but alas no reply came to his questions.
For you readers to understand the whole scenario clearly, we have to first see the situation the young man is in.
His name was klaus and he was currently preparing for one of the most competitive college entrance exams in the country with about 2 million applicants every year. The exam was compulsory for taking admissions into medical courses throughout India.
Klaus was fascinated by the functioning of the human brain and wanted to pursue his bachelors in the field of neurology.
And how could he not? The brain is the central information processing organ of our body, and acts as the 'command and control system'. It controls the voluntary movements, balance of the body, functioning of vital involuntary organs(e.g., lungs, heart, kidneys, etc.), thermoregulation, hunger and thirst, circadian (24-hour) rhythms of our body, human behavior. It is also the site of processing of vision, hearing, speech, memory, intelligence, emotions and thoughts.
If the impeccable command over things doesn't fascinate you, then there is something wrong with your head.
What Klaus was fascinated about, was the same level of total control shown by the brain and wanted to do more research about it.
But his father wanted him to become a doctor because of the large amount of money they make. Klaus didn't want to do something he wasn't interested in and refused.
After hearing his decision, His father coldly declared that he wouldn't pay the tuition fees for his college unless he do what he is told.
Having no choice left, Klaus reluctantly agreed and took a drop year after his highschool to prepare for the entrance exam. He enrolled in a institute and studied for six months before he decided that this wasn't his cup of tea.
No matter how hard he studied, his marks didn't get better. On the contrary, they kept degrading despite putting his best efforts. his family also kept pressuring him to clear the exam or else they would not finance his further studies. One day Klaus decided to end it all as he went to the roof of the building he was currently staying in. Klaus slowly reached the boundary of the roof and mustered his courage to jump.
Klaus crossed the boundary slowly and was hesitant to take the last step as a thought came in his mind
'what if someone is waiting for me out there in this world? Someone whom I can share my love and worries with, without them judging me. Someone I can unconditionally call mine. What if because of this decision, they never find me?'
Although Klaus somewhat knew that this is just his mind trying to avoid death today but he desperately held on to this thought and took his steps back into the boundary with some hope about the future.
For the next few months, Klaus continued to study hard despite no increment in his results and there were several moments when he tried to end his life but that previous thought changed his mind everytime.
Among all that continuous torture, one day he accidentally stumbled upon the world of webnovels while scouring through the internet. He first started reading it as a means to escape from the rat race he was in but as time passed on, he grew fond of the different fantasy worlds where powers and abilities decided the fate on an individual.
If only he had power, he wouldn't be as miserable as he is now. But Klaus shook his wishful thinking as he knew that all of this was nothing but imagination.
The day of his exam came near and the frequency of his mock tests conducted by his institute increased. There was now only 13 days left, while Klaus still not having any significant improvement in his scores. On this particular day, when he sat in the metro to his home and was scrolling his phone, a thought came to his mind.
"What if I write my own novel and let it's main character experience all the things I wish I could?"
Klaus followed up on his idea immediately and open his memo application and started writing his story. When he had just written a few words, his stop came.
"Fuck. Just when I was about to do something good in a while." He muttered in a low voice.
Klaus exited the station and his eyes were greeted with public transportation automobiles. But Klaus walked in the direction of his home on foot. He didn't have money to afford public transportation as he didn't liked to ask for money from his selfish and greedy family.
Klaus was walking while singing his favourite songs, jumping time to time as the roads in Delhi were more like craters on moon. He reached the crossing and looked around the road to see if there is any vehicles coming or not.
Seeing the road empty he started crossing it. When he crossed half of it, Klaus felt a sharp stinging pain in his heart prompting him to stop there clutching his chest while breathing slowly.
This whole scenario took some minutes and when Klaus came to his senses, he saw a car just in front of him coming his way with very high speed.
Before he could make sense out his situation, Klaus felt his body hit by something and he saw himself flying for a short moment. After the flying, his eyes looked around to only to see some people running upsidedown in his direction while calling someone on their phones.
Klaus looked away from them thinking of it as an illusion caused by heat and willed his legs to move forward. It was then he noticed that he couldn't feel his legs. He then proceeded to move his hands, but the same feeling on nothingness came to him.
When he focused his eyes on his body, his eyes went wide in disbelief when he saw his lower body leaking blood like a fountain. Klaus then shifted in gaze around and saw a car crashed into a tree.
' Is this the end?'
This thought came to his mind after he was completely sure that there is no chance of him to live.
'I guess I'm destined to be all alone. I would've loved to met that certain someone in my life.'
' Someone who can love you unconditionally huh?..'
'I should've lived my life on my terms even if it meant living alone without any backing.'
"I should just die.."
As his time came near, Klaus's inner thoughts surfaced as he started regretting all the things he could've done better.
While in thought, Klaus could feel his body slowly going numb. He could blurring see a bunch of people saying something to him as they lifted him up and carried him into the ambulance.
Klaus felt that if he held on, he could be saved. But was that really what he wanted? To be saved? To continue living this miserable life without any dreams and aspirations?
The answer came from Klaus's heart as a 'No'.
With his newfound determination, he stopped holding on that thin rope which was keeping him alive.
The ECG in the ambulance which was showing constant pulses till now- let out a sharp sound
"Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep"
With that sound, a short but miserable life of a 17-year-old Klaus ended.
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AN:- Maturity is when you realise that the feelings and burdens shown in the story were not just based on imagination.